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Random Quote: Wemon, wine, wealth and deciet, make the heart submit and wallet weak. What it takes to maintain one vice is enough to fuel my boat for life. Capt Clayton
I have a sealed deck- no way to pass from the sealed lower bilge to the deck. I hope you know what I mean.
Anyway- I have installed 2 bilge pumps in the bilge (I have a 6" deck plate). Well I ended up drilling 2 holes in the deck plate, and installed 2 hose barbs back to back- so when you look at the deck plate there are 2 hose barbs sticking straight up and out now. I then sealed these connections to avoid any water getting from the deck into the bilge.
If it would help I can go snap a pic or 2.
Well anyways- I got the hoses out of the bilge, now how the heck to I get the wiring out and onto the deck? Is there a fitting that they make to do what I need to do? I was thinking of doing the same thing, and just run a third hose with the bundle and stop it at the battery area since the hoses pass through there anyway. This way, the only way water could get in would be to travel down the "conduit" and into the bilge. It would take a lot of water for that to make an issue. I could also seal it with silicon where the wires exit the hose. What do you all think?
There ya go. If there is a better way all together, let me know! The folks at all the local boating stores had zero ideas so this is what I came up with.
It seems to me if you need two bildge pumps you must be getting water down there somehow. And if that is true how well can it be sealed. Im asuming the batteries are off to the left but dont you want to run the wires forward to a fuse or switch on the console? Even my old whaler had a chase under the deck going to the console. How are your steering cables etc run from the console?
It is a walk around cuddy, everything is run through a chase under the gunnel to the left. The bilge pumps are for peace of mind, if I hit something or get a leak I want to be able to fend it off until I reach dry land. I would rather not run them to a switch- they are each on their own setup (each has a float, and each goes to a different battery as well). This way, they are always ready. Your right- it is sealed so water should not be in there but crap happens and I want to make sure I am well equiped.
Well I'd say under the circumstances you are doing OK so far although the bilge hose you are using won't stand up to the first time it gets kicked. You might think about getting the thicker wall reinforced bilge hose. For your electrical, to follow on the same theme you are using you can get a variety of bulkhead pass-thru fittings that consist of a rubber grommet in a metal housing that squeezes down and seals on a round cable, usually used to feed an ANTENNA CABLE thru a cabin top but something that would work for you if you found & used a similar sized multi-conductor cable for your pump electrical needs. Check your local boat shop again and ask for antenna bulkhead pass-thru's or clam fittings.
One other thing, it doesn't look like your decks have any way to drain out (scuppers) if water comes in and given your engine doesn't have a motor well to catch slosh coming in the back I am wondering how you handle this?
I agree with Chaps about the hose. Get rid of the corrugated plastic stuff and replace it with decent clear or mesh reinforce vinyl hose. The flow rates on the corrugated hose are not good. You can run the wires through the smallest hole possible and then cover them with a tiny clamshell vent after you goop them up well with 4200.
If it were me I would get a through hull rigging stantion (like on bracketed boats) and run the reinforced hoses and wiring through it as close to the stern as possable and go into the side with another, Clean and simple. Replace the top of the inspection plate and drill the hole to the stb side. This way the inspection hole gives you room to work and the stantion will seal it well.
Thanks everyone. Theres the same hose in the boat now from the previous owner, and he said he never installed it- so its over 10 years old and nothing wrong with it- but yes- the stuff is cheap feeling and I will find something else- the problem was I couldnt find anything else- Boaters World, West Marine, finally found all kinds of it at Hamilton Marine so I will have to buy some of it.
I went to Hamilton Marine during my lunch break and they had no pass through wire fittings of any type. I am going to just run another hose and use it as a conduit.
Also, I am installing another of the same type of hatch. I am going to run a little silicon around the lid of the "rigging" hatch and that way I will never have issues getting into thge bilge.
The stainless clamshells that were mentioned above work fine at sealing and directing the wire where you want it to go. I have 5 or 6 of them around my boat. The hose can be picked up at many hardware stores. I bet even HD ought to have it.
The hardware stores dont stock it nor does home depot or lowes. None of them carry anything in 1 1/8" size. The clamshells have their place but I don't want exposed wiring on my deck.
If it were me, and I had the room, I would drill a hole and use a 2" rigging tube and appropriate rigging fitting ( TH Marine) to run the hoses and wires out of the bilge and then replace that deck plate with a new one. If I had to, I would use two holes....and I do. Sometimes there's just no good way to do stuff "after market."
The hardware stores don't stock it nor does home depot or lowes. None of them carry anything in 1 1/8" size.
You are exactly right, but it is available. A few of us have went together and bought a 50ft roll [min. order] from the manufacture. I have also seen smaller amount's on Ebay.