I just bought a new bilge pump for the SeaDNA - a 22' CD with the bilge well spanning the starboard side of the cabin bulkhead. The newer CD22's have the bilge well centered and spanning the threshold to the door. This is a big improvement relative to the starboard side and if I were a brave man (I'm not), I'd be tempted to create a new cut-out, move the bilge well to the center and glass over the old one. However the idea of cutting into the deck scares me too much to take this project on.
One thing they did get right on the new Toland CD knock-off is to slope the floor away from the bulkhead and put the bilge aft. Dogon may be heavy at the transom under normal loading to have all the water collect aft (you know those Alaskans can catch more and bigger fish than the rest of us). IMHO, it would be nice if the CD 22's get modified to have an aft sloping floor as under most conditions water collects at the door.
My situation is a bit worse as at present, I find it necessary to store my boat on a slight down-hill slope towards the bow so when it rains (even with the canvas camper on) water accumulates in front of the door. My "solution" to this was to buy a fully automatic Rule 500 GPH and wire it with about 15' of cable terminating in a cigarette lighter plug. I plug it in when I park the trailer, run the cable out the door, put the pump directly in front of the door and put a down rigger weight on to hold it until the next outing. Not the best overall solution but quicker than moving the 10 or so cubic yds of dirt I'll have to move to get the parking spot sloping the direction I want (I don't have a tractor like DaNag for this...). This spare pump can be placed anywhere there's water so I like to have it around.
In addition, as was in a previous discussion, I've found the fully automatic Rule pumps fail after about 2 years of operation (e.g. when left on). Hence the new (forward) bilge pump will be a Rulemate 1100 (with the fully enclosed float switch). This is what the factory uses now and it won't fit in a pipe like the old ones. In addition, I'll be installing another Rule 1100 (this one with the external float switch) in the aft bilge well. A previous post indicated that my old fully automatic 1100 may still work if I bypass the fancy computer so I am hoping I can save it as a spare to use with the external float switch.
Other reading on the site and elsewhere indicates that it's probably good to have two permanently installed bilge pumps to give about double the capacity of what comes from the factory. Finally, I also have a hand operated bilge pump as that (or a hand bailer) is a requirement for Canadian waters. The hand operated pump has come in handy around the house for emptying the christmas tree stand, emptying a fountain etc. so it was also a good purchase.
Swee pea - if you haven't yet installed the bilge pump, you might want to consider the RuleMate as opposed to the fully automatic Rule. The RuleMate won't cycle on and off every 5-10 mins so it's easier to sleep on board and I think it will last longer if you must leave it on all the time (e.g. moored or parked on a down hill slope toward the bow). Also, the RuleMate runs for 15-30 seconds after the bilge is detected as empty and the claim is that this gets the overall level quite low. I'll see how it works once I get my in - (maybe this evening).
Finally, another question for the C-brat experts - The Rule Mate comes with three wires one for ground and two to go to 12 V through a recommended 3-way switch made by Rule. The idea is that one wire supplies 12V all the time and goes through the float switch (e.g. this wire is only connected to the pump when there is water in the bilge), while the other is switch to the pump manually. The std. installation has a lighted Rule 3-way switch in a panel at the helm - Off, auto and Man are the 3-positions. I'd like to wire mine to two single pole switches. The current on-off bilge switch at the helm would be connected to the wire that goes through the float switch, while I'd like to install another switch nearer to the bulk head (perhaps a weather-proof switch through the bulk head) for the manual mode. This would allow me to manually operate the bilge from the cockpit (where I can see the water level) as opposed to at the helm (where I cannot). The only concern I have with this plan is that I am not sure if the recommended 3-way switch from Rule disconnects the 12V supply from the automatic wire before applying it to the manual wire and if it does, is it necessary? These things have some electronic brains in them and maybe you can't have 12 V applied to both wires at the same time for some reason unknown to me. Anyone know the answer to this? Or can anyone determine how the 3-way switch actually operates in practice? The wiring diagram that came with the pump shows how to connect to the switch but does not symbolically represent what the switch is doing so I can't tell without going to the store to buy or try one.
Roger on the SeaDNA
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