Plumbing, Bilge, Part 2: New Hoses, Routing and Dry-Fitting

One of the new bilge pump hoses during a dry-fit of the components
Having purchased the new bilge pumps and having made a rough plan for the routing of the hoses for these pumps, I now needed to buy the new hoses and dry-fit them into place, just to make sure that my rough plan was a sound one. My steps to accomplish these tasks on Oystercatcher, my Ericson 25, are the subject of this posting.
You'll recall that my rough plan called for me to route the hoses from the bilge aftward to the lazarette, and from there upward into the port side cockpit locker. There, they would arch upward to form an anti-siphon loop before joining the through-hulls in the transom.
I've said it many times before, but in the refitting of a sailboat, it's often necessary to have multiple projects underway at one time, since the lack of progress in one or more of these projects impedes progress in others. Such was the case when it came to my replumbing of the boat, especially the bilge. These hoses, as I said, were to pass through the lazarette. This was an important space. It would house the new battery bank; it would house the new freshwater tank; and it would house components of the new electrical system, among other things. It was necessary for me to figure out exactly where I would route the bilge pump hoses before I could figure out exactly where I needed to install the new shelf for the new battery bank.
The plywood shelf had to be large enough to support the battery box, but it couldn't be too large. Otherwise, there wouldn't be enough room for the bilge pump hoses to pass between it and the freshwater tank.
The hose that you see pictured is Shields brand, 148 series hose. It's a tough, vinyl hose that's suitable for the plumbing of heads, bilge pumps, and freshwater tanks. I ended up using this piece of hose for the plumbing of my freshwater tank. Why? Because it was too rigid for the confines of this space.
Nevertheless, for the time being, it gave me a good idea of where to locate the battery bank shelf.

The rigidity of this Series 148 hose was most pronounced in the confines of the cockpit locker. The turns that the hose had to make in this space were just too tight.
I replaced this Series 148 hose with Shields brand, Series 141, Black Multiflex hose. This hose was much more cooperative. Like the 148 hose, this hose was smooth on the interior. That was a good thing, because it would not impede the flow of water. I liked it that this 141 hose was both black and clear at the same time. The black finish would conceal smudges and thus look cleaner and neater over time than would a white bilge pump hose. The clear view through the walls of the hose would allow me to spot any obstructions that might occur.
In the cockpit locker there already existed a hole for the 1-1/2 inch manual bilge pump hose. Now I needed to drill two new holes, one for the 3/4 inch primary bilge pump hose and one for the 1-1/8 inch emergency bilge pump hose. In the top right corner of the pictures above and below you can see the old hole for the old electric bilge pump. This hole I would eventually use for the starting cable for my motor.
I used my hole-saw attachments on my Makita electric drill to make these cuts. As I made them, I held the drill at an angle so that the holes themselves would be at an angle. This would help the hoses make the sharp turns they needed to make.
The construction of the tray of this cockpit locker resembled the deck of the boat. Between two layers of fiberglass there was a 3/8 inch thick piece of balsa core material. Knowing that this core material can and will absorb water and thus will rot, I would later treat these cutouts with epoxy so as to protect the core from water intrusion.
In the picture below, you can see the disassembled Whale brand manual bilge pump. At this time I was also engaged in a rebuild of this pump. I carried the pump housing back out to the boat for this dry-fit, just to make sure everything worked well together in this tight space. The pump, of course, would be located on the inboard side of the cockpit locker.
Here's a shot from the lazarette of the three hoses. You'll notice that the smallest one - the 3/4 inch hose for the primary bilge pump - is white. I had attempted to save a few bucks by using Spa Flex hose from a home improvement store instead of the Shields brand, Series 141 hose. It turned out that the internal dimensions of Spa Flex hose are slightly larger than normal hose. For this reason, the Spa Flex hose would not fit snugly either on the through-hull or on the pump. When I realized this, I replaced this Spa Flex hose with the Series 141.

It was important to me for the hoses to be bunched together and off to the side. I was constructing a shelf that would sit atop the water tank, and I planed to store items on top of this shelf. I didn't want the hoses to obstruct my access to this space from the aluminum hatch directly above it. Similarly, I didn't want the hoses to obstruct my access to the reserve battery bank from the white plastic hatch in the cockpit locker directly above it.

From what I could tell, the hoses in these positions, were in the best possible location to maximize my intended uses for these spaces in the lazarette.
For more on my work in the lazarette, see my series of postings that begin here: http://www.ericson25.com/2013/06/lazarette-modifications-part-i-analysis.html
Here's how the hoses appeared from the cockpit. In the picture below, we are looking forward. As you can see, with the hoses off to the side, it's not difficult to access the space above the water tank. Likewise, it's not difficult to access the space on either side of the large battery box. This was where I planned to stow bags of trash and dirty clothes when cruising.

This shelf and this battery box were just the right size for this space. In case you're wondering, I would be installing two, Trojan brand T-125, 6 volt golf cart batteries in this Noco brand battery box.
Now that I had figured out exactly how I wanted to route these hoses, I could focus on the new through-hulls that I needed to install in the transom. That's the subject of my next posting.
This ends this posting on my choice and my routing of the new hoses for the new bilge pumps on Oystercatcher, my Ericson 25.

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