76 cuddy bilge
 

Hey guys, what a relief to find this V community.

I've had a 76 cuddy for 10 years and have always launched and hauled with only a day or two in the water at the dock at a time. Now I would like to keep it in the water for weeks or months at a time and am concerned about the bilge.

I'm getting water in the hull whether via leaks or the 2 recessed deck compartments. I've drained it when I pull it but would like to install a bilge pump in the bottom of the hull. I was thinking of cutting into the recessed battery area next to the transom and dropping one in there. Has anyone tried this method?

Welcome to the site , I am not sure about your configuration , but I would never leave any of my boats on a mooring or in a slip without having at least a 1200 GPH auto bilge pump instaled on a good battery, I run (2) 1200 GPH auto ATWOOD bilge pumps on my 84 V20 cudy along with with (2) 500 manual pumps 1 in the cuddy and one in the fish well. You can never be to safe any way welcome and we love boat porn (photos)

I had a 76 I/O so getting in there was not a problem!! Use 2 pumps!! 2 battery's!! Glue a old cutting board to the floor so you can screw into it instead of the bottom of the boat! Put one float a little higher then the other this way a small leak one pump can do it, a big leak the 2nd one kicks in and you have both! also hook 1 to each battery, then if one is going alot, when battery dies the water will fill up a ;ittle higher and the 2nd one comes on with a fresh battery, in hopes someone comes along before its sitting on the ocean bottom!

First things first .... your boat is sinking.... FIND the leak and fix it before you launch it.... small leaks can become REALLY BIG leaks fast..... boats can go from seeping a little to on the bottom in very short time...


Next I would consider putting a small (say 300-500 gph) pump on a float switch as low as possible and as big as you can afford on a float switch 6" higher with an alarm siren wired in parallel with the pump..... the small pump should take care of any small amount that finds it's way in but if it fails or gets over run the big pump will both pump water and sound an alarm that something is wrong.

If you tell the marina people and your dockmates that the alarm means "she's sinking, call me right now!" there may be time to save the boat.

Thank you both!

I have it at a shop due to an alarm on my 150 VRO but will post pics when I bring her home. I think I've spent 6 hours looking at the threads here in the past 24. So many great mod's. Can't wait to do a new panel and rewire too.

I think I read in a thread that a dremel works well to cut the deck? - for the bilge. I don't think the I/O has the same recessed battery compartment in front of the transom? But it seems logical to drop a bilge pump in that location, right in front of the transom. I will definitely use a platform for it. I don't think my wife will miss a bamboo cutting board ;)

Would also like to get the battery(s) forward into the cuddy ... Previous owner had a power head on the bow with heavy gauge wire so I think I can use that. This boat excitement makes getting old acceptable ...

[QUOTE=smokeonthewater;206493]First things first .... your boat is sinking.... FIND the leak and fix it before you launch it.... small leaks can become REALLY BIG leaks fast..... boats can go from seeping a little to on the bottom in very short time...


Good point! How exactly?

no "exactly" to it but plain and simple, if it's leaking then something has failed... they aren't supposed to leak and until you find the leak you have no idea what has failed or how close it is to getting a lot worse

quick example... cracked thru hull fitting... seeps a few drops an hour till it finally pops off and then it "seeps" say, 1700 gallons per hour
OR I/O rotten bellows several years past needing replaced have a small pinhole and just drip a little till all of a sudden they rip and it starts coming in fast.....

the REALLY scary part is that for every inch lower the hole gets in the water due to boat taking on water the speed that the water comes in goes up exponentially

a 1" hole 2' under water will sink a boat in a couple minutes

I guess I meant, how check for leaks, but I searched the forums and found some great suggestions. Thanks though. You're right of course, I should definitely clear up the leak issue as job one.

Welcome to the site!
You may not have enough space to do what you want to due to the angle of the hull.
Might I suggest installing an access hatch between the last floor box and the bilge. This will give you a lot of room for most anything you want to do.
Also you can make the drain hole between the inner bottom and bilge bigger.
By putting the pump(s) in this area you will have them against the bottom of the boat which would be even lower than the shell in the bilge area.

Thanks, Benny! That is exactly what I wanted to know.

So midway between the last floor hatch and the transom? From the threads here I understand that as long as I retain the width of the floor hatch I will stay between the stringers? How and where do I run the line out from the bilge?

The guy who did the transom for me 10 years back put a second drain hole in below the original. He said water was getting held up below the original hole.

Sorry for the lack of pics. I hope to get her back home in the next week so I can post pics and get to work.

Dan

Mine was like you said, stringers on either side of the floor boxes.
Simply enlarge the drain hole from the inner bottom to the bilge enough to accommodate the hose(s) and wires and put the thru hull(s) below the rub rail.
Dremel tool or Roto Zip would be an easy tool for enlarging the hole. I did mine in a half moon.

