What's this?

[Aljackson]

Tore out the galley yesterday and found this. The cooler had what appeared to be a drain tube leading down into the hole. There's obviously a bulge pump down there. The black hose is the sink drain.
I mean obviously it's an area that collects water, but from where? Can I turn this into storage space?

 

[Lazy Daze]

Can you be more specific? I'm not sure what you're referring to. The white, plastic hose? The actual hole? The space beneath the platform/hole? I don't see the drain tube from the cooler that you are referencing?

 

[Little Ducky]

Do those exit the hull or just run through the wall?

 

[importmonkey]

two of them appear to go to thru hull fittings. the white one is likely a bilge pump and the black you mentioned is the sink drain. the other black one that runs forward (?) i don't know. is that which one you're talking about? what's on the other side of that bulkhead?

 

[Aljackson]

Ducky, two of them exit the hull. The black hose exiting next to the white hose is the drain line for the sink. The white hose is for the bilge pump in the hole on the bottom. The other black hose is my fresh water supply from the tank in the engine compartment.

Lazy, the cooler hose has been removed because I took the cooler out with the rest of the galley. The black hose that it not connected to the hull is fresh water supply. I just would like to know why there is a bilge here, and where else this may be collecting water from? I will not have anything going into that drain with the redesign of my galley that I'm doing. I'd like to use that area for addition storage if that's a possibility.

 

[Aljackson]

two of them appear to go to thru hull fittings. the white one is likely a bilge pump and the black you mentioned is the sink drain. the other black one that runs forward (?) i don't know. is that which one you're talking about? what's on the other side of that bulkhead?

That black hose is running aft to my fresh water tank. The other side is the starboard side and it has the bathroom. The cooler hose has been removed with the rest of the galley. I just want to know where else this hole may be collecting water? I would like to remove the bilge and open that area up for additional storage.

 

[ZZ13]

Generally there are two bilges, one for each half of the boat separated by the engine room to cabin bulkhead. That white hose is most likely the discharge hose from the forward bilge pump. It's there to pump out any water that would collect in the space forward of the bulkhead. That would be from rain water leaking in, a failed shower sump pump, leaking freshwater fittings, air conditioning condensate pan overflowing, toilet waste lines leaking.

 

[Lazy Daze]

Unless you have access to that compartment (the one with the hole in it) - possibly behind/through that "wood" wall - there will not be a bilge pump under that hole. The white hose would simply be routed to another area. Bilge pumps are usually mounted along the centerline of the boat. Look for another low spot or an access plate (centerline) - that is where you will find the actual bilge pump. HOWEVER, that white hose is not original (although I wouldn't expect it to be at this age)... which kinda means "all bets are off" since who knows how many previous owners there has been and what they have done. Or, it could just be that a previous owner simply replaced the old bilge hose with that newer one.

FYI... both of those hoses that are exiting the hull should have an "upward" loop secured at the thru-hull. Otherwise, outside water can easily be forced in.

If that compartment does NOT have foam in it, then sure, you may cut it open and re-do as you see fit. But do not cut the entire thing open - there is structural rigidity created by that "box". You'll want to retain the longitudinal stringer, along with some of the transverse section to maintain hull rigidity.