This weekend halfway between Ventura and
Santa Cruz Island (So Cal) high capacity
bilge alarm the I installed (Rule 3600) goes off and to my surprise
water inches deep under the
cabin sole. It is a horrifying thing to see which I hope nobody ever has to experience.
First, I tasted it....fresh not salty...stress dropped 1000%. Shut off all the
water tanks to the pressure
pump. I noticed, but ignored, when I first went in that the light to the pressure
pump was on...but all the faucets were off. I also noticed that over 50gals (I have a water meter coming out of both aft/forward water tanks) had been consumed.
Took me over an hour to clear the rest of water as the filter from useless little
bilge pump from
Jeanneau kept getting clogged with debris and the manual
bilge pump did not pump.
When I turned the
water pump back on I heard gushing water behind the cabinet in the forward
head. It turned out that the one way valve the I installed between a T at the faucet and the
head before the solenoid valve had split in half allowing the water to run free...all 50 gallons.
What I learned...
1. Taste the water
2. If you are going to put a one way valve to protect your water supply, put it after not before the solenoid valve.
3. Pay attention to everything else to isolate the problem...seeing that the meter displaced 50 gallons used and that the pressured
water pump was on tells me the problem was after the pump and not a ruptured water tank on a line leading to the pump from the tank.
4. Install a good high capacity
bilge pump....the little pump is USELESS.
5. Do not assume that your manual pump works. My
boat is only 6 years old ...you assume the manual pump works. I never tested it when I bought the
boat.
6. Stay calm and pray or you may be prey to a water critter.
I will say it again....looking at water under the
cabin sole and seeing it flooding in the middle of water is a terrifying thing to see.
Abe