I guess I'll understand once I tear into her but how do you get the hose to the side hull just below the rub rail? I can't understand how that gets plumbed with the stringers and deck in the way. Or do you run the hose out to the transom?

Thanks! I'm psyched to get that hull water tight and have working bilge pumps in the near future.

I'm horrible at explaining stuff.
The current hole that drains the inner bottom to the bilge will need to be enlarged but big enough to act as a drain hole also with the hose and wires running through it. Or you could simply drill a large enough hole above it to accommodate the hose and wire for the pump.
I don't suggest through the transom, either side just below the rub rail would be easier.
See this thread, note the bilge hose location.
http://www.wellcraftv20.com/communit...=battery+bilge

It's not worth the aggravation of attempting routing the hose through the stringers and penetrating the floor.
Here is a shot front to rear of the starboard side, the right stringer is next to the floor box.
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w...Picture214.jpg

If it's an I/O, the bellows is the very first place I'd look. Next would be the thru hole fittings.. and if they are plastic.... REPLACE THEM with metal (Stainless).!!!. Nothing will ruin a day on the water faster than your boat sinking.

So if I understand correctly ...

1. cut the access hatch hole midway to the transom from the rear box, the same width as the box and maybe 12-16 inches long;

2. glue a platform such as an old cutting board to the hull with a quality bilge mounted to it;

3. run the electrical and the pump hose directly back to beneath the battery storage area, next to the transom;

4. come up into the battery compartment storage area with wires and hose;

5. wire the bilge and run the hose out to one side under the rub rail.

Is that it. Sounds like a great solution.

I hope I have it but one additional question is how to create a hatch cover for that hole? Do they sell them at West? Do I create my own? Obviously would want a flush mount ... I'm sure there's a thread on it somewhere here!

There are several choices.
A round one of several different sizes that pops out or screws out or a hinged one usually rectangle with a couple of sizes to choose from.
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w...i3/2008-19.jpg
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w...Picture230.jpg
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w...cture228-1.jpg

On all of my boats I just cut an aluminum plate for the pump to bolt to. No need to fasten to the hull.

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w...ki3/002-35.jpg

Great, I think that rectangular cover would be perfect. And a hole saw cut between the batteries for the hose and wiring? Is it a challenge to feed the hose and wiring down to the transom area and bring it up? Seems like close quarters.

If it isn't an I/O and you've checked all thru hull fittings, next check for old screw holes and or any damage from intentional beaching, etc. Marinetex is a good product for repairing those types of things.

Yes you did say you had water coming in unexplained.
Do you have (or did have) a head (toilet)?
Mine came with one and was later capped off but the thru hulls cracked and was likely leaking so I removed them and sealed the holes.
http://www.wellcraftv20.com/communit...demodification

Yes, it has that little portable toilet in the step through but no through hull fittings below waterline except for the transom, such as trim tabs (which are a HUGE help with passengers), depth finder, engine bolts, etc.

I haven't begun to track down the leak(s) yet. I'm paying a guy to convert my VRO to premix. I dropped it with him before I found this site or I would've done it myself. I'm thinking it's likely one of the through hulls on the transom as the rest of the hull is solid and without an signs of damage.

dirty porn
 

Haven't done much except wash and polish for the past 10 years

Worn out 150
 

The back side

Not sure why these pics are only thumbnails? Is there a way to blow them up?

They enlarge when you click on em...:party:

check the hoses that connect the scuppers to the through hull. Had a hard to find leak once, turned out a clamp had corroded & fell off!

No scuppers on this hull.

Gallagher, my '74 used to take on water between the cap and hull under the side windshields while under way, particularly in a chop or better...close inspection revealed large opening between which got immediate repair...Wellcraft didn't do a superior job cappin' these puppies for us...
:sleep:

Hey Reel, that's interesting. Did you need to pull the rub rail to get at it? I need to change that out anyways ...

Years ago, but I still kickin myself I took no pics...left motor on, removed rubrail and all screws connecting cap to hull (they may have been rivets I drilled out) and jacked the whole cap up except the stern, ran a 1 1/2" strip of 3/4" starboard around the inside of hull to catch new screws, then dropped the cap back down and w/3 drill motors (pilot, clearance hole and screwdriver) started workin' my way around till all buttoned up...rubrail back on, sealed remaining small gappage w/4200 and she was tight as could be after that...you run the strip so you can place the screw anywhere w/no tools on the inside...more details if ya want...

Sounds pretty slick. Wondering how you kept the cap up or even got it up. Also, how did you secure the star board? Hoping I don't need to go to that much trouble to replace the rub rail.