Lucky Sailor

This is a post from the CS weblist that I still monitor as my previous boat was a CS 30. Just one of those mistakes we can all learn from as we don't want to make this one ourselves. FYI group:

My bilge pump has its own fuse and is attached directly to the house battery, which is hooked to a 3 - stage charger. Your story supports why it is important to do it this way. I looked at an old flush bowed wooden power cruiser back in the day when I leaned in that direction. The bilge pumps ran so constantly that the owner told me it sank one time when a storm cut the power to the docks. Glad your boat didn't sink. Wilkie On Nov 24, 2010, at 7:22 AM, pw… [at] aol.com wrote: > > This is a post from the CS weblist that I still monitor as my > previous boat was a CS 30. Just one of those mistakes we can all > learn from as we don't want to make this one ourselves. > > FYI group: > From my previous posts all the following occurred because I wanted > to change the oil and consequently had a transmission "failure" when > warming the engine oil > . > I had an unfortunate experience yesterday....on my 36T today I > learned that the electrical panel ground is through the starter. > So what you say? Not only is the panel grounded thru the starter, > but SO IS THE BILGE PUMP..... > So what you say? > Well, if y ou still have the transmission out of the boat for work > (and necessarily the starter as well) THE BILGE PUMP WILL NOT WORK > (yes I am shouting) > So what you say? > Well, all would have been well if my hull cleaning guy had not > brushed the hull --AND THE PROP. > So what you say? > I have a dripless shaft seal fitting that is very finicky...if you > move the prop shaft ( when the tranny is not connected ) even 1/8th > of an inch it starts to spurt water.....and it can be a lot of water. > So what you say? > Let me splane......Yesterday morning the inboard prop shaft is very > secure fixed on a 1 x 6 board, and not dripping . The bottom cleaner > cleans the hull.....good so far right? AND he also scrubs the > prop.....vigorously.....thus disturbing the very secure prop shaft > off its mounting board. > Yep, you guessed it. Sea water gushed thru the shaft seal, into the > engine bilge, overflowing into the boat bilge, where the bilge pump > should have kicked in to remove the sea water to its rightful place > outside the boat. Remember now that the bilge pump is unknowingly > inoperative due to not having its ground attached thru the starter. > Yes, the floor boards were floating. > Yes, the previously immaculate bilge now needs power washing AGAIN. > Yes, I damn well will find a different grounding system for the > pump. . > I was SO lucky! Lucky in that I live 2 minutes from my boat and I > just happened to go there yesterday evening. If it had happened > tomorrow, I would have been out of town and my boat would have sunk. > Moral to this story????? DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, CHANGE > YOUR OIL;-) Just kidding.. > > > Terry Pynckel, > Mental Floss > CS36T > >

I have two bilge pumps each connected directly to a different one of the two boat batteries with dedicated fuses. One is very small and keeps the bilge dry. The other one is large and keeps the boat afloat when the small pump fails. I do think the boat would eventually sink without the pumps but then again it is wood. Maybe eventually I will find and fix all the leaks. Allen On Wed, Nov 24, 2010 at 7:22 AM, <pw… [at] aol.com> wrote: > > > This is a post from the CS weblist that I still monitor as my previous > boat was a CS 30. Just one of those mistakes we can all learn from as we > don't want to make this one ourselves. > > FYI group: > From my previous posts all the following occurred because I wanted to > change the oil and consequently had a transmission "failure" when warming > the engine oil > . > I had an unfortunate experience yesterday....on my 36T today I learned that > the electrical panel ground is through the starter. > So what you say? Not only is the panel grounded thru the starter, but SO IS > THE BILGE PUMP..... > So what you say? > Well, if y ou still have the transmission out of the boat for work (and > necessarily the starter as well) THE BILGE PUMP WILL NOT WORK (yes I am > shouting) > So what you say? > Well, all would have been well if my hull cleaning guy had not brushed the > hull --AND THE PROP. > So what you say? > I have a dripless shaft seal fitting that is very finicky...if you move the > prop shaft ( when the tranny is not connected ) even 1/8th of an inch it > starts to spurt water.....and it can be a lot of water. > So what you say? > Let me splane......Yesterday morning the inboard prop shaft is very secure > fixed on a 1 x 6 board, and not dripping . The bottom cleaner cleans the > hull.....good so far right? AND he also scrubs the > prop.....vigorously.....thus disturbing the very secure prop shaft off its > mounting board. > Yep, you guessed it. Sea water gushed thru the shaft seal, into the engine > bilge, overflowing into the boat bilge, where the bilge pump should have > kicked in to remove the sea water to its rightful place outside the boat. > Remember now that the bilge pump is unknowingly inoperative due to not > having its ground attached thru the starter. > Yes, the floor boards were floating. > Yes, the previously immaculate bilge now needs power washing AGAIN. > Yes, I damn well will find a different grounding system for the pump. . > I was SO lucky! Lucky in that I live 2 minutes from my boat and I just > happened to go there yesterday evening. If it had happened tomorrow, I would > have been out of town and my boat would have sunk. > Moral to this story????? DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, CHANGE YOUR > OIL;-) Just kidding.. > > > Terry Pynckel, > Mental Floss > CS36T > > >