Keeping the Water on the Outside

There will be 8 below the waterline thru hull penetrations for two cockpit drains, engine cooling water, a speed and water depth transducer, galley sink drain, head sink drain, raw water intake ( to a manifold serving 3 washdown stations, the watermaker, and the AC/Heater) and the head discharge. All of the thru hulls except the trnasducer will be protected by 1 1/2 inch Spartan flanged seacocks.

A hose and/or seacock valve failure at any of these points could sink the boat. A hull breach as a result of a collision or an open or broken hatch or port hole in heavy weather are also threats to the vessel buoyancy.  An effective bilge pump system might stem the flow of incoming water enough to buy time to effect repairs, send a mayday or launch a life raft.  Day in and day out the bilge pump system will be charged with keeping the interior of the boat dry by removing any accumulation of casual water (a golf term?) in the bilge.

The BCC bilge is deepest  ( and also narrowest) aft of the engine below the fuel tank. Further forward between the two water tanks the bilge is slightly shallower but accessible. With this in mind, Rose will be equipped with 3 bilge pumps, two electric submersibles and one manual diaphram pump.

The Rule 1100 is rated to 10 gallons per minute with 4 feet of head and will serve as the primary bilge pump. It's small enough to fit in the bottom of the bilge below the prop shaft and has an integral float switch and strainer.  A larger Rule Model 3700 will serve as the secondary high water pump and will be situated between the two water tanks about 6 inches off bottom.  The manual Whale Gusher 10 will be mounted on the lazerette side of the cockpit.  Each of the three pumps will have its own discharge line with an in-line non-return valve.

So, assuming the engine is running, batteries are fully charged and a fresh crew member is manning the Whale Gusher, all three pumps working together will be able to remove about 45 gallons per minute.   Finally, for cruising I will keep a spare Gusher with 6 feet of suction hose and a strum box, so if there's no power and manually pumping from the cockpit is not feasible........ pull the discharge hose off the Rule 3700 and connect it to this pump.