Will someone explain to me what's going on here? (Ericson 32)

[nich]

Wow! What an unexpected amount of responses. This is amazing!! Great to see this community is actively contributing to helping others. I will be heading down to the boat to clean things up, assuming it takes multiple days. All of these responses are extremely helpful! I will more than likely respond to each response as I go through them. Will also update my profile with my boat information!

Happy Sunday and Happy Sailing!

 

[mjsouleman]

Bob, The meeting is less about Ericson's and more about a bunch of sailors getting together to talk and get to know each other.

You have got to join the December meeting to get a feel for what the members bring. It's just like the Annapolis meetings we had back in 2019, food, drink, and fun.

Mark

 

[Tin Kicker]

What about a discussion about the ABYC E11 Electrical standards, analysis of an electrical failure, and maybe a bit about Li-ion batteries?

 

[windblown]

My sailboat is too. It can be single-handed, is a great size, and the alternatives were the Catalina 30 or Pearson 323.

FWIW - I'm pretty comfortable on the water, having grown up on a lake and just spent a month living on the 170 footer in the background as Project Manager for recovery of a wrecked airplane. This was the 6th water recovery I've been part of.

Mine, too.
Grew up with power boats, and crewed for others, but my first (and perhaps last) sailboat is a 32.

 

[windblown]

Wow! What an unexpected amount of responses. This is amazing!! Great to see this community is actively contributing to helping others. I will be heading down to the boat to clean things up, assuming it takes multiple days. All of these responses are extremely helpful! I will more than likely respond to each response as I go through them. Will also update my profile with my boat information!

Happy Sunday and Happy Sailing!

Hello all!

This is one of my first posts here and after lurking for quite some time, I am making one of my first posts!

I recently acquired an Ericson '32. I have been cleaning things up and researching maintenance on the boat.

Upon checking the bilge area I noticed the tubes running near the bilge are looking to need replacement. Any recommendations where to start? This is my first boat and I apologize if this is a dumb question, just don't know who else to ask! Photo / video below for reference. Thank you so much!

http://imgur.com/uHpsXCz

Welcome! The delightful personalities, quick responses, volumes of expertise and experience, and generous, supportive spirit make this forum a real treasure and a fine community. I get (almost) as much satisfaction from learning how to maintain and improve our 32-3 as I do from sailing her.

 

[nich]

"Tubes." Hmmm, around here we'd refer to those as "hoses" and you're going to want to become familiar with where each one starts and stops. They have generally been replaced, upgraded, and customized on each hull over the years, and what we're looking at here probably go FROM the fresh water tank (in the bow?) through an electric pump or series of hand/foot pumps, possibly through a water heater, to each faucet and shower on board.

You'll also find hoses associated with the bilge pump(s), engine intake, cockpit drains, and cooler drain. It is of paramount importance that every single one that connects to a fitting that goes through the boat be in good repair, connected with two hose clamps for redundancy, and attached to a solid through-hull fitting that can be closed safely and effectively. Boats sink every single day when a through-hull fitting or hose fails.

Hoses, yes! After posting, I was looking for the edit button! lol. Thank you for the heads up on becoming familiar with everything, I think that's more than likely the most important. I will be going through the boat extensively and looking for things you listed above and am having a thorough survey being done!

To clean that out, you're going to need a wet/dry vac, a lot of degreaser like Simple Green, a couple of brushes that you never want to see again, and a few huge rolls of paper tower. Task one is to get the existing water out of there - but the bilge is shallow, it's probably a lot less water than you think. Task two is to get all the dirt out of there. Task three is to do your darndest to keep future water out, which will be the largest challenge of all.

I keep a small $30 wet/dry vac from Home Depot on the boat. Keep in mind that small vacs cannot LIFT water very high, but they can drag it sideways pretty well. And, assuming it's salt water, which it isn't necessarily, make sure you get it out of the vac motor or you'll be replacing it soon.

Got the shop vac and am cleaning things up! Lots of gunk down there, like years upon years of build up. All great tips!

Not sure of the year (vintage) of your E-32 but our ‘73 E-32 had copper tubing that size used for the fresh water system pump in the head and galley sink.

Alas, THAT (darn solid) tubing in the head area used to frustratingly rattle as the pressure pump kicked in every time as well.

Our refit has circumvented the old system and been replaced with a softer fresh water approved hose system that now makes NO obnoxious noise every time the pressure system is used.

Yours may not be making the obnoxious vibration sounds like ours did and function perfectly well - but - money is bet on what you posted as simply being your fresh water supply and delivery system.

Ahh, will need to see what mine is looking like and I appreciate the tip! I am sure eliminating future noises will come in very handy!

