Plastic Classic Forum

After 17 months of work, we launched! After getting the mast up on the boat on Thursday, Coastal Boat Transport picked the boat up at the house and took us to Boothbay this past Friday morning. We launched at a very sketchy looking ramp, but the transport guys got us in quick and easy. After a little excitement with a squealing alternator belt and a stuffing box that was streaming water we motored around to Blakes Boatyard. Unfortunately we missed the chance to have the mast stepped due to getting into the dock and tide issues so the mast was stepped Saturday afternoon. Of course I had the main halyard run through the triangle between the a spreader and the outside shroud which was easily fixed with a boathook zip-tied to an oar. and me standing on the boom.

Still a little unsure of the bilge pump operation, the 1 1/8 hose holds enough water so that the back drain causes the pump to cycle. Stepping down to a 3/4 hose seems to help. Hope I don't go back to dead batteries.

And I discovered that the rudder tube can let water gurgle up into the cockpit when the engine really pushing. Oh, and that the boat seems to do whatever it wants in reverse.

I thank everyone here that helped me out, answering my many questions and for all the great information this forum provides in general.

Here are some pictures.

I used 2x6 ramps and a 3:1 self tending hailing setup to get the mast up on the boat:




Small champagne bottles are very difficult to break!

Sweet pics! Looks wonderful!!!!

I hear you on the reverse issue....I find my Alberg 35 backs into the wind if there is any. At any other time it is sort of a crap shoot. I have tried using prop walk, bursts of reverse and then neutral, etc. Mostly I plan on using a spring line in most instances to help out.

preserved_killick wrote: Still a little unsure of the bilge pump operation, the 1 1/8 hose holds enough water so that the back drain causes the pump to cycle. Stepping down to a 3/4 hose seems to help. Hope I don't go back to dead batteries.

A check valve in the bilge pump hose just after the pump is an easy fix.

Bronze or plastic.

I like the plastic ones. They're pretty robust.

Seagrass looks beautiful. Congratulations.

She looks like 17 months of work! Grats on getting her in the water. The big hurdle is over, now you just have work to do on a never ending schedule. But now is time for sailing!

I am happy and envious for the satisfaction that you must be feeling. Hope to get some of that myself soon...

fusto wrote:

preserved_killick wrote: Still a little unsure of the bilge pump operation, the 1 1/8 hose holds enough water so that the back drain causes the pump to cycle. Stepping down to a 3/4 hose seems to help. Hope I don't go back to dead batteries.

A check valve in the bilge pump hose just after the pump is an easy fix.

I check valve was my first thought, but was talked out of it with the argument that these little (Rule 2000) centrifugal pumps don't have enough push to consistently open the valve? Then I hear of people using them with no problems. Do check valves deserve the bad rap they get??

-jeff

Beautiful! Congratulations.

Thanks everyone.

There's a webcam on Boothbay Harbor and I (think) I've been able to see my boat!
http://boothbayharborwebcams.com/

It's way off at the furthest zoom. I wish I could see how she was sitting on her boot stripe. Is that bilge pump working? I can at least see how the weather is up there before driving over.

-jeff

Beautiful Jeff - fair winds . . .

Greg

Congratulations! She's gorgeous, and you must be very proud and satisfied!

I installed a check valve in my last boat's deep-bilge installation and it didn't work - the pump couldn't push uphill against a hose full of water. No problem continuing to push it when it got started empty, though, as you've seen. I ended up with a 3/4" hose as you've done and routed it to hit it's highest point as quickly as possible so that I had the smallest amount of water to run back. It still meant the pump cycled more often than it would if there were no runback, but it worked. There are two ways to reduce cycling, but they're both more expensive: the first is a diaphram pump mounted outside the bilge with a hose into it and a remote float switch, the second is a system which comes on higher and goes off lower, which is tricky to implement (need two floats and a pair of relays - high float triggers a relay and keeps the system running until the low float turning off shuts it down). If you don't find the 3/4" hose satisfactory you might consider one of these other routes. Do you have a second pump? I mounted a pair - a Rule 500 for keeping nuisance water out and a Rule 4000 to hopefully never be used...

And as far as reversing goes, I did eventually get so I could manoever in reasonably tight spaces (not like a fin-keel spade rudder boat, mind you) by reversing to get some motion backward then putting her in forward to actually steer where I wanted to go, then reverse to get motion, etc. I found I could spin her more or less in place, although it was work. And in a good breeze I'd just have to work around the fact that her bow was going to be downwind no matter what I did! Good luck with getting used to her and working within her limitations!

Cheers,

Chris

Thanks Chris,

I may end up installing a second electric pump (the boat also has a manual whale pump) but need to get some sort of a tee fitting so tow pumps can share the same outlet.

Question: The Rule float switch leaves a couple inches of water in the bilge, which seems unavoidable with the drain-back issue. Is there a pump setup to get that last bit of water out? Is there a more sensitive switch that can be used with a diaphragm pump? The bilge on my boat is fairly deep, flat bottom with vertical sides.

If I can find as suitable way to tee the two hoses to one outlet, I'll likely get a smaller pump as you describe then raise the Rule2000 up a few inches.

-jeff

Some water in a deep bilge is inevitable, I think.

One way to get a better level of drainage with less backflow is to mount a diaphragm or impeller-type pump, which can mount remotely (i.e. high and dry somewhere easily accessible) with only a suction hose extending into the bilge. Water can't backflow through this type of pump, so the only water that will flow back after pump shutdown is that which is in the length of the hose between the pump and the bottom of the bilge. Of course these pumps are expensive, but they're a good solution for something like this,. These pumps have lower capacity ratings, so they're really just nuisance water pumps. A larger-capacity pump (manual or electric) is a good backup.

I had a check valve originally in my electric pump line, but found that it soon clogged (even with a "clean" bilge) and stopped working. I discarded it and haven't used one for 7 years, and certainly don't miss it. My bilge is not deep like yours, as there's no sump in the deadwood on the earlier Tritons. I end up with a bit of water in there, but so be it.

Anyway, congratulations on the launching--she looks great--and enjoy the season.

As Tim says, some water is inevitable with a deep bilge, but you'll get the most out with a diaphram-type pump. That way you can have it pumping water until the bilge is empty and then a little longer (they're fine for operating dry) to pull most of the water in the line through. A pump switch with a delay (common with electronic switches like the WaterWitch, apparently) will give you that.

I just found another way around excessive cycling, also - although this way does not help with the last bit of water since it lets it run down as before - the Ultra Pumpswitch HiDifferential. It gives 2-1/4" of travel rather than the conventional 1-1/4", which should greatly reduce cycling.

Both of those switches seem to get rave reviews, also.

On my boat with a deep bilge I used the manual pump to keep it as dry as possible - the electric pump would only get it down to about 1-1/2" or so. I'm sure I could have had a better installation, however!

Cheers,

Chris