Light twin
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 15
- Reaction score
- 11
- Points
- 52
- Boat Make
- Chaparral
- Year
- 2015
- Boat Model
- VRX
- Boat Length
- 22
Thought I'd share this with you all, certainly something to be aware of…
We use the boat in sea water so it takes quite a bit of fresh water (and saltaway) to wash down the boat afterwards. The boat sits pretty flat on the trailer usually, so having finished washing I cranked up the trailer a bit to help drain the water out the back drain. Once finished I took a look in the engine compartment. There was a bit of water in there as expected. Which got me thinking…surely with all that water hosed around the cockpit earlier I should hear the auto bilge kick in occasionally, certainly while sitting flat on the trailer.
I knew the bilge pump worked - I test it before use and I always hear it - and it still worked on this occasion when I turned it on. So I thought I'd test the auto bilge function. I put the hose in the drain hole and opened the tap and proceeded to watch the engine compartment slowly fill up with water while waiting to hear (and see) the auto bilge kick in. Well, it never did. There was plenty enough water in there to activate the float switch but nothing happened.
So I pumped and drained all the water out and sponged up the rest. Lifting the left transom seat I could see the float assembly sitting on the hull. I reached all the way down with my arm and pinched the float between my fingers to lift it and see just how high it had to go before the pump started.
Well, I quickly realised why the auto bilge never worked - sitting right above the float switch was a black hose which was significantly obstructing the float switch's freedom of movement. I could only move the float up
1 cm at the most. I shifted the hose around a bit and immediately the float switch was free to move up and easily triggered the auto bilge pump.
Once the hull was completely dry I scrabbled around with my fingers between the bilge and the drain hole and scraped up quite a bit of caked sand, an old strap, a broken plastic bind and a broken clamp. I figured it might have been the pieces that was holding the hose up and out of the way of the float. Either way it will have to be tied to the hose above to ensure the float switch is able to function as designed.
I've included some pictures that help illustrate the problem. You can see the hose sitting immediately above the end of the float switch. Next time you're on your boat take a look to check that your float is free to move up as designed.
We use the boat in sea water so it takes quite a bit of fresh water (and saltaway) to wash down the boat afterwards. The boat sits pretty flat on the trailer usually, so having finished washing I cranked up the trailer a bit to help drain the water out the back drain. Once finished I took a look in the engine compartment. There was a bit of water in there as expected. Which got me thinking…surely with all that water hosed around the cockpit earlier I should hear the auto bilge kick in occasionally, certainly while sitting flat on the trailer.
I knew the bilge pump worked - I test it before use and I always hear it - and it still worked on this occasion when I turned it on. So I thought I'd test the auto bilge function. I put the hose in the drain hole and opened the tap and proceeded to watch the engine compartment slowly fill up with water while waiting to hear (and see) the auto bilge kick in. Well, it never did. There was plenty enough water in there to activate the float switch but nothing happened.
So I pumped and drained all the water out and sponged up the rest. Lifting the left transom seat I could see the float assembly sitting on the hull. I reached all the way down with my arm and pinched the float between my fingers to lift it and see just how high it had to go before the pump started.
Well, I quickly realised why the auto bilge never worked - sitting right above the float switch was a black hose which was significantly obstructing the float switch's freedom of movement. I could only move the float up
1 cm at the most. I shifted the hose around a bit and immediately the float switch was free to move up and easily triggered the auto bilge pump.
Once the hull was completely dry I scrabbled around with my fingers between the bilge and the drain hole and scraped up quite a bit of caked sand, an old strap, a broken plastic bind and a broken clamp. I figured it might have been the pieces that was holding the hose up and out of the way of the float. Either way it will have to be tied to the hose above to ensure the float switch is able to function as designed.
I've included some pictures that help illustrate the problem. You can see the hose sitting immediately above the end of the float switch. Next time you're on your boat take a look to check that your float is free to move up as designed.