Also look around to see where that oily greasy stuff came from. Leaking fuel tank? Fuel filters or fittings? Maybe an oil change gone badly and dumped in the bilge? Mine looked similar and was from a leaking fuel tank. Cleanup as per Tenders advice. Gross but worth it so you won’t mind working in the bilge when you replace all the hoses. Good luck with it!

Definitely! cleaning the area will make things smell better and have a better area to work in! Will clean it up as most as possible and see where the stuff is coming from! Could be any of the above, we should know soon!

Also looks like copper flare-tube Tee’s jammed into plastic tubes. There are much cheaper and more durable plastic Tee’s actually made for that.
???

Not sure but I am wondering now too haha!

Your first boat is a 32 footer?

Alright, first boat was a row boat with a gas motor on our local lake where I grew up. First sailboat!

heh heh heh...

yeahhh it's going to get messy lol.

My sailboat is too. It can be single-handed, is a great size, and the alternatives were the Catalina 30 or Pearson 323.

FWIW - I'm pretty comfortable on the water, having grown up on a lake and just spent a month living on the 170 footer in the background as Project Manager for recovery of a wrecked airplane. This was the 6th water recovery I've been part of.

Woah!!

^^ Prude ^^

lolol this made me laugh

Echoing other advice here about cleaning it up !
Looks like a cleanup is about 30 years overdue.
I would first restore the environs to a clean condition. Yes, it's messy work, and that's the main reason the prior owners chose to ignore it. Several days of cleaning, and a bunch of disposable towels later it will look newish again. Then get out a pencil and pad and diagram out the present system of hoses and tubing.
In my case, I replaced the OEM plastic semi-rigid tubing in our fresh water system with flexible hose (with an FDA approved liner) and barbed fittings. Ours is an 80's Ericson, and each era will have the builder's system choices for plumbing.
Nothing wrong with it when it was new, but materials evolve. I would not run copper tubing thru the bilge, altho EY did that for the fuel supply tubing in our boat (and I replaced it with USCG-approved hose).
Let us know how the restoration goes and do post up some pix of the area after it's de-gunked.

It sure does look 30 years overdue! Pencil and pad diagram is a great idea, especially to keep onboard. I will look into those parts because of course things will need to be replaced so the specific parts are extra helpful but I will know them all soon! I will post pics when time permits! Thanks!

I’ll take the under on Loren’s time estimate. The drier you can get it before you start cleaning, the more effective the degreaser is. That’s a couple of hours of spritzing, scrubbing, wiping, and vacuuming. If the bilge stays dry, after a week or two I’d also recommend a heavy coat of Bilgecote paint in the grey color. It’s a durable coating that makes future cleaning much easier. However, it does not (nor does any other paint) stick to a wet or greasy base, it fails if kept submerged for long, and it doesn’t/can’t resist prolonged contact with fuel, so you might want to wait a while before painting to see how that environment fares.

Awersome, thanks for the tip on the bilgecote paint. I have not heard of it previously and will look for it!

Hi Nich,

Please fill out your profile with boat model, year and engine.

Then click on your name and add that info to your signature line, and the info will appear automatically under each of your posts ( as most of us have done).

Oh, and ask any question you can think up. The identification of your exact boat will make answers specific.

Will do that! Thank you!

 

[nich]

Good news! I brought some cleaning supplies and buckets to clean out the bilge! It was a dirty job with lots of left over waste but well worth it!

http://imgur.com/BasbZdH

Then, I noticed in the back area where the bilge pump empties water, was filled with rain water. I vacuumed that all out then noticed a hose that was not attached completely. So basically, the majority of water which was trapped was not able to exit properly. Seemed to be an endless cycle of rain water coming in through the back storage area where the bilge pump exits water, flooding into bilge area, then not exiting completely.

http://imgur.com/z0epGb8

So yeah, got rid of all the water ^ and there appears to be no more water stacking up in the bilge pump area.

Now I just need to find a replacement for the broken piece above! I called West Marine with no luck. Any suggestions?

 

[Tin Kicker]

Go to HomeDepot.com and search on
flexible tubing

 

[nich]

Go to HomeDepot.com and search on
flexible tubing

Looking now! Thank you

 

[Loren Beach]

A proper cleaning like that reminds me of the old saying that goes (something like) when you do it right, you only cry once......

 

[nich]

A proper cleaning like that reminds me of the old saying that goes (something like) if you do it right, you only cry once......

Completely agree! Felt very rewarding. I appreciate the motivation!

 

[Christian Williams]

West Marine carries varieties of appropriate Shields hose, also available on line.

West Marine Storefront Catalog | West Marine

Shop the best selection of West Marine Storefront Catalog from West Marine. Visit for products, prices, deals and more!

www.westmarine.com

Bilges get dirty. I had mystery oil in mine after a recent long cruise. Over the weekend I put a gallon of Home Depot Citrus Cleaner in the bilge, and then filled it near the floorboards with hot water from the boat tap (still hot from the day before). I motored around for an hour, sharp turns to rock the boat, and pumped it out offshore.

