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Frozen bilge?

lnill

Member III
I usually leave the mast up on my 38-200 and cover with a Fairclough cover. Every year the bilge fills with water and freezes. I am pretty sure it is all coming down the inside of the mast because when I repainted the mast a few years ago it stayed dry. I have seen one idea where people have bored a hole and installed a plug. I am a bit afraid of doing that.
Any clever ideas out there on how to keep water out or to keep it liquid so I can pump it out?
 

Mort Fligelman

Member III
Bilge Drain

I thought of every way to drain the bilge without being there as I am gone all winter.....some of my friends just put the pink stuff in the bilge and check it after it rains, and take out the excess and add more pink stuff (what my friends lovingly call the RV anti-freeze). Some connect an electric cord and run a pump....but none of this works for me.

I had a 1/2 inch hole drilled one inch above the bottom of the keel cuff, and countersunk for the head of a 1/2 inch stainless bolt......In the spring I put the bolt in the hole with an "O" ring on the taper, and caulk around the threads and washer Inside........install and tighten the nut, and has been working fine since the winter of 2010...no problems.....

It is scary to drill into the bottom, but once done works like a charm....
 

u079721

Contributing Partner
There really isn't a lot you can to to keep all the water out unless you are willing to try and plug every opening up and down the mast. The best advice I have seen is to keep antifreeze in the bilge, which will keep the mix from freezing - at least for awhile. The problem is that the bilge area of the E38-200 isn't that keep, so if you let it go too long you may well have liquid over the floorboards. So I would put one or two gallons of red pop in the bilge, then stop by every few weeks to pump it out and replace with fresh. (You can't just pump it out of course, as that will keep diluting the glycol to the point where it will freeze.)
 

GrandpaSteve

Sustaining Member
I take out the old Datamarine paddle wheel speed transducer and stuff a nylon pot scrubber in the hole to keep any determined critters out of the boat. I think the paddle wheel sensor hole is low enough to keep water below the sole.
 

Tom Metzger

Sustaining Partner
I take out the old Datamarine paddle wheel speed transducer and stuff a nylon pot scrubber in the hole to keep any determined critters out of the boat. I think the paddle wheel sensor hole is low enough to keep water below the sole.

I do this, but also pull the ice box drain hose off of the sea water seacock as a second line of defense.
 

Bolo

Contributing Partner
Purple stuff

We keep our E-32 III in the water during the winter and have never had a problem except for an occasional frozen mast bilge. I obviously can't drill a drain hole but instead use the "purple" anti freeze that is goo down to -100. I fill the bilge by about 1/3 and then check it about every month and I live 1.4 hours away from the boat. This seems to work most of the time. If there is any dilution of the antifreeze then I use a hand pump to get it out and refill back to 1/3 with pure antifreeze. I too could come up with a solution to keeping the mast bilge dry.
 

Tom Metzger

Sustaining Partner
While there is a great deal of conversation about keeping water from freezing in the bilge, it happens every year and there is no negative effect from it. I don't add antifreeze because it would just decrease the amount of water that the bilge could hold.

I said I open a couple of outlets on my boat, but it is not to prevent hull damage. It is to prevent damage to the cabin sole if the water does get too high. On a previous boat I did have an occasion when the water got over the cabin sole when a cockpit scupper and hose parted. I was lucky in that I got to the boat while there was still some ice in the bilge and got rid of it before any damage was done. After that I have always opened drain points.

If I was going to add a drain I would use bronze or stainless, not brass in sea water.
 

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
My problem was ice outside the bilge. I solved it by moving to California.

Insert Deadpan emoticon.

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Jeff Asbury

Principal Partner
My problem was ice outside the bilge. I solved it by moving to California.


I'm with you Uncle Jed. "California is the place you oughta be". :cool:

When my Dad kept his Bayfield 25' up at Ketchikan Alaska for two years all he did was leave a 75 watt bulb burning inside. Amazingly the fresh water tank didn't even freeze.
 

supersailor

Contributing Partner
California

Hmm, I left California due to severe overcrowding and a really-really bad Government. No ice problems up here on the Salish Sea either. Watch out for the light bulb option. The spring on the clamp failed on my previous boat and the bulb fell on a cushion. It melted through the cushion before it burned out. No fire somehow. Now it's a small heater in a safe spot.
 
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lnill

Member III
We actually like the northeast but we do escape to Florida for part of the winter. A couple of good ideas for me so far... Removing the paddle wheel would provide a "safety net". Now I am trying to think of a way to have an auto replenish of purple antifreeze and just leave the bilge pump on. I left purple in last year but we got so much snow that it got diluted and froze anyway. I have not left the pump on for fear of ruining it.
 

Tom Metzger

Sustaining Partner
Inill - Glad to hear that I will see you in Tampa for the Yankees spring training. :rolleyes: Now tell me again why you are wasting money on "purple". Even down south in Salem it won't keep the bilge from freezing.

Don't leave the pump on.

Didn't I read something about "nothing colder than a Salem witch's heart"?
 

lnill

Member III
I do this, but also pull the ice box drain hose off of the sea water seacock as a second line of defense.

:)reply to both posts. First off, Cardinals fan since I am originally from the midwest....not a Yankees fan. We stay in Safety Harbor near Philly's camp.
So you say, "save the money and dont put in any antifreeze" I agree, only thing I am worried about is the cabin sole. Have you observed the bilge being frozen at a level where the paddle wheel through hole came into play and did it drain? If so, that is the plan!!!!

As for "witches heart"...all I can say is do NOT go there around Halloween.....totally nuts. Otherwise, great town.
Lee
 

Tom Metzger

Sustaining Partner
So you say, "save the money and dont put in any antifreeze" I agree, only thing I am worried about is the cabin sole. Have you observed the bilge being frozen at a level where the paddle wheel through hole came into play and did it drain? If so, that is the plan!!!!

I have an E-34, not an E-38, so I'm not the man to talk to. I have never tested my set up because there are too many places under the sole to trap water. Also, you have to take into consideration how the boat is set on the hard. This year my bow is quite high. This is why I open the seawater pump plumbing.

BTW, the NYYs also play in Dunedin (Jays) and Clearwater (Phillies). I hide out on Rocky Point, close to all.
 

GrandpaSteve

Sustaining Member
:)reply to both posts. First off, Cardinals fan since I am originally from the midwest....not a Yankees fan. We stay in Safety Harbor near Philly's camp.
So you say, "save the money and dont put in any antifreeze" I agree, only thing I am worried about is the cabin sole. Have you observed the bilge being frozen at a level where the paddle wheel through hole came into play and did it drain? If so, that is the plan!!!!

As for "witches heart"...all I can say is do NOT go there around Halloween.....totally nuts. Otherwise, great town.
Lee

I leave that paddle wheel out, but I have never seen water rise high enough in the bilge to test it. I make a trip to the boat once a month or so during the winter and pump or vacuum the bilge out if it is not frozen. It is a 2.5 hour drive for me to visit the boat and get some crab soup.
 

lnill

Member III
:)reply to both posts. First off, Cardinals fan since I am originally from the midwest....not a Yankees fan. We stay in Safety Harbor near Philly's camp.
So you say, "save the money and dont put in any antifreeze" I agree, only thing I am worried about is the cabin sole. Have you observed the bilge being frozen at a level where the paddle wheel through hole came into play and did it drain? If so, that is the plan!!!!

As for "witches heart"...all I can say is do NOT go there around Halloween.....totally nuts. Otherwise, great town.
Lee
Well....maybe I'll be a Cubs fan.....
 
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