Bilge Water removal

[Spinnytoo]

Hi Folks.....
In reading about the drains on the 1981 Daysailer II, I checked out mine and how they worked (the boat is on the hard)....the question I have is the lower bilge drain had no plug (when I purchased it) and is completely blocked. When I poured water into the bilge through the two inspection ports near the cuddy....water did come out from the stern but not out of the lower bilge drain but out of the De Persia bailer!!! Is this correct????? Not sure what to do if anything. Thanks for any input on this.

[TIM WEBB]

If water can go out of the bilge through the bailer, than it can come in that way, so you definitely want to address that.

What is blocking the bilge drain?

[Spinnytoo]

Hi thanks for the response......when I re-checked, the water was dripping out from the bilge drain but so slowly that it was going to the self bailer and dripping from there. I have cleared out (with a screw driver) the stuff in the bilge drain (looked like broken down floatation foam) and the water began pouring out.....besides a screwdriver to scrape the inside, is there something different I could use to clear the passage way?????

[TIM WEBB]

Yeah, that's the thing with water leaks (be they on your boat or in your roof): where it's drippin' ain't necessarily where it's leakin'!

I've pulled all manner of crap out of TRW's bilge, through every orifice imaginable - OK, sounds a bit scatological, but it's true! See my gallery - I even pulled a rusty old socket wrench outta there that some PO dropped ...

The bilge drain can and does get plugged up with detritus at times, and I've also found myself digging around in there with a skinny screwdriver, trying to coax out a bit of broken off foam or who knows what. Short of installing a fairly large inspection port in the aft cockpit sole (and thereby introducing another possible leak source), dunno any other way to clear that drain ... ?

[jeadstx]

Tim is the master on finding places where a DS II can leak.

As Tim noted, if water is coming out of the auto bailer from the bilge, it will leak in the same way. Might be a good starting point to replace the auto bailer. D&R Marine sells the replacement. I believe it is the same auto bailer used on Sunfish and Lasers, so there may be additional sources for this part. Changing out the old cockpit inspection ports is also good. Water can get in the bilge thru those ports if the seals are gone. There was a thread concerning the correct replacement part a while back as it is an odd sized port.

John

[ChrisB]

I took a piece of stiff wire and bent the last 3/8" or so into an "L" and used that to hook some of the foam and plywood pieces and fish them out of the transom drain.

[TIM WEBB]

Have you made any progress on locating your bilge leak after last weekend Chris?

Didn't look like there was any blockage when you opened up that drain in the parking lot at Christenson's! ;-P

[ChrisB]

I'm fairly sure the suction bailer is the culprit. It is mounted in the "vee" of the hull and there is caulk and/or gasket material that appears to be compromised. I'm thinking about removing the bailer altogether and glassing over the hole. The bailer isn't functional unless the boat is moving fast and I carry a hand operated bilge pump anyway.

[TIM WEBB]

If you do remove it, rather than glassing over the hole, you might consider gluing/epoxying in a piece of PVC tubing and plugging it with a stopper. That way you preserve the cockpit "drainability" while on the trailer.