How 2 pump out bilge water?

[rdwalker]

Hi, there - it's the overanxious new owner of an old CP-16 again.

Possibly due to recent hurricane rains, the boat had quite a lot of water inside (it was parked outside for last few months). I got most of the water out, using a hand pump.

Does anyone here use an electric automatic pump? What type? How flush will it pump?
How do you handle pools of water behind various bulkheads (I had to pump each separately).


And, a separate issue: the rudder tiller is delaminating. Anything I can do to fix that, or is a replacement the only possibility?

Thanks in advance!  Robert

[skip1930]

It's in a CP-19 but I think the CP-16 has the same set-up in the stern.

The pump's snap on screen is glued to a 3 x 3 alum angle. The angle is glued to the ship's bottom. All the factory gray paint was removed so as not to clog the pump.

The pump [ Rule Pump ? from West Marine with switch; a manual/auto/test panel ] is 750 or 950 Gallon per hour. Not every much but enough gallons per minute. Discharge is festooned with a Tee fitting down stream of the hand pump and spews out one of the scuppers. The black hose is the inlet for the hand pump. I have the pump wired with a aerocraft circuit breaker, so no fuse to blow.

The only use is to pump out the melted ice water to cool adult beverages placed in there with ice for a weekend cruse.

Can't help with pumping water from behind bulkheads. Drill weep holes.

skip.

[racer129]

Tilt the trailer backwards till the stern almost touches the ground and use a wet dry shop vacuum to drain the keel. It's important to leave it this way for a period of time as water will slowly leach out of the concrete. Compac 16 owners in northern climes need to be especially vigilant to avoid the freeze/thaw cycle that can destroy the integrity of the keel. Ideally it
would make sense to install a garboard drain plug at the lowest point of the keel and leave it open anytime the boat sits on the trailer.

Bill
'77 Compac 16

[Allure2sail]

Definitely agree with you on the keel drain plug. The previous owner didn't drain it the last winter he owned it and the water in there froze. It ended up breaking the floor in the bilge box. The surveyor never even looked in the bilge......I'll never use him again !!!! I had to rebuild the bilge box to seal it back up from the keel (which on the greatest majority of these boats is full of water within a few days of being launched. I wish my plug was allot lower on the keel but it does let me drain it enough so as to not repeat the damage done before me purchasing it.

[rdwalker]

...  The pump's snap on screen is glued to a 3 x 3 alum angle. The angle is glued to the ship's bottom. ...
skip.

Thanks, skip, I'll see how I can hook something up.

would make sense to install a garboard drain plug at the lowest point of the keel and leave it open anytime the boat sits on the trailer...
Bill

Definitely agree with you on the keel drain plug. The previous owner didn't drain it the last winter he owned it and the water in there froze. It ended up breaking the floor in the bilge box. ...

Now, that's quite interesting. And scary, as I am planning to keep the boat outside for the winter. I am worried about the freeze-ups you describe...

Would any one of you have a picture or link to a picture showing installed drain plug? I have no idea how to even start such installation. A quick Interwebs search yielded a lot of noise, but nothing useful.

Thanks in advance, Robert.

(1978 CP-16)

[racer129]

Skip's picture is showing you the sump area (basically an area in the keel  that is a void  the extends to the bottom of the keel) in a cp19. Not a luxury that we have in a cp16, so a pump is out of the question. Your vintage 16 is similar to mine in that you can access the interior through the hatch at the back of the boat. I feed the vacuum hose into the rear keel area in front of the small bulkhead (made a clip on that bulkhead to hold the hose), lift the trailer tongue and any water that has accumulated in the bottom of the keel drains to that area. A garboard plug is a bronze fitting with a threaded drain that could be installed towards the lowest area of the keel. Search for Islander 28 and Pearson 10m keels. Both have had issues like ours. If you haven't removed the false floor (the thin cover over the concrete) yet, do it, it is pretty much pointless and traps moisture. I made a removable wood grid instead that gives me access to the keel area. The key to keeping the interior dry is leaving it open as much as possible. I never keep my hatch boards and rear hatch in if its a sunny day (screen covers to keep out varmints and bugs) and my boat is dry as a bone. Good Luck!

[rdwalker]

... If you haven't removed the false floor (the thin cover over the concrete) yet, do it, it is pretty much pointless and traps moisture. I made a removable wood grid instead that gives me access to the keel area. The key to keeping the interior dry is leaving it open as much as possible. ...

Thanks, that is useful info. This weekend I'll look at the floor/keel areas you described (hopefully it'll stop raining here). I appreciate your help.

Robert.

('78 CP-16)

[Salty19]

I know the thru hull or transom plug may sound like a good idea, but keep in mind the interior should be pretty much dry, more or less.
Some water may get in but not buckets like a dinghy would. IMO Fix the leaks, dry out the boat well and go from there. With that said, you could put a pump behind the keel.
Rule brand are the best.A small amount of foam aft of the floor could be carved out, a wooden box made inserted in holding the pump. Or any number of other ideas.

