I HATE AUTOMATIC BILGE PUMPS!

[dingbat]

If your marina has a decent WiFi you can most likely set up to get an alert to your phone when water is detected and you can send a signal to turn on and off the pump.

And hope you are in range of WiFi or cell service….lol

Mrs. Dingbat’s new car has a WiFi interface for control and status notifications. Neat feature..ie toy, but takes anywhere from 10 seconds to 30 minutes to send and receive messages, if at all unless the vehicle is connected to WiFi sitting in the garage

Certainly would not relay on WiFi or cell connection to keep my boat afloat.

 

[redneck joe]

Certainly would not relay on WiFi or cell connection to keep my boat afloat.

What would you have done 20 years ago?

Slow is better than no, and don't depend on a cars connection since you are only in the car a few minutes per day.

 

[airshot]

What would you have done 20 years ago?

Slow is better than no, and don't depend on a cars connection since you are only in the car a few minutes per day.

Back in the day ( 60-70's) when we moored our boat, we made friends with the other boat owners around us. Some were retired, some worked nights etc, so someone was around most of the time. We looked out for each others boats, especially if they were setting low in the water. Nothing better than having a few fellow boaters that gave each others phone numbers and watch out for each others boats.

 

[redneck joe]

Yeah its been about 15 years since we were moored and same, plus one of the employees was a liveaboard and walked past us several times a day. Obviously he ate well every weekend we were there.

 

[Lou C]

What would you have done 20 years ago?

Slow is better than no, and don't depend on a cars connection since you are only in the car a few minutes per day.

Checked it every few days, or get someone at the marina to keep an eye on it. I have my boat behind my house and we all keep an eye on each other's boats.

 

[dingbat]

What would you have done 20 years ago?

Same as I do today.....bought a boat with a self-bailing cockpit, keep up on the maintenance and carry a good insurance policy just in case.

Slow is better than no, and don't depend on a cars connection since you are only in the car a few minutes per day.

One would think that "time is of the essence" when your boat is sinking....lol

 

[redneck joe]

One would think that "time is of the essence" when your boat is sinking....lol

It is, but if 20 minutes is the cut off limit you are screwed regardless.

 

[dingbat]

It is, but if 20 minutes is the cut off limit you are screwed regardless.

You might get 20 minutes till it’s on the bottom.

Never understood why someone would buy a convertible with the intent of storing it out in the drive with the top down. The inevitable always happens sooner than later

 

[airshot]

If your boat is leaking bad enough that it will sink in 20 minutes, it has problems other than a faulty bilge pump ! Years back I did the ole " forgot to put in the drain plug" and found the boat about half sunk after a long 15 minute walk from a busy parking lot. By all he time I got the plug back in over half hour had passed, boat was no where near sunk, but pretty full in my eyes. Have had numerous boat covers that leaked, but never saw one that leaked enough that a bilge pump could not stay ahead. Or am I missing something here.....

 

[Pmt133]

You might get 20 minutes till it’s on the bottom.

Never understood why someone would buy a convertible with the intent of storing it out in the drive with the top down. The inevitable always happens sooner than later

Being I can stand in the majority of the bay that wouldn't be too terrible.

Years back dad tore the camper back on the boat. This was before we had the cockpit cover so we used that for in water storage at that point... No rain forecast so he dropped it by our friend to repair it, maybe a 3 day turn around. A pop up storm blew through for like 45 minutes the night before it was finished. I'm talking a whole months worth of rain in a very short period of time.

Long story short the boat was filled about an inch over the deck with water, no auto bilge pump. The foam kept it afloat and dad flipped the bilge pump on. That weekend on haul out an automatic bilge pump was installed along with the stock manual model that was in it at the time. It saved me with torn bellows the only time that happened too and is the reason I don't use sierra bellows. To install a float switch in my bilge is pointless, the cheap pulse units work fine. They last about 10 years. It isn't wet kept anymore anyway so it really is no longer an issue.

Just some rambling from me from childhood memories.

 

[dingbat]

Years back dad tore the camper back on the boat. This was before we had the cockpit cover so we used that for in water storage at that point... No rain forecast so he dropped it by our friend to repair it, maybe a 3 day turn around. A pop up storm blew through for like 45 minutes the night before it was finished. I'm talking a whole months worth of rain in a very short period of time.

Reminds me of the time I was on the West Coast with a hurricane coming up the Coast. In preparation, Mrs. Dingbat moved the boat from it's usual location out to the front field to get it away from the trees.

Went out to bring the boat back to the house when I got home later that week. As I got closer, I could see the axles where bottomed out and the tires where ready to explode.

God bless her sole, Mrs. Dingbat threw a blue tarp over the cockpit to keep debris out which blocked the scuppers.....instant hot tub. Filled the cockpit with 24+" of water. Took 45 minutes and a 5 gallon bucket to bail the water out enough to remove the tarp to let it drain.

Rough calculations put the weight of the water alone at close to #7,000 lbs.

 

[aspeck]

Reminds me of the time I was on the West Coast with a hurricane coming up the Coast. In preparation, Mrs. Dingbat moved the boat from it's usual location out to the front field to get it away from the trees.

Went out to bring the boat back to the house when I got home later that week. As I got closer, I could see the axles where bottomed out and the tires where ready to explode.

God bless her sole, Mrs. Dingbat threw a blue tarp over the cockpit to keep debris out which blocked the scuppers.....instant hot tub. Filled the cockpit with 24+" of water. Took 45 minutes and a 5 gallon bucket to bail the water out enough to remove the tarp to let it drain.

Rough calculations put the weight of the water alone at close to #7,000 lbs.

At least it wasn't gonna blow away in the storm!