A load of sheer bilge

If your craft is like most these days, you probably have an electric bilge pump system. Chances are good that it's also fully automatic, which means that unless you're a TV scriptwriter, thinking about bilge is not something that comes easily. But when did you last check? That's always the problem with automatic gadgets isn't it? They're out of sight and out of mind. Forgotten about unless they fail. And it's usually when you're out on the water that they do - when that awful sinking feeling starts, in more ways than one.

All bunged up

Well if your pump stops working, maybe it's just blocked. All kinds of gunk can get into the bilge and it's not exactly fair to expect your pump's filter to cope with everything without a look at now and then. Yes, your bilges should be clean and dry. But did you swab out the boat completely when you came back from the last trip? And have you any idea how much stuff accumulates in the bottom of any boat.

Or maybe you should have a bilge alarm. Here's the control panel of one, to remind you how simple they are. This one is from www.yachtbits.com and works on a float switch that automatically turns on the pump. You can override it on manual for immediate pump-out and set the alarm to sound when bilge water rises too high. Since its winter and you might be at the other end of the country from your mooring, a more sophisticated version actually sends a text message to your mobile.

Force 4's budget manual bilge pump. It's the hard way, but think of all the healthy exercise.

All hands to the pump

But unexpected things happen at sea, don't they? I've had a diaphram go at sea, do you carry a spare? And what happens if for whatever reason your power goes out? Electrics and water don't mix, so it's perfectly possible that at some stage your bilge pump won't work - simply because it can't. What's your backup?

If you're a bit strapped after splashing out for Christmas, Force 4 have a budget bilge pump for under twenty quid that manages a healthy 8 gallons a minute as long as you're fit enough - a nice saving if you think of what you could be spending in the gym. It won't do the job if you're flooded, but with the usual swill inevitable in the bilge, it will at least get you dry.

Attwood's completely submersible Sahara auto bilge pump offers three pumping rates: 500, 750 and 1,100 gallons per hour. From www.force4.co.uk.

Nothing can go wrong, go wrong...

Right, now that's sorted, how effective is your bilge pump when you need it? Like, since we're trying to eliminate doom and gloom, if you're unlucky enough to have a sea cock fail, could the pump work fast enough to cope with the water coming in?

This is a problem with a lot of yachts - that the bilge pumps are fairly low volume and can't handle the load in an emergency. Quite simply, they weren't designed for it.

Solution; fit a higher rated pump. Or better still, have an additional pump that can really give it some welly. Call it going overboard, there's nothing like being prepared - even if it does mean you might have to rethink your batteries to cope with the extra power need.

Having more than one pump has other advantages, you can rotate use from one to the other, making sure they keep working. While you're servicing one, you still have the other up and running at all times. Extravagant, yes. But that's a lot better than having one w-e-e-e-e-e-ak little pump looking after the whole bilge on its tod.

So now you're home and dry. One other thing about electric bilge pumps - they burn out easily if the bilge runs dry and there's nothing left to pump. Whatever you do, make sure they're kept properly primed.