Plumbing, Bilge, Part 3: New Through-Hulls, Installation

The new stainless steel through-hulls for the bilge pump hoses

Having determined exactly where I wanted to route the three new bilge hoses for the three bilge pumps, I could install the three new through-hulls in the transom. The steps I took to accomplish this installation on Oystercatcher, my Ericson 25, are the subject of this posting.

The plastic through-hulls that came with the boat when I purchased her in October 2009 were in pitiful condition. I can only guess that they were original to this 1975 vessel. When I attempted to remove them from the transom, they crumbled. That's how brittle they were from years of exposure to the elements.

For this reason, and for aesthetic reasons, I did not want to replace them with new plastic ones. Therefore, I went with stainless steel - much more classy and a material that would stand up to almost anything. These were Groco brand through-hulls, and they were designed for the 1-1/2 inch, 1-1/8 inch, and 3/4 inch hoses that I would be installing for the pumps.

The location of the two existing holes in the port side of the transom worked well with my plans to install a swim ladder on this side. If you look closely in the picture below (click to enlarge), you can see that I've drawn a line to indicate where the bottom of the platform for the swim ladder would be located.

The existing hole for the manual bilge pump through-hull was just the right size for the new through-hull. The existing hole for the old electric pump through-hull, however was a bit too small.

To remedy this problem. I broke out my Dremel and sanded the perimeter of the hole with a 50 grit sanding drum.

This was all it needed.

Now I needed to figure out where to make the new hole for the emergency electric pump that I would be adding to the boat. I needed to make it somewhere near the existing holes, so that it would not encroach on the swim ladder.

I decided that the most aesthetically pleasing location would be directly above the small through-hull.

After I marked the spot, I used a plumb line to check my work. As you can see in the picture below, I was slightly off.

Therefore, I drilled the pilot hole slightly to the right of my circular marks.

Then I installed a hole-saw attachment on my drill and began to make the cut. I started with the drill set to Reverse. This ensured that the damage to the gelcoat would be minimal.

I normally don't use the detachable handle on this drill, but I used it for this cut to help me make the hole as perpendicular to the transom as possible. A friend stood by and checked my alignment on the perpendicular axis.

After I finished the cut, I cleaned up the rough edges with the Dremel.

The hole was in just the right place relative to the vertical reference line I had drawn with regard to the plumb line.

If I had had a blank transom and the opportunity to position these through-hulls in any arrangement of my choice, I would have positioned all three of them side-by-side centered on a horizontal reference line. This was the best I could do with what was available to me.

From afar, these three new though-hulls didn't look too bad. Never mind the rectangle on the transom. That's something I added to the picture to cover the hull ID number.

I was pleased to see that the swim ladder fit well in the space above the through-hulls and that the through-hulls did not encroach on this space.

Now it was time to install the through-hulls. First, though, I needed to remove the remnants of the old sealant. The large hole looked like it had received Dolphinite, or something like that, during the installation of the large through-hull. I know the original shop manual for this boat often spoke of Dolphinite.

The small hole had silicone around it. This made me think that the previous owner had rebedded the plastic through-hull at some point in the past. He was very fond of silicone sealant - you know, the stuff that some people use for sealing things in household bathrooms. I can't stand the stuff anywhere, on land or sea. It does a lousy job a sealing things, and it's difficult to remove from any surface, especially gelcoat.

Here's how the holes looked from the inside of the cockpit locker. My plan was to put anti-siphon loops in the hoses prior to joining them to the through-hulls.

There were remnants of sealant on the backside of the large hole. It was a royal pain to try to clean up this area inside the cockpit locker. I bridged the space between the two cockpit lockers with the lid from the large locker in the V-berth. Then I lay down on the board in the prone position and reached my arm back toward the transom.

After I had removed as much of the old sealant as possible, I cleaned up the area with xylene - the solvent best suited for the removal of old wax and adhesives.

I then used the xylene on the exterior side of the holes.

This worked well, but I really thought that it would be smart to lightly sand the gelcoat around the holes with some 220 grit paper. This would ensure that any remaining impurities would be removed.

This light sanding around the small hole was especially needed. A thin film of silicone will remain even after you've removed what appears to be all of the silicone. I would later deal with the silicone contamination issue over and over in my reinstallation of the deck hardware that I had removed.

After I had finished the sanding, I hit the holes again with xylene.

Then I cleaned up the through-hulls with acetone. This would remove impurities from the machining of these pieces of steel.

I did not neglect to clean the nuts for these through-hulls. If you look closely, you can see the grime on the white rag. Yes, this cleaning process is a necessary step.

