bilge drain plug

[Tucker]

Been trying to think of a way to get rid of scunky bilge water. Boat's in the water full time. I don't trust those expanding rubber plugs. What are you guys doing?

 

[G8RDave]

How about using a shop vac?

 

[BobP]

They make stainless expanding plugs, or you can retrofit to the threaded bronze plug and flange.

The way you clear the bilge is to turn on the pump manually and drop the hammer with no tabs and no engine trimming, let the stern sink and bow will rise up, and all the water and anything esle liquid in the bottom of the boat will head to the stern and be pumped out. There will be very little left when the boat become level after you do this, not even enough to towel up.

Do it few times if necessary.

The float switch does this automatically each time I throttle up. That's how I know the pump works, first trip out the inlet and turn and look at discharge, safety habit I practice.

 

[Tucker]

Thanks Bob, that makes the most sense and the easiest thing to do. I hate when I'm oblivious to the obvious.

 

[BobP]

I would expect your bilge pump to be close to the transom, if so, then that's the ticket. And it's sitting on a 1/2 inch tall pad, so not much will remain.

If you have some minor oil /grease in there, get a pig or the bilge cleaning solution, pour into bilge, run the garden hose in there for a minute or two, then stew it around a bit while on a ride, then drop the hammer.

Since the lowest part of the bilge may not be the transom at rest, at lot of water can come from up forward.

This process will get it all since the various compartments are piped together. My 252 has 5 bulkheads crossing the keel, all five are interconnected.

 

[CJBROWN]

Slightly off-topic, but bilge pump related nonetheless...
The guy that first bought my boat and set it up, installed a red LED bulb on the dash between the two gauges, and it lights up if the bilge pump is on. What a great idea - for both inadvertent use when the switch gets hit by accident (has happened at least a couple of times) but more important if it's actually working back there one would want to know.