[C38] Holes in boats

Mon Oct 3 02:16:21 EDT 2011

as well as additoinal soft plugs that fit any sized hole and emergency epoxy that cures underwater a cordless drill, screws and spare plywood, The example was for discussion but the point is that lots can happen for instance a through hull left open when the boat is unattended or hitting something that puts a much bigger hole in the boat, the amount of water coming in gets staggering when you look at larger holes from something like a dead head, a grounding or even a collision at the starting line.   Many boats mine included came with the small rule 1000 bilge pumps that at tops pump out 16 gallons per minute.  Thats not much of a dent while your looking at how to stop the water or if your not there and the boat is moored at the dock and for example a 1" through hull fails, 28 gallons coming in per minute and 16 going out leave 12 gallons a minute 720 an hour filling the boat, now when you put that number to a picture thats 14.25 50 gallon drums of water in the boat in one hour, at the point water reaches your battery post and your electrical system fails the build up increases by the additional 16 gpm or 19.2 50 gallon drums.  So now your boat is taking on 33.5 50 gallon drums of water per hour, so within a few hours maybe the dark of night when no one is at the dock, your boat sinks.   Versus having a bigger bilge pump that keeps up or ahead of the flow until the next morning when someone might notice the continous stream of water exiting your stern and maybe notifies the dockmaster.   Worse yet your at sea off the coast and need to fix it or deploy the liferaft, its dark water is filling your boat your frantically looking for the source the longer it takes the harder it gets because the boat is filling with water and now your working in sloshing water with a flashlight ripping up the boat moving cushions, provisions and gear  trying to find the entry point, the time gained by adequate bilge pumps both manual and electric could make all the difference.  

Steve  

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From: listserve-bounces at catalina38.org on behalf of S Orton
Sent: Sun 10/2/2011 10:41 PM
To: Cat 38
Subject: Re: [C38] Holes in boats

Steve S,  That is why you have a wooden tapered plug tethered to each through fitting for such a failure.  Cheers, Steve O

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Date: Sun, 2 Oct 2011 21:59:11 -0700
From: SSmolinske at rainierrubber.com
To: listserve at catalina38.org
Subject: [C38] Holes in boats

During the planning stage of one of my current projects (putting a sump in the shower sump, when we have a full crew we can never get the sump emptied and there is always "liguid" left sloshing and the current design just doesnt get all of it out, especailly bad on starboard tack) .  I got the idea to beef up the shower sump with an much larger than needed bilge pump so that in the event that we ever were taking on water we would have another higher capacity pump than the one that is currently installed.  Since Im cutting in the new sump hole its easy enough to make sure things will fit.   

This thought process raised the question of how the capacity of my current bilge pump stands up against say a failed through hull (hull damage a whole different story)   I searched and searched the net until I found the following link that shows the amount of water at different head levels that comes into a boat through different sized holes.    Eye opening to realize that depending on the circumstance and which through hull failed I could loose my boat.   

I have a Rule 2000 in the bilge, thats 33 gallons a minute,  a failed 1" through hull at 2' head level pumps in 28 gallons per minute, interpolating to a 1 1/2" through hull the amount of water coming in is 70 gpm.  If you have never removed your knot meter in the water, try it some time it is amazing the amount of water that fills the bilge before you get the cap on the opening.   Thought I would pass this link along so you can have the information for you own calculations.     

http://www.tpub.com/content/advancement/14145/css/14145_191.htm

Steve
#312 Peregrine
Seattle

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