I used Sikaflex 291 LOT for this installation. The LOT designation stands for Long Open Time. This means that you have a little more time to get your work done before this stuff starts to set. I used this Sikaflex 291 LOT for the installation of quite a few items on this boat in my lengthy refitting of her. The bronze through-hulls for the head and for the galley sink come immediately to mind. The benefit of this polyurethane, as opposed to the 3M brand polyurethanes, 4200 and 5200, is that it clings less tenaciously to joined surfaces. It's tensile strength is 200 psi (pounds per square inch), whereas 4200's and 5200's tensile strengths are 300 and 700 psi respectively.

The installation of these through-hulls was definitely a two-person job. While a friend held the through-hull, I applied the Sikaflex.

He then held each through-hull in place while I tightened down each nut on the other side of the transom.

We cleaned up the exterior of the transom with paint thinner immediately afterward. Yes, Sikaflex 291 LOT does allow you some time to adjust the hardware that you are installing, but it doesn't allow you much time for clean-up. It quickly begins to skim over. Removing the film quickly from the surface of the gelcoat is important.

This Sikaflex quickly becomes sticky and tends to smear as you work to clean it up. If you're not careful, you'll get it all over your gloved hands and everything else that you touch.

We didn't attempt to clean up the other side of the transom. I probably would have cleaned it up, if it had been more accessible. I couldn't even get my hand back all the way back into this space.

I was only able to install these nuts because I could hold them in place with the channel lock pliers while my friend turned the through-hulls with a tool on the exterior of the boat. It was his opinion that I would never be able to install the hoses on these through-hulls, if I did not install some sort of access hatch on the side of the cockpit locker. I definitely saw the logic in his argument, and I eventually did install a small circular hatch. That is the subject of another posting in this series.

I my next posting, I address my work on the original, bronze strum box for the manual bilge pump.

This ends this posting on the steps I took for the installation of the new stainless steel through-hulls for the new bilge hoses on Oystercatcher, my Ericson 25.

Plumbing, Bilge, Part 1: Analysis

The plan for the installation of the new bilge pumps

Bilge pumps are essential parts of any cruising sailboat, even a pocket cruiser such as the Ericson 25. Without them, your boat can sink. Even with them your boat can sink, if you've not plumbed them correctly or wired them correctly. Even then, you'll run into trouble, if you've not taken into consideration the issues of size and placement. In this posting, the first in a series of postings on my work to install and plumb the new bilge pumps for Oystercatcher, my Ericson 25, I analyse the problems I faced that led me to purchase the items I purchased and plumb the pumps I plumbed in the most logical manner possible for my set-up and my needs on this boat.

I purchased this boat in October 2009 after I had made two different visits to see her.

During my first visit, I inspected the bilge. It was located in the area just forward of the galley.

In the diagram below, I have indicated with a red rectangle the deepest part of the bilge, where the pumps were located.

The bilge contained two pumps. It also contained a disgusting, oily liquid that reeked of gasoline.

The owner stored his gasoline tank for his outboard motor in the starboard side cockpit locker. The fumes from this tank over the years had condensed and formed an oily residue not only in this locker, but also in the lazarette, and of course the bilge. A surveyor who accompanied me on my second visit to the boat said that he didn't know how this guy had not blown himself up long before this time.

On this second visit that I made to see the boat, the oily water had miraculously disappeared from the bilge. Nevertheless, the view was still not pretty. The wiring for the electric bilge pump was a rat's nest of wires, and there many no-nos present - household wire crimps and black electrical tape.

The electric bilge pump at least worked, but I wondered about its condition given the sludge in which it had long been sitting. Another thing was this - it was not secured in place. Nothing was keeping it from tipping over or turning upside down.

The second bilge pump was a manual one. The pump was located elsewhere. This was simply the strum box - the device that blocked foreign matter from clogging the hose. The fitting that joined the strum box to the hose was in horrible condition, as was the hose. Do you see the crack in the end of the hose?

Now let's take a look inside the lazarette, just like I did during my two visits.

The hose for the manual bilge pump was routed through the lazarette and up through a hole into the port side cockpit locker.

The small hose for the electric bilge pump was also routed upward into the cockpit locker, but it entered the locker in a different location. In the picture below, you can see it on the far right.

During my first visit I checked out the port side cockpit locker, and this was what I saw - a mess of tools and plastic bottles.

Mixed up in this mess was the the manual pump. It was covered with dirt dobber nests, and it looked like it hadn't been used in years. More disturbing was the fact that this owner didn't even have a hose leading from the pump to the overboard discharge through-hull. See the hole in the background? That's where the hose is suppose to be. Yes, that's water. Evidently this was not a cause for concern to this owner.

Upon my next visit, this locker, just like the bilge, was in remarkably better condition. This did not mean, however, that the problems were solved. As far as the pump was concerned, the owner had simply rigged up a piece of rigid PVC to close the gap between the pump and the through-hull.

He insisted that I check out the pump itself to see that it worked. Yes, you could work the handle up and down, but that didn't mean the pump itself worked. There wasn't any water in the bilge to pump out at this time.

