Battle of the Bilge on the 240SD

[denwatson]

I know, I know we've beat this bilge water topic to death. But I like my coffee hot/hot and my beer ice cold/cold. So the choices for ice cold beer on the 240SD are the bow cooler, the helm cooler or a carry on cooler. You'd have to be nuts not to use the bow cooler. It holds a case of cans and two 7LB bags of ice, it's easy to get to and easy to drain. Except it drains into the bilge instead of overboard. First it soaks the anchor line, then the bow locker, the cockpit locker and winds up in the engine bilge but not deep enough to activate the bilge pump. Just don't like water in the bilge if it can be avoided. I investigated installing an overboard drain and it can be done. Turn the cooler barbed drain elbow in the anchor locker about 75 degrees clockwise, attach some hose, poke a hole in your hull and install a through hull fitting and your done. The hole would still be above the strake line on the hull and would drain. It would also backwash water up the line when slowing or hitting some wakes, but with a stopper in the cooler would be stopped from entering the cooler. Bottom line, I just couldn't drill that hole. So on a 10 day trip on the water, two 7LB bags of ice per day we've still got 20 gallons of water flowing into the bilge. That' four Sparkletts bottles! Still on the hunt for a solution I stumbled on a small, portable, battery operated bilge pump. $46 at West Marine. So now at the beginning of the day I clear a space on the bottom of the cooler, set the pump on the bottom and hit the switch. It speedily pumps the water down to about a 1/4 inch deep. Its got a hose to hold overboard and stores neatly around the pump. I keep the pump under the bow seats so its handy to get to and to store. And please don't recommend those frozen ice packs, they make beer cool but not ice cold. Happy boating!

 

[CraziFuzzy]

You could go with the thru-hull drain idea, and add a quick turn valve in the line, so you can drain it daily or whenever you replenish the ice. You could really get creative and remove the 'installed' cooler, and see if one of the 12 volt peltier based coolers would fit in there.. cold beer without the ice..

Also, realize, that your beer will get cold faster in ice-water, than it will in a dry ice chest, as the heat transfer from the barely corner contact of ice cubes to bottle will be a lot slower than the beer submerged in 33 deg water.

 

[tdschafer]

Cool idea. It's quick and simple! My kind of solution!
Todd

 

[chuck1]

Cool!

 

[denwatson]

Good idea Fuzz. You are practically a neighbor I'm in Camarillo.

 

[tcason]

That would be good to pump out the 240SD ski locker where water is below the bulk head drain pipe.

 

[techmitch]

That pump is bad ass, I have had one for over 6 years. I originally bought it for the dink when i am involved in this http://picasaweb.google.com/ibeach3000/2010MiddleRiverDPR?feat=email#slideshow/5521302938397673650 (Middle River Dinghy Poker Run) crazyness or when i come down to the boat and it has rained during the week and the dink is half full of water. I must say though, it looks like your battery's are low or they have changed the pump output because my output will squirt approx. 1.5' before it starts to angle down.

 

[denwatson]

I'll check my batteries but it'll have to wait until next season, our boat is 350 miles away. I think the owners manual said this little guy will pump 200GPH seems impossible but based on your photo you need 200GPH or at least a good life jacket!
Regards.

 

[surfinjoe]

I know this is an old thread, but holy crap!!!! Your bow cooler holds a case of beer and 14 lbs. of ice? The 220 bow cooler hardly holds a six pack! You guys are so lucky! We are always fighting for cooler space on my boat. I actually have (2) soft sided 'overflow' coolers for when the wife actually packs us food. My bow cooler is useless and our carry-on cooler is a PITA (and small).

I am considering removing my bow cooler to see if I can somehow make it bigger however my fear is that it will be too much work to make a custom cooler out of fiberglass.

I know, I know we've beat this bilge water topic to death. But I like my coffee hot/hot and my beer ice cold/cold. So the choices for ice cold beer on the 240SD are the bow cooler, the helm cooler or a carry on cooler. You'd have to be nuts not to use the bow cooler. It holds a case of cans and two 7LB bags of ice, it's easy to get to and easy to drain. Except it drains into the bilge instead of overboard. First it soaks the anchor line, then the bow locker, the cockpit locker and winds up in the engine bilge but not deep enough to activate the bilge pump. Just don't like water in the bilge if it can be avoided. I investigated installing an overboard drain and it can be done. Turn the cooler barbed drain elbow in the anchor locker about 75 degrees clockwise, attach some hose, poke a hole in your hull and install a through hull fitting and your done. The hole would still be above the strake line on the hull and would drain. It would also backwash water up the line when slowing or hitting some wakes, but with a stopper in the cooler would be stopped from entering the cooler. Bottom line, I just couldn't drill that hole. So on a 10 day trip on the water, two 7LB bags of ice per day we've still got 20 gallons of water flowing into the bilge. That' four Sparkletts bottles! Still on the hunt for a solution I stumbled on a small, portable, battery operated bilge pump. $46 at West Marine. So now at the beginning of the day I clear a space on the bottom of the cooler, set the pump on the bottom and hit the switch. It speedily pumps the water down to about a 1/4 inch deep. Its got a hose to hold overboard and stores neatly around the pump. I keep the pump under the bow seats so its handy to get to and to store. And please don't recommend those frozen ice packs, they make beer cool but not ice cold. Happy boating!

 

[Ccoe1]

My cooler on my 210SD is used for dry storage, im with surfinjoe, its too small for cold storage.

 

[spfortjohn]

The real question is why does searay allow things tondrain into the bilge anyway. I hate the fact that even the cockpit drains into the bilge. One with think on a high quality boat the designers would route the drains overboard. Heck when it rains my bilge fills with water. The center ski locker holds a lot of water. I am looking at new boats and I think I want a dual console like the pursuit and all lockers and the deck drain overboard.