11Meter bilges

[dlattan]

Hello:

We are the 4th owner of a 1988 11Meter Express which we purchased last year. We love the boat having upgraded from an F-25. In working on a defective front bilge pump float switch, and subsequently flushing out all the nasty that had accumulated, I have a question. There are three bilge pumps - front, mid and rear. Are these in separate [i.e, isolated] compartments, or can bilge water flow freely from fore to aft?

Thanks for your help!

Dave

American Made
Trojan 11 Meter International Express
Port of Havana, Illinois

[todd brinkerhoff]

If its like mine, they are not isolated. The boat sits bow low while at rest, so the water tends to move forward when the boat sits. My middle bilge area rarely has water, but the water passes through the area when moving. If your middle pump activates you should be nervous, as you probably have lots of water.

I love 11 meters. Good luck.

[dlattan]

Thanks, Todd. That was what I was assuming, but the manual doesn't have a true mechanical drawing of the hull, and, when I was flushing the bilge, I put enough water in that I thought the mid pump should have activated, but it never did.

[todd brinkerhoff]

Thanks, Todd. That was what I was assuming, but the manual doesn't have a true mechanical drawing of the hull, and, when I was flushing the bilge, I put enough water in that I thought the mid pump should have activated, but it never did.

Hey, no problem. Your boat volume is quite large, significantly larger than mine (14' beam vs 13'). As I said, if you have water in your middle bilge area, and you are at rest, that means you have a tremendous amount of water in your forward area. Your middle bilge, for a lack of a better term, is at the top of the hill, with your bow and stern being at the bottom of the hill.

[Jimmy]

I also have a 88 11 meter, and all three are common and as noted, middle bilge is at the high point, the fuel level does affect this somewhat, but regardless, you MUST verify every bilge pump works.... All three are easy access that is unless the bow is covered in tacked down carpet......

BTW, every bilge should also have an alarm that will sound if the float (and hopefully pump) are on for like longer than 90 seconds I believe. Best to check this operation as well.

I hope you enjoy your boat as much as we do.... Even when you need to fix a few things.

[dlattan]

Thanks, Jimmy.

Everything was working except for the front on automatic.

Your reply also reminded me that I had not yet made the 2015 support contribution...

Dave

[Jimmy]

Glad to help, good to see another 11 meter owner out there. Not as many out there as the 10-10.8 meters. Especially the same year. Im trying to find window screw covers for ours. Old ones are in bad shape.... Not leaking, but looking bad.

[oldboat1]

Maybe different by '88 (or different in larger hulls), but my '80 F26 uses little rectangular sealed float switches. Assuming those are original, they seem to be pretty effective. Your forward pump might have a corrosion issue on the float switch loop.

Still exploring movement of bilge water on mine. I routinely check all three pump locations -- not much water, but engine compartment bilge doesn't seem to completely drain forward, so hoping to correct for some better bilge cleaning.

[P-Dogg]

...every bilge should also have an alarm ....

If your middle pump activates you should be nervous, as you probably have lots of water.

I solved both of these truisms at once. My tricab sits bow low at rest, and stern low when underway. I can never see a reason that my center bilge pump should even turn on, so I connected my high-water alarm directly to the center pump indicator light at the helm -- no separate float required. I saw one tricab once, ahem, that had a high water alarm maybe 8" above the middle pump float switch. That seems way too high for me. The stringers would be thoroughly soaked by then.....

As for the water not appearing to move between sections of the bilge, it is possible that the limber hole is small and/or clogged.

[oldboat1]

Yup. never looked for or noticed the limber hole, so likely the issue on mine. Wary about water in the eng compartment because I once buggered up a starter (Chris Craft) mounted low enough to catch some bilge water -- think it was the flywheel passing some water into the Bendix. Also concerned with the stringers, though, as you mention -- wish I had a dry bilge throughout, but it's an express cruiser and I don't have an enclosure (hard top, but no canvas). Talking maybe an inch or so at the keel, not enough to kick on the pump.