After I had transported the boat by trailer some six hours from North Carolina to my home in Charleston, South Carolina, I began to create a list of essential repairs. The plumbing system was at the top of the list, but so were a lot of other things - the centerboard, the rigging, the electrical system - you name it.

Eventually I was able to focus on the plumbing. In terms of the plumbing of the bilge, I began by investigating the existing set-up and its relationship to the original set-up as described in the original Ericson literature. Let's begin with the through-hulls for the two bilge-pump hoses. These were located on the port side of the transom.

The original equipment list that came with my boat indicated that the original owner had purchased the two available bilge pumps at that time - an electric one and a manual one that was manufactured by Whale Marine.

The shop manual for the Ericson 25 indicated that the Whale brand pump, for the most part, had been installed according to the factory specifications. There was a 1-1/2 inch nylon through-hull on the port side of the transom.

 Likewise, the pump was located on the face of the port side cockpit locker.

 The side view of the pump as seen from within the locker was identical to mine.

 The plate for the exterior of the pump, as seen from inside the cockpit was also the same.

Likewise, the hose for this manual pump was routed in a similar fashion - from the transom, through the pump, down into the lazarette, and down into the bilge in the galley area of the main salon. In the diagram below, the "sump" to which they refer must be the strum box, i.e., the bronze fitting on the end of the hose that blocks debris from entering the hose.

As far as the other bilge pump was concerned, i.e., the electric one, there were some similarities and differences between the shop manual diagrams and what actually existed in my own boat. In terms of the similarities, my hose followed a similar path from the port side transom down to the bilge. Beyond this, however, there were mostly differences. First, I did not have a bronze through-hull in my transom, and I definitely did not have a pump mounted on the aft side of the bulkhead between the galley and the lazarette. I also did not have a Perko brand sump, i.e., strum box, at the end of the hose.

As you can see in the diagram below, this Perko brand pump in the shop manual was quite different from the Rule brand pump that I found in my bilge. Why was my set-up different? My guess is that the dealership that conducted the outfitting of my boat decided to use a pump and a set-up that were suitable to them at that time and place. An acquaintance of mine in Charleston used to outfit Ericsons as a teenager at the boat dealership in Charlotte, North Carolina. He told me that the boats would arrive at the dealership in a bare condition. He and others would then install the optional parts and pieces.

This helps to explain the variation we see in the picture of the Ericson 25 below. Notice that the two through-hulls on the port side of the transom are higher than they are on my transom. Perhaps those who outfitted this boat decided that it would be better for them to be as high as possible within the cockpit locker.

At any rate, in terms of my own set-up, I saw no reason to depart from the norm, as far as the routing of the hoses was concerned. I did, though, want to put anti-siphon loops of some sort in my hoses in the cockpit locker. In my diagram below, you can see these loops indicated by the hump in the hose near the transom.

One thing was certain, I just had to get rid of that existing manual bilge pump hose.

And I had to get rid of that electric pump. It alone was insufficient for the size of this boat.

To replace it, I purchased a Whale brand Super Sub 650 GPH (Gallon Per Hour) pump. This would be the primary bilge pump. The Blue Sea Systems brand switch that I would wire to it would always be set to AUTO, i.e., "automatic," so that this pump, by itself, would remove any water from the bilge, whenever it rose to a certain level and caused the float switch within the pump to rise.

I also purchased second bilge pump - a Rule brand 2000 GPH Heavy Duty pump. This would I call my emergency bilge pump. This also would have a Blue Sea Systems brand switch. It would be pointless, however, for me to keep this switch on AUTO, because this pump, unlike the Whale brand pump, would not have an automatic float switch within it - a float switch that would activate the pump. Instead, I would, in emergencies, manually flip the Blue Sea Systems switch to ON. This would activate the pump and help to remove the water that the Whale brand pump couldn't remove by itself.

In the picture below, we see the set-up that I envisioned with these two new pumps and with the refurbished strum box of the refurbished Whale brand manual pump (in the cockpit locker). The yellow, Whale brand primary electric pump would be the one that was always on duty - always ready to pump out any water that settled in the bilge from condensation or from modest leaks here or there.

The Rule brand emergency pump would be high and dry, unless of course there was an emergency. It was my hope that I would never need to use it. Why did I opt for the 2000 GPH pump for this boat? Because this was the largest pump that would fit into this space. The manual pump, of course, was simply an assistant to the electric pumps. Just was was the case with the emergency electric pump, it was my hope that I would never need to use it.

Now that I had figured out my set-up for the new bilge pumps, I could focus more closely on the new hoses and the routing of them through the lazarette and the port side cockpit locker. That is the subject of my next posting.

This ends this posting on my research on the new bilge pumps that I would install on Oystercatcher, my Ericson 25.