That helps get the glop out of the TAFG compartments, but like you there was still a good deal of paper towels consumed and a need for a shower afterwards.

I like periodically getting salt water out of the bilge. Stuff doesn't dissolve in it, soap doesn't work well, and since most bilge is rain it seems to stay cleaner with the occasional fresh water wash.

 

[Martin King]

Looks like 1 1/2 flex hose. For bilge pumps and applications like that, I like this hose: https://www.fisheriessupply.com/trident-marine-series-144-trident-vac-hd-bildge-and-livewell-hose

 

[Loren Beach]

From the picture, that is the same design I used for my new bilge pumping hoses. It was not branded tho, but from a reputable local industrial supply company.

 

[southofvictor]

West Marine carries varieties of appropriate Shields hose, also available on line.

West Marine Storefront Catalog | West Marine

Shop the best selection of West Marine Storefront Catalog from West Marine. Visit for products, prices, deals and more!

www.westmarine.com

Bilges get dirty. I had mystery oil in mine after a recent long cruise. Over the weekend I put a gallon of Home Depot Citrus Cleaner in the bilge, and then filled it near the floorboards with hot water from the boat tap (still hot from the day before). I motored around for an hour, sharp turns to rock the boat, and pumped it out offshore.

That helps get the glop out of the TAFG compartments, but like you there was still a good deal of paper towels consumed and a need for a shower afterwards.

I like periodically getting salt water out of the bilge. Stuff doesn't dissolve in it, soap doesn't work well, and since most bilge is rain it seems to stay cleaner with the occasional fresh water wash.

A first bilge cleaning since purchasing our E38-200 is on my upcoming to-do list. Noob question - what’s the best way to pump out offshore after running the agitation cycle?

 

[Christian Williams]

I just use the electric bilge pump. To speed things up, its a good time to get used to the Whale manual pump.

I decided to improve the Whale with a much longer handle. Leverage don't you know, the whole Archimedes thing, which Whale was too uninformed to recognize, and too innocent of philosophy.

When I started "sinking" off Hawaii, I installed my marvelous improvement, it being a five-foot long oak broom handle especially tapered to fit the whale lever. And to replace the pathetic and obviously inferior 18" steel handle which the manufacturer, in its rush to profit and disregard for mariner safety, provides with each big diaphragm pump.

Hmmmm. Here I was, pumping like mad, and the arc of my extended handle was now about four feet.. From deck to over my head, up and down. It took about one minute to realize this was not only not an improvement, but a complete misunderstanding on my part of how the pump works.

It's designed for short strokes, which are of course much faster than long strokes. It's designed so you can steer, and pump , at the same time--which I did for two hours. Tiring, but do-able.

Don't tell Archimedes how I blew it--he would have surely seen the problem. And don't call him surly.

Make sure the diaphragm pump works, it may need renewal and so may its hose. It pumps a big volume of water, a volume sufficient even to stave off disaster for quite a while.

 

[southofvictor]

I just use the electric bilge pump. To speed things up, its a good time to get used to the Whale manual pump.

I decided to improve the Whale with a much longer handle. Leverage don't you know, the whole Archimedes thing, which Whale was too uninformed to recognize, and too innocent of philosophy.

When I started "sinking" off Hawaii, I installed my marvelous improvement, it being a five-foot long oak broom handle especially tapered to fit the whale lever. And to replace the pathetic and obviously inferior 18" steel handle which the manufacturer, in its rush to profit and disregard for mariner safety, provides with each big diaphragm pump.

Hmmmm. Here I was, pumping like mad, and the arc of my extended handle was now about four feet.. From deck to over my head, up and down. It took about one minute to realize this was not only not an improvement, but a complete misunderstanding on my part of how the pump works.

It's designed for short strokes, which are of course much faster than long strokes. It's designed so you can steer, and pump , at the same time--which I did for two hours. Tiring, but do-able.

Don't tell Archimedes how I blew it--he would have surely seen the problem. And don't call him surly.

Make sure the diaphragm pump works, it may need renewal and so may its hose. It pumps a big volume of water, a volume sufficient even to stave off disaster for quite a while.

Great story! Followup question - how do you keep the water being pumped out from going into the drink? Is there a way to rig a hose from the through-hull to a container on the dock? How much liquid are we talking about if we fill the bilge near to the floorboards?

 

[tenders]

Here I was, pumping like mad, and the arc of my extended handle was now about four feet.. From deck to over my head, up and down.

Wow, Christian, you look taller in your videos!

 

[Christian Williams]

Victor, around here I motor a mile or two offshore and pump out . It's just soap suds, but pumping out in the slip covers the water with foam for a hundred yards.

 

[Michael Edwards]

Tear it all out, and start fresh without the copper! That is, if it is waterlines.