E25 Water in Forward Bilge

An open hatch, and a crazy amount of central Texas rain left me with quite a bit of water standing in my E25 (luckily on the trailer). The bilge pump took care of most of it, but there's still water standing the the forward bilge areas on either side of the centerboard trunk.

I have a hand pump that I can get it out of there with, but is this area of the bilge supposed to be separate? I can't see any way for the water to drain aft to where the pump is.

Thanks,
John

John,

You're right. That forward bilge is a problem, because it is not connected to the aft bilge (where there is room for a bilge pump). 2,500 lbs of lead separates the two. Sounds like your water intake was an anomaly, since it was simply a matter of having the forward hatch open during a rain storm. For the E25 and also the E27 (as I have read on this forum), the main problem is that water from the chain locker seeps down to this forward bilge. To counteract this a certain E27 owner some time ago glassed in a shelf and installed through-hull drains at the bow. I was inspired by his work, but I did not want to install a shelf permanently with glass. I also did not want to put through-hulls in the bow. Instead, I installed a shelf, sealed it joints with butyl-tape, and routed a hose all the way from the chain locker to the aft bilge. Here are some pictures.



Roscoe
E25, #226
Oystercatcher

Bilge pump

Roscoe,

That appears to be a Whale electric bilge pump? Do you like it? Has it been reliable?

Looking for something to get the last bit of water out of our main bilge...

Thank you,

Roscoe,

Thank you for clarifying that. It looks like you have a good solution there, and I think my issue was an isolated one.

I have the area pumped out and dry now. If I start seeing water there regularly after anchoring, I'll probably do the same thing.