Thinking of using hollow keel as the bilge on F28

Bob Giaier · Post by **Bob Giaier** » Sun May 16, 2010 9:08 pm

Has anyone out there ever used the hollow keel on their F28 for the bilge. My brother has a 77 F28 and he's thinking if the keel is full of water, why not just put a hole under the current bilge pump position to let the bilge drain in to the keel (the keel's full of stinkie water anyways). Then he wants to add a second hole at the lowest point along the keel from the bilge and pump the water out there. That way the water may not be so stinkie since it's fresher andn at least the current bilge area would always stay dry.

Anyways, if anyone out there has done this on an F28 (77ish), it would be great to know where the lowest point on the keel is and more importantly did it work?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions here.

Danny Bailey · Post by **Danny Bailey** » Mon May 17, 2010 2:29 pm

Do a search. This topic has been thoroughly thrashed out several times. The low spot on my F-36 is at the front of the engines (where I cut a hole in it and inserted a bilge pump)

Bob Giaier · Post by **Bob Giaier** » Mon May 17, 2010 9:27 pm

I did search and you are correct there is allot of info. We were thinking the low spot to be in front of the engines too on the F28. I didn't see anyone using it as a bilge.

Big D · Post by **Big D** » Mon May 17, 2010 10:42 pm

I've seen this done on a few with success. In your climate like ours, be diligent about vacuuming what's left after winter haulout. I've seen keel damage from water left in there over the winter. In fact, I would feel more comfortable having access to this area rather than relying on a suposedly sealed keel that may leak and fill with water without my knowledge.

Had this happen on a couple of trawlers too. One even had a keel drain that was blocked with remnants of the failed cored bilge that sealed the top of the keel. So when the plug was pulled for the winter and nothing drained out, the owner assumed there was no water in it. Wrong!

Bob Giaier · Post by **Bob Giaier** » Tue May 18, 2010 9:11 pm

Really good point on the winter clean up, but that's what I can't figure out, we're pretty sure it has lots of water in it now, since the keel drips some and the boat smell sour inside. What we can't figure out is why it wouldn't have split already. I saw a few statements on the forum on that mystery too.

Anyways, I think we're going or keel drilling this week end. I'll report back.

Thanks for your help Big D..

captainmaniac · Post by **captainmaniac** » Tue May 18, 2010 10:23 pm

After I haul I drain everything I can (using a siphon tube stuffed down one of the holes to the hollow keel), then dump in a jug of plumbing antifreeze for insurance.

I have thought about rigging a separate 'bilge' pump with a hose down into the hollow keel to help evacuate this water during the season. But a regular bilge pump won't do any good (shape, size, can't attach a separate hose, and not self-priming).... so far haven't found a cheap enough self priming pump to try the experiment.

Bob Giaier · Post by **Bob Giaier** » Thu May 20, 2010 8:07 pm

Actually I was hoping someone found a pump (diaphram style or something). We'll see.

Danny Bailey · Post by **Danny Bailey** » Thu May 20, 2010 8:55 pm

I had a 28' Chris Craft years back that had a hollow, open keel and it came from the factory with a round (like a piece of pipe) bronze strainer with a hose attached to a 12V diaphragm pump. The newer type diaphragm pumps probably have enough lift (if you don't mount it too high) to pick up the keel water, but they will not pump a lot of trash without messing up. Or, you could put one of those hand operated diaphragm pumps like sailboaters use for emergency bilge pumps, and pump it out with that. They will pump anything.

Big D · Post by **Big D** » Thu May 20, 2010 9:14 pm

Bob, DB is right about the diaphram pumps. It can sit above the keel, you need only hang a hose to the bottom of the keel, it's self priming and can run dry. They are however usually more expensive than your typical plastic impellor submersible bilge pump.

I have also seen a RULE auto switch which has a narrow profile, and a small round pump mounted to a Z or S shaped aluminum bracket that extended the switch and pump to the bottom of the keel. This allows to you to get a pump and switch down there without screwing anything to the bottom of the keel. The bracket is secured at the top and also allows easy removal for servicing the works later.

I can't remember the model of pump but something with a small round footprint as found in a sump box comes to mind.

Bob Giaier · Post by **Bob Giaier** » Fri May 21, 2010 8:16 pm

Thanks guys, your answers are just in time for the weekend. We'll be up there tomorrow to begin working on it.

Bob Giaier · Post by **Bob Giaier** » Tue May 25, 2010 10:04 pm

We drilled a 1 1/4 in hole right aft of the engine room bulk head (in front of the batteries).

We pumped about 2 gallons of rank water out and then poured a bunch of bleach in and after a while the little bilge water up front started to smell bleachie.

The boat smells great now.