Seaward 25 bilge access

[Duke Taylor]

I recently purchased a 1995 Seaward 25. The sole has been sealed to the boat. Is this normal? Also, if it is, how do I access the bilge in order to inspect it?

Thanks for any help.

Duke

[ohdrinkboy]

I have a 1985 Seaward 22. My bilge access is in what would be the engine compartment if it were an inboard. My understanding is the keel is concrete and metal....all except for a small bilge at the back.

The factory is still open you can call them. Although, my experience is they don't care about dealing with owners of older boats.

[sesmith]

The bilge sump is very shallow and it's located near the front of the cabin sole. The sole is glued down with epoxy, so no access without some modifications. I put a picture of the access cover, a previous owner put in our boat, over on the Seaward forum, in response to a similar question there. Ours has a Rule pump installed under the cover. Works great there. I've heard of other boats that had float pumps under the setee. Boat would flood pretty well before one of those would come on. Link to post below:

Ours...

[sesmith]

[QUOTE=ohdrinkboy;2479341
The factory is still open you can call them. Although, my experience is they don't care about dealing with owners of older boats.[/QUOTE]

I have a feeling this has changed. I got a chance to talk to Darrel Allen, the new owner of Hake Marine, this weekend at the Newport boat show. He seems to be very dedicated to improving the Seaward brand, along with Island Packet and Bluejacket and seems to be very customer oriented.