[C320-list] bilge pump issue

[appleton1 at yahoo.com]

Early 320s had shallow bilge.
How deep is yours?
Our 1994 model is shallow. And has two pumps.
The manual pump—-located in the coaming above the starboard lazarette—-has a hose into the bilge that’s been fitted with a flat-bottomed strainer, which screws down to the bilge floor. I added the strainer, purchased from either West Marine or Defender.
It’s abetted by an electrically powered Rule centrifugal pump, with a separate hose going aft (which I assume is Y’d into the same exit through hull as the one from the manual pump).
Neither works well. The run to the transom outlet is so long that when either pump stops, the back flow into the bilge refills it.
I end up sponging out the shallow bilge by hand. I suppose that in a crisis they’ll work okay.
- Joe Jablonowski
#103 s/v Assignment 

===========================

> On Jul 15, 2021, at 9:20 PM, Scott Thompson <surprise at thompson87.com> wrote:
> 
> My 1999 boat (hull 653) has the original diaphragm bilge pump under the port settee. I've had almost no problems with it over many years until recently. Last season I had a few occasions where the bilge pump would come on and not shut off unless I killed power to it to reset it. I assumed the sensor in the bilge was bad and replaced it over the winter. But the problem remains.
> 
> When this happened recently I noticed that the pickup hose in the bilge was not secured and had moved around. I think this probably happened when we were sailing through some fairly big seas and strong winds with a lot of heeling and boat motion. My current hypothesis is that the hose pickup ended up somewhere between the high and low settings for the sensor so that when the pump was triggered by the sensor at the high setting it started sucking air before the water level dropped below the low setting. This would explain the pump coming on but not shutting off even though it was no longer pumping water. Cutting and restoring power then shut it off.
> 
> All of this made me wonder whether that hose end is supposed to be secured somewhere in the bilge, and if so how. I didn't see any place where it appeared to have been secured previously. However the problem did not occur for many years until recently. Does anyone with a similar vintage boat have the hose secured? If so, how? A picture would be appreciated.
> 
> As for where the water is coming from, I determined I need to repack the stuffing box next time we haul out. I'm getting a drip every four seconds with the engine off despite having the dripless packing. Must be worn out.
> 
> Scott Thompson
> Surprise, #653 (1999)
>