E-26 1985 project: electric bilge installation

[rossano20]

Hi first time sailboat owner!
I would like to add an electric bilge to secure my peace of mind between outtings. However, when I look at the lookouts in the floor there's little room to slip a 3/4" hose along side the present manual 1 1/2" bilge hose. Then as I traced that line the route looks impossible. However, I'm confident someone has experienced this.
BTW, Dynamite site
Roland

 

[rwpajak]

Roland,
I have an E26 1987 and installed an electric pump in the floor access hole closest to the companionway 3 years ago when I bought the boat. I just ran the hose up under the floor next to the 1 1/2 " manual pump hose and tee'd it into the manual pump outlet hose back by the stern outlet. Don't recall any problem pushing the hose thru inthe area of the rear corner of the starboard berth/battery box. Lots of wires go thru that area so it appears to have plenty of room.
Bob

 

[rossano20]

Thanks

Thanks for your reply. At this point I'm so anxious to launch that I figure this will make a good project towards the end of the season or prior to. My biggest obstacle was worrying whether I can add another hole at the radius of the rudder.
Did you tee prior to here or beyond? Is there a loop in your hose or does the manual bilge surfice?
Where do you boat from ?Guessing your directly north of me.
Regards,
Roland

 

[rwpajak]

Roland,
Don't understand your comment about "another hole at the radius of the Rudder"??? Running the hose and teeing it into the manual bilge pump outlet took about 2 hrs - cramped space. Yes, I put a checkvalve in the line about 10" from the electric bilge pump and ran the line over the manual pump then down. Also, leveling a spot in the bilge to scew down the pump took some work with an electric drill with a 3/4" router bit and some banged up knuckles. I'm close to having a dry bilge once I install another sump/bilge pump for the ice box drain. I put a dripless packing in last year.
We sail on Lake Champlain out of Champlain Bridge Marina. Where are you?
Good sailing,

 

[Rob]

Bob,

I too am thinking about installing an electric bilge pump in my 1985 E26. I've read your posts, but I can't figure out how you crammed a pump into the tiny, aft-most bilge access compartment.

I was thinking of installing a diaphragm pump so that it could be remotely mounted. Then, somehow, I'd place a solid state switch and the hose end (with strainer) into the "sub-bilge" in the mid or forward bilge access. By "sub-bilge", I mean the area below the TFG bilge pan which you can see (barely) if you shine a flashlight into the limber hole connecting the bilge access compartments.

I've never really been able to figure out this compartmentalized bilge. Though my boat is pretty dry, if it collects any water at all I'll see it just between the transmission and the engine (where there's a small stringer on the floor pan running beam-wise); and just a few drops in the aft-most bilge access compartment. The mid and forward bilge access compartments are always dry, though I have pumped out some water from the so called "sub-bilge" lurking below. This has caused me to think that I should try to find a way to mount the switch and strainer in this sub-bilge area - though I'm not sure how I would actually do that.

I have no idea if other Ericson models have similar issues with a shallow, compartmentlized bilge (which seemingly has a sub-bilge below the TFG pan).

Am I way off here? Can you shed some more light on your installation? Photos, if available, would be great.

 

[Mike V]

I have struggled on this problem as well. I have looked for a bilge pump small enough to fit in the bilge pan on my 1987 E26. The bilge is too shallow for any pump to fit much less the automatic float switch. I have often thought if it would be ok to drill a hole large enough (say three inches wide) and partially submerge the pump below the TFG pan into the bilge below. This would allow the top of the pump to fit under the access cover and enough room for the hose to exit. Every time i decide to do it I get too nervous drilling a hole in the TFG pan of my boat. I think it would work but drilling holes in the hull of my boat is not one of my favorite ideas, especially if there is no guarantee that it will work or cause structural problems. The other problem is many of these pumps will advise that bilge hose should not be much longer that 6 to 8 feet long. This means routing the pump to the stern will be more than likely exceeding the reccommended range by the manufacturer of the pump. My boat does not have any leaks that i know of either above or below the water line. I did not need to pump any water out for the entire season. However, the boat is at a mooring all summer long and it would give me piece of mind to know that if something did give, a pump would be there to at least try and prevent or slow down a possible sinking. Does anyone have any thoughts on doing this? If someone has pictures of where they installed their pump it would be greatly appreciated. Especially if it is from an E26. I just dont know where to install any pump.

Regards

Mike

 

[Rob]

An idea...

Mike,

I've been thinking about how to do this, and I came up with some potential mounting ideas. As described in my earlier post, I'm thinking of using a diaphragm pump that can be remotely mounted. The pump could be mounted high and out of the way on the bulkhead inside the cockpit locker. From there, I'd tee the bilge drain into the propane locker hose (which runs to an above-water thru-hull). Even so, I'd put an anti siphon loop into the bilge drain hose. The bilge switch and strainer-end of the suction hose could be placed just below the transmission in the engine compartment. All components would be in fairly close proximity. The pump (once it primes) would have an almost horizontal run to the tee in the propane locker hose.

Here's the fancy part: Since the pump would be easily accessible from the cockpit locker, I could install a Y valve that would let me select between drawing water from the engine compartment, or from (for example) the aft-most bilge access compartment (by simply running a hose). Theoretically, I could probably find a way to have the "second" hose deployable in some fashion so that I can manually get at the sub-bilge.

If anyone reading this can see problems here, please let me know.

 

[rssailor]

B pump E26

Your boats must be different from mine. My bilge was deep enough for a rule 1100 automatic pump. Never have had much in the way of water in my bilge. My boat is pre-TAFG unfortunatly though. Had a problem with the hoses where they come under the floor into the area under the step and actually had to shim the floor up a bit to keep the floor from crushing the manual and automatic bilge pump hoses. Just a thought as well, teeing into the manual bilge pump line is not that good of an idea if you think about it. What if you are using both pumps for some reason to get water out of the boat fast, the outlet would have to be at least 2" or more depending on the size of the electric bilge pump hose. Good luck guys. Ryan Moonglow E-25+

 

[rossano20]

tiller or wheel

Hi Bob,
Just looking at these posts as once again it's time to exam this project in the off season. Plus, I'm planning on replacing the sole prior to launch this spring.
I'm located in Mystic, Ct where i have come across another 26'er. His is tiller controlled , mine wheel. I will use your advice and thank you.
Happy Sailing