Sweet Dreams
Member
Why so much water?
. I don’t know what kind of boat you have, open or closed? Wood or plastic? But I would be concerned as to why the boat is taking on so much water? In my experience harbor masters seldom catch a problem before it becomes a serious problem. It is better to pay someone to watch the boat. Bilge pumps can fail for many different reasons. Good to have a back up bilge pump! My bilge is wired directly to the battery. Does not go through the main switch. This way when I leave the boat I shut my main off and the bilge pump still operates. This way I don’t have to worry about losing power from something that is inadvertently left on. I would be checking to see how your charging system is wired. It may be that it will only charge the battery selected at the main power. Where was it selected last time you ran the boat? Do you have a float switch for your bilge pump and if so are you sure it didn’t stick in the on position running the battery down?I had VERY nasty scare. A new to me Trawler I bought about 2 weeks ago that I docked at a yacht club 3.5 hours away (until the Erie canal opens this is the closest I could get it to me.) gave my heart a hit.....................
Even though I asked the harbormaster to keep an eye on it and explained I mostly was concerned about it taking on water before I left, I said I would be back in 9 days to check on it.... well, I arrived two days ago to see it sitting very low in the water. It had taken on about 12 inches of water.
I jumped on the boat and turned the DC panel dial switch to BOTH battery banks and the bilge pump immediately kicked into action and began working to remove the water.
Thankfully the water did not reach the engines or any electricals.
BUT it really shook me up.
I talked with the surveyor who surveyed it when I bought the boat, the Captain I hired to go with us in the boat to bring it to this club, a marine electrician near the club, and my own diagnostics --- and the best I can come up with is the battery drained because we had the switch on to battery bank 1 and there was an unknown draw, so the bilge pump did not kick on for 9 days because it is wired to bank 1. Even though the boat was PLUGGED INTO TO SHORE POWER the batteries did not charge even though I thought shore power would go through the inverter and keep the battery 1 charged (there are 3 battery banks)
I plan to get a highly recommended marine electrician to install a second BILGE pump, as a back up... AND also go through the electrical system to give me an unquestionably clear understanding of what is on all the time and what is off and what is functioning with the breakers.
And I want an APP to my CELL PHONE to provide operational info on the bilge pump or give me a float level reading or some indicator of amount of water in my boat.
Im the meantime I am having yacht club manager take photos of my boat's waterline every day and text it to me and also left my keys with clear instructions on what to do with harbormaster if the waterline changes.
Man, this is a horrible feeling. I would not wish it on anywone. When you question whether or not your bilge pumps will kick on and when you have a new (old) boat and you are just learning what is going on with it but you have to leave it hours away from where you live due to CORONA VIRUS....