Bilge hose check valves, Yes or No?

[Play'N Hooky Too]

I agree 110% about the old mercury switches vs the new mechanical ones which are junk. Another victim of over regulation. Like "environmentally friendly" pesticide that don't 'cide pests.

[rwaldrop13]

Thats interesting that the check valves were factory issue. Some of the old bilge pumps like lovitt needed all the help they could get.

The engine room bilge hoses were actually glassed over at the inside of the hull. I cut out everything I could and routed new hoses to be accessible. I mounted anti-siphons instead of check valves only because a local vendor who also has owned a Hat since 1973 said "Rob, please do this... You won't regret it." I ran new wiring, new float switches, mounted the pumps on pieces of 1/4" starboard with a single hold-down screw for easy remove/replace, clamped all the hoses with as much straight run as possible. It was really a work of art - Now I regret not taking pictures of everything I did on that boat. My maintenance log/worklist/project completion notes all went down with the boat during Ian.

[Eddieclemons]

Eddie: The forward bilge will backflow when running at hull speed with a full load and tender on bow. Tried many variations of “loops” within available space, never was able to cure backflow and resultant short cycling of bow bilge pump; hence the check valve.Brett

Brett, thanks for the real world information for my girl.

[bostonhatteras]

The engine room bilge hoses were actually glassed over at the inside of the hull. I cut out everything I could and routed new hoses to be accessible. I mounted anti-siphons instead of check valves only because a local vendor who also has owned a Hat since 1973 said "Rob, please do this... You won't regret it." I ran new wiring, new float switches, mounted the pumps on pieces of 1/4" starboard with a single hold-down screw for easy remove/replace, clamped all the hoses with as much straight run as possible. It was really a work of art - Now I regret not taking pictures of everything I did on that boat. My maintenance log/worklist/project completion notes all went down with the boat during Ian.

I agree on logs wholeheartedly. I have logs with continuous entries dating back to 1998 for August...except during the refit when I stopped. I literally lost the enthusiasm for the log entries as there was so much work to do and it seemed I would never finish. To be honest a lot of spectators thought the same thing and looked at me as the crazy guy fixing an old ark in the parking lot. Its sad because I lost so many nuanced details but had I logged everything it probably would have been 400 pages per year and the refit took four years. Now when I have time I sit with the log book and open the photos and go in chronological sequence of the photos and make entries into the log book interspersed with current entries. Log books are like a step back in time and fun to read. Losing your vessel must have been a truly devastating loss.

[bostonhatteras]

Just for laughs, I'm showing this bilge switch I made many years ago trying to outsmart the market. It is a magnetic float switch and it did work with a relay to conduct the high current but it had no ability to provide hysteresis...the ability to run after the bilge is empty and provides for clearing most of the hose. The pump would run and then the float would fall and the water in the hose would run back to the bilge and the pump would start again. My project was a complete failure...and I made three of them! Albeit it would have worked as a high water alarm.