Racer is spot on about ventilation. Any trapped humidity or sideway rain spray will evaporate rather than condense and rot the boat.

[rdwalker]

...
If you haven't removed the false floor (the thin cover over the concrete) yet, do it, it is pretty much pointless and traps moisture. I made a removable wood grid instead that gives me access to the keel area. The key to keeping the interior dry is leaving it open as much as possible. ...

Thanks again for your note. I am particularly interested in your comment about removing the false floor trapping moisture. This appears to be a sound idea.

In my boat, there was a carpet mat over the keel area. Once I pulled out the carpet, there was a seemingly thin fiberglass (?) layer over the keel cement. That layer seems to be smoothly molded into the hull - not removable (at least, not easily).

Are you writing about removing the carpet I had? Or, about cutting out the fiberglass panel? Below is a picture of the floor. The cement is visible through the hole in the panel. The square piece that once covered up the opening is gone.

Thanks. Robert.

[rdwalker]

... but keep in mind the interior should be pretty much dry, more or less.  Some water may get in but not buckets like a dinghy would. IMO Fix the leaks, dry out the boat well and go from there. ...

I agree with your comment that the interior should be dry. There is a lot of water now (I sponged out some more today), but I think that is all rainwater. As a matter of fact, I do not recall much, if any, moisture when originally inspecting the boat pre-purchase. Then, it remained for another 4 weeks at the dealer - with Hurricane Irene and subsequent rains making a mess of things in the meantime. I suspect that the hatch cover was not closed fully, allowing water ingress.

I am still working on getting the keel area fully dry, hopefully I am correct about the cause.

Speaking of companionway: the edge seal of the sliding cover is rather beat, as shown below. Did anyone replace this seal? Was it easy? Source - Hutchins?

On the same photo: the teak pieces (cover track and hatchboard frame) are tired, too. Are these salvageable? Or, should I just get new ones?

Thanks. Robert.

[Bob23]

Robert:
  That teak is very salvagable. Mine was much, much worse and now looks like this:

  In addition, you could make new hatch board with small ears that protrude up into the ear-shaped lips on the hatch. That helped me keep some of the rain out of my boat.
  I don't know what that seal is...doesn't look like factory equipment to me.
  I installed a Nicro solar powered exhaust fan in my 23  5 years ago. It's been running 6 to 8 months a year and still works great. It doesn't move a great deal of air but it does move something. On the foredeck is a passive Nicro vent that theoretically lets the air in.
Bob23

[racer129]

Robert, I was talking about the thin fiberglass cover over the concrete that you found under the carpet. It is only weakly tabbed to wood that supports the bunks. Cut it down the center with tin snips.  When that is removed depending on the amount of water that has accumulated in the concrete keel over the years you will most likely find loose sand, small rocks and flaking concrete. When I removed mine,(our boats are of similar vintage) I removed 40 pounds of loose material. This can be replaced with hydraulic cement . After I made a wood grate over the concrete to ventilate the sump (keel). You can also keep a deep cycle battery (60 pounds) in the storage locker forward of the compression post to offset any loss of concrete.  It is the nature of boating to get water in the cabin, so it is inevitable. Your job is to just keep it dry. Keep a sponge,  scoop (1/2 gal milk jug cut in half with cap, works great because it's flexible) and often tip the boat backwards on the trailer and water in the keel will run to that area by the lazarette. You're teak is okay, just needs love.  Bill

[skip1930]

rd, I don't think that wood pictured is so bad. Brighten it up, and oil it up and you'll be amazed at how nice that wood will look.

skip.

[rdwalker]

...  I was talking about the thin fiberglass cover over the concrete that you found under the carpet. It is only weakly tabbed to wood that supports the bunks. Cut it down the center with tin snips. ...

Bill: this is all very useful info. Thanks!
On my boat, the cover you are talking about (pictured in my post) is indeed very thin and there is loose material underneath. I am glad to find out that it can be sliced out. This is going to be my project soon - expecting another cold winter here in NJ, I'd like to eliminate as much moisture as possible before the freeze.

I like your idea of a wooden grate. If you have a picture, please post here (or email to me if you do not have a hosting account).


Bill and Skip: thanks for the note about teak. It's amazing that it can be fixed up. I'll look into it.  I do have the Don Casey mega-book and expect to find reconditioning instructions there (though the volume is information overload...)

Best regards, Robert

(CP-16 in Northern NJ)

[skip1930]

In the old days the swabbies on the knees would holy-stone the teak decks back to an acceptable surface. Grinding the decks smooth with brick like rocks, using more salty sweat then sea water . I think that was to enhance the semens love of the sea and of the ship.

'Don't do nothing for me.' But teak can be coxed back to better then new.

skip.