Claims that these pumps do not move enough water, are physically demanding to use, dedicate a crewmember to pumping and not helping to deal with the problem, etc.
JETTISON BILGE PUMP MANUAL
I have read enough opinions (surveyors) on the futility of the manual pump. What about simply removing the manual pump entirely and using that large discharge hose run for a truly monster backup centrifugal? I would plan on keeping the manual setup mounted on a board, etc. Even one good diaphragm pump is still not enough so I had an idea. The next project is to replace the centrifugal pump with a diaphragm type mounted inline in the engine room. As most of you will know the TAFG grid setup in these boats limits the size and placement of pumps and particularly hose and hose runs. It works but its not going to keep up with any real problem. A single Rule 500 run through plenty of hose all the way back to the transom. The base of the mast will then be a fixed end connection and so will in effect have the extra panel implied in a keel stepped mast.I hate to admit it but the bilge pump system in my E38 is just about worthless. If the top plate of the post below the deck (kingpost) is welded and gusseted to the kingpost, and the base of the mast is similarly weleded and gusseted so that a moment connection can be made on both sides, and then the plates are thru-bolted to each other through the deck, then a moment connection is made through the deck and the post below the deck will recieve some moment loadings. No, it is not simplu acting in compression. The next element of the design problem is the portion of the mast below the deck. So glassing in the hole in order to take horizontal loads is really pretty easy. Where the deck is not reinforced to take horizontal thrust then a keel stepped mast is actually significantly weaker than a deck stepped mast, but that is another story.Īt least in the case of my boat, it would appear that the deck is intended to take horizontal loads as there are glassed in fore and aft and athwarthips bulkheads at the mast. Some decks are designed to take horizontal loading and some aren''t. To begin with, if, in its original keel stepped setup, the setion of the mast that is below the deck is considered as being an extra ''panel'' of the mast, which they usually are for design purposes, and which is why keel stepped masts are sometimes touted as being stronger, then the deck structure has to be designed to take thrust from the mast in all horizontal directions. I did discuss this with a couple folks that work at Farr (which are the folks who designed my boat.) While nothing was conclusive, they were in basic agreement with the logic on this. I don''t know how much engineering that you are familiar with but here is how I am looking at this. The result a stronger mast (rigid end connection vs semi rigid), a mast that won''t leak into the bilge, and a mast that will stay aboard just like a keel stepped mast but a mast that can be jetissoned at sea if necesary. When complete the mast baseplate would be through bolted through the deck into the stub mast. My current thinking is that if I ever go offshore I will have my mast cut off at the deck line and have a rigid base plate made at the deck line, close the deck partners and reinforce the deck at the mast base, and then have rigid top plates added to the top of the mast stub in the cabin.
I really hate keel stepped masts and that is one of the primary reasons.
This is something that I too am wrestling with.
I would suggest that you use the plastic frames as mold and throughly glass (mat, then roving set in epoxy)completely over them in order to properly create a set of transverse frames.Īs to rain water getting into the bilge. Plastic tends to bond poorly and be more flexible so that the choice of using plastic for floor frames is a pretty poor one and one that can cause fatigue due to increased flexure where the hull turns down into the bilge. While these may coincidentally hold up the deck their real purpose is to distribut keel and rig loads into the hull. First of all, when you say ''floor joists'' I assume that you mean the transverse frames that are typically glassed to the hull.