The mysterious 'Hidden Bilge'

[jmcelwee]

Hi all,

I own a 1984 28+, and I've seen (and dealt some) with the so-called 'hidden bilge'.

I was hoping someone might have some deeper experience with this, or advice, or any additional information. I'm about to dive in to replacing the cabin sole (since it's been pretty much destroyed by the constant barrage from bilge water), and was hoping I could try to rectify (as much as possible) the problem of this hidden compartment during the process.

I'm 'assuming' that this 'hidden bilge' is some kind of large pocket that lives underneath the TAFG? One of the previous owners apparently ended up cutting a 5" hole through the bottom of one of the 'bilge pans' in the TAFG, in order to try and access this hidden area, and it's a shocking amount of space (that in my boat, seems to be constantly full of water). Has anyone tried to deal with this design flaw in any successful way? I'm thinking of trying to cut out the bottom of all of the TAFG pans, in order to have more access to this area (to actually place a bilge pump in the lowest point of the bilge), but wonder if this would be a big mistake on my part.

I'm going down to the boat this weekend, so will take some pictures to post (for visual descriptions), but thought there might be some good advice out there....

Thanks for any help!

 

[jmcelwee]

Futher TAFG bilge thoughts/questions

I was just looking at the brochure for the E28 in the downloads section, and the lateral view of the boat shows the outline of the TAFG. In this case, it would seem that the visible 'Bilge' in the boat (as observed through the bilge access panels) must simply show access to the bottom of the pans, which sit between the 'stringers' of the TAFG (and above the keel and the 'hidden bilge'). If you were to cut the bottoms out of those pans, you would theoretically be looking directly down on the top of the keel from there?

Does anyone know if the TAFG 'stringers' are solid, or hollow? Would it be possible to essentially cut limber holes through the TAFG, below the 'bilge pans' that sit above the keel, thus actually allowing water to pool at the lowest point in the bilge?

 

[Frank Langer]

I think I recall in some of the literature on the TAFG that the stringers are fibreglassed encased foam, ie not solid wood. Perhaps others can confirm or add their knowledge.
Frank