Don't try this at home

[seapuppy]

well...I haven't mentioned much of my troubles my boat and I've been experiencing...
nothing major..she is still a great boat and we thoroughly enjoy her...but I have this niggling problem that was elevated to an AWE SH#T.....
for the past few outings my shower sump pump has taken a crapper...the first problem allows all the shower water to blow into my bilge..thus soaking all of my tools in the fwd stowage area under the sole in the galley...all my spares and tools were soaked..so..I have to clean everything off and wd 40 all of my tools ...
called the bayliner repair guys and they were great..went out and replaced the pump...we went to Pt Hudson for the weekend and the new pump puked again into my bilge and soaking the tools ...aaagiin!!!....so..cleaned and dried everything...wd40'd the tools...agin!!!..and then..pumped the water out of the bilge....well..got back to everett and called the guys at LUSR ....new pump on order and research from the mechanic was that the pump was hydrolocking...it would start to pump water and as the rpm came up to full pwr....it would lock up and the water would puke out into the bilge...

by now I'm absolutely tired of drying my stuff in the fwd bilge/stowage area ...so...brilliant idea has ensued!!!...in otherwords I had a brainfart....went to lowes and got one of those wire shelving material....my idea is to stick it in the bilge and let it hold my stuff out of the very bottom of the bilge thus keeping it dry...how I was going to secure it was to use gorilla glue....so...got it into place...put several beeds of gorilla glue only to watch it drooool down the bilge bypassing my shelving...another brilliant idea hits me...drill a small pilot hole just about maybe 1/4 to 3/8's of an inch into the bilge pinching the wire rack down....
so...I get the drill....small drill bit....smallest one I have.....start on the port side and make small hole into fiberglass...hmm..just a touch more...ok..good...insert screw...hear slight snap...that's ok..it's the gel coat on the inside of the bilge....stbd side...drill some...hmm...not deep enough...a bit more......just a touch more....DOH!!!!...why is there sunlight coming from the bottom of my bilge???...yep....got a hole going all the way thru....lucky for me I'm on blocks....ok....go outside to look at the hole...very very small hole...look at the port side...DOH!!!!...screw pushed thru and split some gelcoat....DOH!!!!...

so...now I have 2 gelcoat and fiberglass repairs to do next week.....I got all ticked off at myself for being stupid and shot a squirt of gorilla glue into each hole ...went home to start my planning on the fiberglass repair next weekend....

don't try this at home...


SP

[tex'npepper]

Seapuppy, Did you really drill two holes in the bottom of your boat or are you just telling a story you heard? I personally have a rule to never drill where there is water on the other side.

[seapuppy]

yep.....did the dumbest thing possible........this is a true story and not made up in the least.....I can try and get pic's later today after work...but I doubt if they will come out since they are so friggin small!!!!


my forehead is hurting from me smacking it and saying "STOOOPID ..STOOOPID..STOOOPID"!!!

sp

[shrew]

If it were me, the story would have had to continue with........."After seeing daylight through the holes in the hull of my brand new boat, I proceeded to 'loose my lunch' into the bilge area, then had to clean the bilge and the tools a THIRD time!"

I can easily see this happening. You're talking about a small pilot for a screw. There should be plenty of fiberglass downthere for a small screw.

My frustration would be the "There's a hole in the bucket..." theory you're working from here. You don't really have a toolbox problem, you have a sump pump problem. The solution for the toolbox problem, caused the hole problem. As far as the holes, what's done is done and a little epoxy and glass work will resolve nicely. I would probably want to look more closely at my toolbox/sump pump issue moving forward (just my .02)

(some days you're the pigeon, and some days you're the statue)

[seapuppy]

HAHAHAA...good one shrew.....well..the sump pump is in the works...that's a warranty item the shop is taking care of...but the holes will be filled and repaired friday.......I hope...got all the stuff lined up..now I just need to have the time to get to the boat and make the repairs...

I like to think it as ...sometimes you bite the bear...sometimes the bear bites you....and yep..I got bit.....hahahaha

[Tommyfmu]

SP, though it's a warranty item, let me ask an obvious one; did you see the sump pump spew, and that it was actually coming out of the pump and not a hole in the effluent line? Just a thought because I could see one pump going, but two that are relatively new ? ...

[seapuppy]

tommy
the original pump wouldn't pump..totally stopped...so it was replaced with a new one..but we think this one is defective..plus 1000g/h is a ton of water to move for something that was only needing to pump maybe 10 gal...total....what the mechanic did see was that the water entered the box...the pump started up...and the pump would suddenly stop pumping but still spinning...water would back up in the box and then flow into the bilge...all the while the pump was running....
the water is definitely shower water cuz I pumped it out into a bucket and it foamed up and smelled just like shower....so...that's my story ..I'm sticking with it...

SP..

[Mad Max]

Drill stops!!!!!!!!! If not in your toolbox, then roll some duct tape (of course you have many rolls, right?) tightly around the bit at the desired depth of penetration. Don't forget the six pack of brew, as mandatory for ALL projects!

[Mad Max]

BTW- have you tried the duct tape repair on your sump pumps?

[seapuppy]

Well...it's been a couple of weeks and I thought I'd bring you guys up to speed as to how the fix is going...
after I filled the holes and reglassed the damaged areas...I had to sand some and then repaint the areas of the hull that I repaired...not bad with brush and some touchup hull paint...
then I went inside to the bilge to mount some blocks ...I used some of that grey garboard stuff ...I got a ton of spares from the local Searay guys that they had laying around....they didn't want it so told me to take what I needed and just keep the rest...I got a good chunk of the stuff if anyone needs some...cuts really easily with a jig saw....anyway...I cut up some blocks of about 1x1.5x.5d and used that to glue to the bottom of the bilge...the first time I glued them I used 5200 and after a week ..it didn't set up...so I got some 5200 fast set and that set up well...I ran the screws and clamps down into the garboard and the whole racks are now set....
The shop ended up replacing the entire sump pump system...meaning the entire box and pump/float switch ..wires..etc....all came as one unit and they had to install it...so..now that's fixed...I have a few picks in the digital camera taken but haven't had a chance to download them..I'll try and get them downloaded shortly...

all in all...first lessons learned was...never...EVER drill into the bilge ....
SP

[seapuppy]

here's the piece of Garboard I used to cut up into blocks



then glued and taped in place with 5200fast set..that brown stuff is the dried gorilla glue that didn't work...


Racks installed and keeping the gear above water by about 4 or 5 inches

[seapuppy]

I used those "d" clamps used for holding wiring down with stainless steel pan head screws