34’ Bulkheads

[Greg Grivetto]

I just looked at a 1979 34, real first look at the innerds, and noted one continuous bilge, stem to stern. Is this the case with all of them, and if so, has anybody made watertight bulkheads?

I come from 46 CFR world and was kinda shocked. You spring a leak somewhere and you flood the entire bilge…at least in the boat I looked at today.

 

[Comodave]

Are you referring to a Mainship 34? In that vintage most boats have a continuous bilge. The bad thing is when you get some oil in the bilge it goes everywhere.

 

[chc]

Yup, far as I know it is one loong bilge. Our 1984 LRC has the same setup. We operate mainly in the Chesapeake Bay, but the PO had it offshore enroute to Maine. Apparently not one of his concerns. It is also a pretty shallow bilge, so I'm not real sure how you could make (a) watertight compartment(s). Guess the trick is to keep the water out.

 

[Greg Grivetto]

Are you referring to a Mainship 34? In that vintage most boats have a continuous bilge. The bad thing is when you get some oil in the bilge it goes everywhere.

Californian 34

 

[CharlieO.]

Not a Californian, but I sealed up my forward bulkhead to prevent bilge water from going under the forward state room floor. It all dried up nicely and I get no water in the forward part. I did drill one hole higher up on the bulkhead so that if water to get into the forward compartment it would drain to engine room bilge and pumps before flooding the forward stateroom floor. The drilled hole is also above the level of my high water alarm in the engine room so that would sound long before engine room bilge could enter the forward cabin bilge.

 

[PM]

Some Taiwan Trawlers have no bulkheads in the bilge and have rather flimsy construction in the hulls. Talk the the travel lift operator and see if he feels your make and model fit the flimsy category, They know from lifting and blocking which boats are flimsy. If yours is you might want to keep looking.

pete

 

[Bacchus]

Just to clarify this for any Mainship owners looking in...
I could be wrong but my understanding from poking around my 2008 MS 34 HT (same as 34T) bilge & ER over the years is as follows:
ER & Gen / lazarette area is all connected via limber holes in the various stringers
The low point is the compartment fwd of the engine & under the fuel tank / between the fresh water tanks where a bilge pump and hi water pump are located
AFAIK the bulkhead fwd of the fuel & FW tanks is solid with the one low thru hole sealed w/ silicone - I have poked a wire or two thru the silicone in that "opening" but believe it is solid otherwise. I have also used pull strings, left in place from mfg, to pull a couple wires through stbd side of that bulkhead but up high above the fuel tank. I could not see that hole but assuming it was not sealed but level would be just below saloon floor.
The bilge area ahead of that bulkhead is common, has its own bilge pump and is completely dry in my case unless I pull a hose for the head pick up or spill shower sump when cleaning.

 

[Greg QS]

Its a 1979. Boats were built different back then. Had a 1978 full open keel bow to stern. Want a compartmental boat by somethin newer.

 

[FlyWright]

Some Taiwan Trawlers have no bulkheads in the bilge and have rather flimsy construction in the hulls. Talk the the travel lift operator and see if he feels your make and model fit the flimsy category, They know from lifting and blocking which boats are flimsy. If yours is you might want to keep looking.

pete

The OP is posting in the Californian section about the Californian 34 LRC. This boat was built in the good ol' US of A in Southern CA, not a Taiwan Trawler.

Mine is a 1977, Hull #1, and it's build like a tank. As explained to me by Gil Marshall while his father, Jule, listened in on speakerphone, they really didn't know how thick the hulls needed to be since they were just learning so they overbuilt them resulting in a very thick, heavy hull. No coring here.

After my boat was on the hard for a couple weeks for new running gear and shaft seals, I asked the yard about letting the boat rest in the water before the final adjustments to the PSS seals. The yard manager's reply was that these boats are very solid and don't twist like some cored hulls.

Mine also has a single bilge running the length of the boat. All those I've seen are the same. Not uncommon from boats I'm familiar with in under-50' size.