F32 Bulk Head

[mrweller]

Hi All,

New to the forum. Bought an F32 with twin 1998 454's in it and spent the summer getting used to it.

I am wondering if anyone has blocked of the holes in the bulk heads in an F32 that allows the water to run from bow to stern in the bilge. My thought was to put an extra bilge in the center and not allow the water to transfer to the three compartments.

Has anyone experimented with any similar ideas?

Thanks
Rob

[comodave]

I did exactly that to keep any oil leaks contained in the engine room. My F32 had oil all the way up into the vee berth area. My stringers are solid with no dry rot and I opened up the hollow keel all the way to get rid of the horrible smell of the stagnant water in the keel. I glassed the forward bulkhead in the engine room down to the bottom of the keel. Now any leaks will stay in the engine room. I cleaned the bilge out and painted it white with Bilge Kote. It was tough cleaning and painting the engine room without pulling the engines, but finally got it done. Looks nice now. The only problem with closing off the engine room is that you need more bilge pumps, but that is really not a bad thing. I now have 4 pumps total. One very large one in the lazarette for major leaks underway on plane. 2 pumps in the forward engine room, 1 down inside the keel to pump out as much water as possible and a large centrifugal pump up a little higher for major leaks in the engine room. 1 pump forward under the vee berth for leaks at rest since the bow sits down at rest. Some people think that you should not change the boat and keep it original. My feeling is that boat design has progressed in the 36 years since my boat was built. I do not know of many new boats that have limber holes open all the way from the transom to the bow any more. It does not make sense to allow oil and possible gas fumes to travel all over the boat. Keep them contained in the engine room and it is much easier to clean up.

[DAVIDLOFLAND]

Thanks Comodave,

I was thinking of doing the exact same thing and wondered what the downside might be. If adding another bilge pump is all, then I'm gonna do it too. A marine surveyor once looked at my F32 and was surprised there was no solid bukhead. I was thinking about some sort of removable plug for each limber hole in the engine room bulkheads, so I can periodically remove them to wash the bilge, or maybe remove them in an emergency.
Does that make sense?

Does anyone else know of any other downside to blocking the holes?

[mrweller]

I really appreciate the reply as we plan improvements to our boat. Thanks!

[comodave]

I also fiberglassed the bulkhead in the rope locker so that water from the anchor rode does not drain into the bilge anymore. I had to raise the bottom of the rope locker about 6" so I could put an overboard drain from the locker that would be above the waterline. My goal is to keep the bilge as dry as possible to prevent any saturation of bulkheads and stringers.