Gordon02
07-09-2018, 11:06 PM
Most of us make dumb mistakes... Fortunately, we live through them and learn something valuable. This is one lesson that I learned and now feel that I need to share in hopes that more will “Fix” the problem. I have corrected the problem on my 2 boats and more importantly, have gotten my friends to make these changes on their boats too.
First, I have been on the water and owned boats for more than 45 years now and never thought I would be in the situation that I tripped into last year. This could have gotten much worse had it been my son, my neighbor, new owner, or any less experienced operator using my boat that day. I can only imagine the outcome of a new owner of a brand new boat. My situation could happen to anyone and to any fishing/closed vessel.
I took my neighbor on the lake in my Allison bassboat. We left the ramp and were out doing several starts/stops with him in the drivers seat. The purpose of the outing was to get him some experience with a foot throttle (Hotfoot) as we were rebuilding his Norris Craft and he was not sure if he wanted his own Hotfoot installed. 20 minutes later I took the wheel and immediately noticed that the boat was sitting low in the water. I quickly jumped up and lifted the bilge locker lid and my heart sank – my Allison’s bilge was almost full of water. The batteries were covered. And the water was still coming.
Well, when I put the boat in the water at the ramp at the start of our trip, I accidentally pressed on the LiveWell pump.at the bow. It’s job is to fill the livewell with lake water continuously. The large “overflow” hose inside the livewell was blocked and did not allow water to drain. The livewell filled, then continued to overflow into the bilge area. This and other bassboats with all of their lockers,lids, and multi-level floors hide what’s going on underneath. I was in trouble and didn’t know it.
Here is where things went very wrong – The bow panel switch for the livewell took priority over the timer-controlled switch /knob at the helm. Nothing I did at the helm would turn the fresh water pump off – water was still coming in! I did not know that I’d accidentally turned it on and certainly didn’t know the helm switch had no over-ride control to switch it off. The bilge pump switch was on – I’d flipped it up as soon as I found the water in the bilge,but there was little/ no progress.
If I cut the main power, I’d lose the bilge pump…think…think…think….I pulled the livewell fuse from the bow panel and stopped the source. I fired up the big engine and headed to the ramp – if I was going to swamp my favorite boat and have to swim, I was going to get closer to the ramp – not a mile away.
Well, I’m here telling you about all of this so we did make it to the ramp and were able to get the boat loaded onto the trailer. Water drained for hours, I had to pull everything out of the lockers, bilge and check the batteries. I forced air into the bilge and lockers for more than a week.
What I found was that my bilge pump had a broken fitting/housing where the hose attaches. The pump was pumping as my ear confirmed, but at least half of what it pumped was going right back into the bilge. – The pump is factory mounted under the fuel tank, so you’d never know this. Yes, I think that stinks, but hundreds are made that way.
The Fix? (and please do plan yours today and get it done on an urgent basis).
1) I installed a brand-new Johnson cartridge pump with an automatic switch. 1,200 gallons per hour. Lots of water capacity and an “auto switch”.
2) While the bilge has a manual switch at the helm as stock with power being switched/circuit protected from the starting battery, but I also took 12V power for the automatic float switch feed from the trolling battery. Its live 100% of the time and will run the pump anytime water exceeds the preset level of the float switch (about ½ “).
3) I installed a bright RED LED into my dash – right there beside the tachometer where I can’t miss it! The light comes on anytime that the bilge pump is on. Whether it’s on from the manual switch or the auto-float switch – that light tells me that my bilge pump is running.
Why the bright Red LED? I want to know any and every time water is in my boat’s bilge I can’t let those lockers and multi-layered floors hide that from me again. ever. If that light comes on, I’m going to find out WHY immediately. I’ve got one boat with all the fancy space-age materials of the Allison and then my fully rebuilt Arrowglass cat fishing boat with new composites and new fittings, but both have hoses and fittings that can come loose, break, or fail. The $4 plastic fitting on the livewell pump is the only thing keeping water on the “outside”. I want to know the if and when…..and a few feet of wire and less than $3 for an LED gives me that. Install an auto switch and the LED so you’ll know too.
