Challenge: Holed and Taking on Water !

[Knots]

a friend of mine had this happen to him on a salmon charter in lake Mich.
he lost a shaft, and taking water faster then he liked.
So he took the water intake for one of his engines and used it as a bilge pump.bought him enough time to make it in and to the local pull out.
I thought good idea. have you ever needed to do that?
PS. there was a shutoff on the thru hull fitting.
he should have had a zinc bolted to his shaft just before the packing glad.so if a shaft does snap it will still stay in .
also I don't have my catamaran yet.still buying lotto tickets.
maybe some day.
maybe some day I will get stimulated

[iiii]

Lost a shaft oystering once a long time ago. The Capt. solved the pboblem by going over the stern and pushing a pair of jeans in the hole. Got us back to the marina.

[Cheechako]

Had a shaft disconnect from the engine once and slide back free of the tranny. This was right after a bunch of time in the yard and I "upgraded" the rusty bolts with stainless/nyloks! NEVER use nylok nuts on your shaft attachment. IIABDFI (if it aint broke dont fix it!)

[nautical62]

I've heard of that trick, but have also noted, the engine exhaust on both my boats discharges far less than my bilge pumps. Did that make the difference between the bilge pump(s) keeping up and not?

[Cheechako]

yea, just need a tee and valve above your operating seacock. I'm with you though, never have understood how it can do that much, but many have done it....

[David M]

Given it was a salmon charter boat, it probably had some pretty good sized engines meaning that the amount of water discharged would be substantial. That way of dewatering would not work so well if applied to most sailboats which typically have much smaller engines. Its a great idea if your 12VDC system goes down and you don't have much faith in your hand pump system.

[Knots]

this was a boat with two 350s in it so while running back ,the water pumps were running ,and pumping probably faster then a sailboat engine.

[keelbolts]

I, too, had my shaft come out of the coupler, but not out of the boat. After that bit of excitement, I always safety wire the coupler bolts & I keep a shaft zinc on the inside - just in case.

[James S]

I also have a tee with a second valve and hose to the bottom of the bilge between my seacock and strainer.
I think its a fairly common set-up for helping out the bilge pumps.

[Capt Phil]

A few years ago I was involved with a complete refit of a Sea Ranger 65 with 2 Detroit 8V71's. Because the owner was planning some extensive offshore cruising, I felt it prudent to install a setup similar to James S but placed an extra in-line filter between the bilge pick up the T valve. It wasn't the optimal solution but would, I hoped, get us to port or a sandy bottom. We tested it out and found that the pick up volume was sufficient to keep the engines running reasonably cool. Of course, it all depends upon how big the hole is and how much water you are taking aboard. One thing we did do was place an extender on the shut off valve for the regular cooling intake and on the T valve so there would be no engine room diving during what I anticipate would be a rather stressful few moments.

[svcambria]

When I repowered to a Yanmar 4JH3 I put in a manifold to allow the engine to pump water out of the bilge. It wouldn't pump much but it did have an effect - in testing. The better use of this arrangement came in being able to run fresh water through the engine - even on the hard - to purge the engine of sea water. Guess it would come in handy for testing a raw water pump as well. Use flexible hose which can be led to different places.

Michael

[Ram]

i installed 2 3800gph bildge pumps to help me by time if i become holed

[rebel heart]

I have an Edson 165 that will pump 1 gallon per stroke. The thing is a beast.

Rebel Heart - The boat and her crew - Eric's Blog - the manual bilge*pump

Full blast garden hose into the bilge and my 8 month pregnant wife could easily keep up with the water. Rarely was there not a hissing sound on the intake (meaning the water wasn't fully submerging the intake line). The only addition I'd like to make is a little rat cage around the intake, to keep things from clogging, although Edson says a 1"x1" solid object can clear the pump no problem.

We have a (thankfully unused and hope it stays that way) "collision mat" onboard as well as sufficient bung plugs and various DC gear (mini wrecking bar), mallet, hose clamps, two part underwater putty, and other stuff.

[Rou-Coo]

What if the engine water discharge beats the rate of inflow. Then you have a seized engine as well as a big hole in the bottom!

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by Rou-Coo

What if the engine water discharge beats the rate of inflow. Then you have a seized engine as well as a big hole in the bottom!

The idea of that isn't to use it unless things are exceptionally bad, to the point where it is impossible to keep the boat afloat without using the engine's additional intake capacity. Not that an overheated engine is a great thing, but it certainly beats an engine sitting on the bottom of the ocean.