2018 AR240 new bilge?

[RyGuy0001]

Hello all, Sorry if this has already been asked but I was not able to find the information. I have been told that the bilge pump has been updated in the 2018 ar240. It now has a float switch that will run even with both batteries in the off position. I know that this has been a topic of discussion in older models which you would have to leave the batteries in if you were mooring the boat. Can anyone confirm this is true? I really don’t want to sink my boat but I also don’t want to worry about bringing a charger out to it once a week to make sure the batteries at full.
Thank you in advance.

 

[ZippyBoater]

Hello all, Sorry if this has already been asked but I was not able to find the information. I have been told that the bilge pump has been updated in the 2018 ar240. It now has a float switch that will run even with both batteries in the off position. I know that this has been a topic of discussion in older models which you would have to leave the batteries in if you were mooring the boat. Can anyone confirm this is true? I really don’t want to sink my boat but I also don’t want to worry about bringing a charger out to it once a week to make sure the batteries at full.
Thank you in advance.

I am assuming that you wet slip your boat? If that is the case, you want to have the bilge engaged all the time. The easiest and probably cheapest thing to do then is to install a marine grade battery tender. They run from $100-$200 and will lengthen the life of your batteries.

 

[RyGuy0001]

Thank you for the reply. Yes I will be wet slipping. My problem is that I don’t have access to shore power. I have seen others threads that if you leave your boat wet slipped that you have to leave the power on. But this of course could drain the batteries. What i really want to find out is if the actual bilge was changed in 2018 so that now it will not pull any battery power unless it there is water in the boat. Thank you.

 

[BigAbe75]

I’m not sure. I’m thinking my ‘19 242 still cycles every few minutes. If batteries were off, I think that should stop. I can’t remember for sure, though.

 

[Dough]

Why not just fill the bilge with water, batteries off, and see what happens?

 

[crazy4life]

Why not just fill the bilge with water, batteries off, and see what happens?

I have 2019 AR240 and this is what i did. Filled the bilge with a hose and the bilge pump came on with the batteries in the off position. Dont know about the 2018 but it is pretty easy to fill bilge with hose with batteries off and see if pump comes on.

 

[BigAbe75]

I have 2019 AR240 and this is what i did. Filled the bilge with a hose and the bilge pump came on with the batteries in the off position. Dont know about the 2018 but it is pretty easy to fill bilge with hose with batteries off and see if pump comes on.

Does it still cycle every few minutes checking for water, or is it now a float and just kicks on when water gets high enough?

 

[crazy4life]

Does it still cycle every few minutes checking for water, or is it now a float and just kicks on when water gets high enough?

Guessing it has a float in it. Put hose in the bilge and turned the water on, Couple minutes later pump came on.

 

[AJack]

It has a float and cycles. It'll check, I believe every 2 mins, if the float is up, then it'll kick on the pump, if not, it'll reset for the next cycle.