Gordon/RTS
First, I have been on the water and owned boats for more than 45 years now and never thought I would be in the situation that I tripped into last year. This could have gotten much worse had it been my son, my neighbor, new owner, or any less experienced operator using my boat that day. I can only imagine the outcome of a new owner of a brand new boat. My situation could happen to anyone and to any fishing/closed vessel.
I took my neighbor on the lake in my Allison bassboat. We left the ramp and were out doing several starts/stops with him in the drivers seat. The purpose of the outing was to get him some experience with a foot throttle (Hotfoot) as we were rebuilding his Norris Craft and he was not sure if he wanted his own Hotfoot installed. 20 minutes later I took the wheel and immediately noticed that the boat was sitting low in the water. I quickly jumped up and lifted the bilge locker lid and my heart sank – my Allison’s bilge was almost full of water. The batteries were covered. And the water was still coming.
Well, when I put the boat in the water at the ramp at the start of our trip, I accidentally pressed on the LiveWell pump.at the bow. It’s job is to fill the livewell with lake water continuously. The large “overflow” hose inside the livewell was blocked and did not allow water to drain. The livewell filled, then continued to overflow into the bilge area. This and other bassboats with all of their lockers,lids, and multi-level floors hide what’s going on underneath. I was in trouble and didn’t know it.
Here is where things went very wrong – The bow panel switch for the livewell took priority over the timer-controlled switch /knob at the helm. Nothing I did at the helm would turn the fresh water pump off – water was still coming in! I did not know that I’d accidentally turned it on and certainly didn’t know the helm switch had no over-ride control to switch it off. The bilge pump switch was on – I’d flipped it up as soon as I found the water in the bilge,but there was little/ no progress.
If I cut the main power, I’d lose the bilge pump…think…think…think….I pulled the livewell fuse from the bow panel and stopped the source. I fired up the big engine and headed to the ramp – if I was going to swamp my favorite boat and have to swim, I was going to get closer to the ramp – not a mile away.
Well, I’m here telling you about all of this so we did make it to the ramp and were able to get the boat loaded onto the trailer. Water drained for hours, I had to pull everything out of the lockers, bilge and check the batteries. I forced air into the bilge and lockers for more than a week.
What I found was that my bilge pump had a broken fitting/housing where the hose attaches. The pump was pumping as my ear confirmed, but at least half of what it pumped was going right back into the bilge. – The pump is factory mounted under the fuel tank, so you’d never know this. Yes, I think that stinks, but hundreds are made that way.
The Fix? (and please do plan yours today and get it done on an urgent basis).
1) I installed a brand-new Johnson cartridge pump with an automatic switch. 1,200 gallons per hour. Lots of water capacity and an “auto switch”.
2) While the bilge has a manual switch at the helm as stock with power being switched/circuit protected from the starting battery, but I also took 12V power for the automatic float switch feed from the trolling battery. Its live 100% of the time and will run the pump anytime water exceeds the preset level of the float switch (about ½ “).
3) I installed a bright RED LED into my dash – right there beside the tachometer where I can’t miss it! The light comes on anytime that the bilge pump is on. Whether it’s on from the manual switch or the auto-float switch – that light tells me that my bilge pump is running.
Why the bright Red LED? I want to know any and every time water is in my boat’s bilge I can’t let those lockers and multi-layered floors hide that from me again. ever. If that light comes on, I’m going to find out WHY immediately. I’ve got one boat with all the fancy space-age materials of the Allison and then my fully rebuilt Arrowglass cat fishing boat with new composites and new fittings, but both have hoses and fittings that can come loose, break, or fail. The $4 plastic fitting on the livewell pump is the only thing keeping water on the “outside”. I want to know the if and when…..and a few feet of wire and less than $3 for an LED gives me that. Install an auto switch and the LED so you’ll know too.
Gordon/RTS