I keep Louisa in the water all year round and to lessen the risk, or so I thought, I have an automatic electric bilge pump. I visited the boat last week and could hear a low buzzing sound. I traced it to the electric bilge pump. The battery powering it was very low, 10V or 6V depending on where I checked. As this is a brand new AGM 95Ah battery I was pretty upset. I decided to check the other bilge pumps. The cockpit pump failed to prime even though it worked fine last time I checked. The emergency bilge pump which is a double action pump, fitted so that I can still make a cup of tea if I need to, still needed testing. I filled the bilge up and started pumping, river water sprayed all over the forepeak where the outlet is! It emptied the bilge in seconds but not before there was a lot of water over my spare sails and the heads. I couldn't replicate the fault on the electric pump but another club member who has a wooden boat reckons he gets through 2 pump / switches a year said replace the whole system. So, new electric bilge pump on order with a battery saver cut off. I have spares for the cockpit pump and I think I have sealed the leaks in the emergency pump outlet line. Also, I think I may have saved the battery, several 30 minute runs on the engine at high revs and it seems to be taking charge again. Long story short, I'll be checking my bilge pump systems more regularly and I have left a bucket in the cockpit.
No comments:
Post a Comment