P-19 "bilge"

ttursine (ttursine@gnt.net)
Thu, 14 Jan 99 13:15:03 -0000


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West Wight Potter Website at URL
http://www.lesbois.com/wwpotter/
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>What you describe sounds exactly like mine. Mine has coarse glass cloth in
>the same area as yours. Maybe that 1/2" opening on mine is just due to poor
>craftmanship.

Many's the time that 1/2" hole has been my pump port: with a portable,
manual pump when underway and a shop-vac when on the trailer. It _is_
possible to overplan and overbuild these things; pans on the floor and
sealed "keel" areas with inspection ports smack of this to me. The
interior
of that little skeg is every bit of the bilge sump you've got. You need
_somewhere_ for water taken aboard to puddle, unless you're planning to
mop up every boarding drop.

I leave the ugly old floor visible, topped by industrial plastic grid. A
section of the grid snaps out to insert the bilge pump onto that 1/2"
hole.
Been know to take on and remove water quantities measured in gallons (and
accumulated ar rates measured in gallons per hour) this way when sailing
in nasty seas while the keel seal is acting up.

The pseudo bilge has a capacity of about two gallons without undue mess
and slop -- and without having to put your feet in standing water. That's
little enough without further restrictiun.

Regards,
Bill Combs
WWP 19 #439, "Ursa Minor"
Fort Walton Beach, FL
ttursine@gnt.net