19' Cuddy Bilge Blower Hose routing???

[structural1]

Hi guys... almost have the 19' regal cuddy back on the water. Engine is the dreaded Merc 3.7 and it has an enclosed doghouse engine cover. Quick question. When I bought the bought the routing for the 4" bilge blower hoses seems really odd. I think it may be routed wrong. There are (2) "vents" on the topside stern above the transom that are orignal to the boat. They vent to the outside of the boat and are about 18" apart but are enclosed under a clear plexiglass cover. The clear plexiglass cover is open to the outside air on the bottom side. Since the vents are so close and sort of in an enclosed area under the clear plexiglass cover it seems like they would pull/vent from the same air.

Running into bilge are 2 4' hoses. One hose has an inline blower and terminates on the port side of the bilge. The other hose is continous and terminates on the starboard side of the bilge. Oddly enough the blower is wired to blow INTo the bilge and not suck air out.

So here are my questions..... The Bilge blower should suck air out of the bilge and blow air into it correct? Also.... wouldn't the in and out air mix together sinec the vents are so close and under that plexiglas cover?

Thanks for any help.....

 

[structural1]

Re: 19' Cuddy Bilge Blower Hose routing???

Here is a pic of the vent area and plexiglass cover. You can see the (2) vents behind the cover. This isn't my boat but its the same year/model as mine. Its seems like the air would mix and you would be venting/filling the bilge with the same damn air. Unless it is meant to have 2 blowers and they both vent.

 

[Robert D]

Re: 19' Cuddy Bilge Blower Hose routing???

Bilge blower needs to be pulling air out of the bilge. If it's blowing into the bilge, it's just stirring up the 'heavier than air' gas fumes and doing nothing beneficial. Wiring may have been reversed on the motor when installed.

That plexiglass cover....I agree, that looks flat out wrong.

 

[Darmy]

Re: 19' Cuddy Bilge Blower Hose routing???

Seems wrong to me too... Brand new here, just picked up my first boat, '92 Sunbird Corsair 175 with 3.0 OMC. Not to hijack your thread, but the hoses on the Sunbird bring clean and also vent dirty on starboard side in one small vent; which makes me ask the same question, wouldn't this just pull the same dirty air right back in?? Shouldn't the clean come from port and dirty vent out starboard (or vice versa)? The blower seems dead (loud squeal) and hoses are all torn up anyway, so replacing all, but want to get it right! Been reading the forums for a week, thanks for all the great info!

 

[mxcobra]

Re: 19' Cuddy Bilge Blower Hose routing???

their should be or in my case this is how mine is done.
4 ducts 2 on each side high and low. one above motor one below
one side should have an air vent on the outside of boat with fins pointing in the direction, so when u under way fresh combustibale air is poured into engine bay.
the other side should have the same high and low ducts with a inline blower on the low duct blowing a large amount of air to the outside, this is the important one becouse it is sucking and blowing bad gas fuems to the outside witch could cause an explosion.(gas dose not explode its gas vapers that explode). ur blower is most likly backwards so turn it around so it blows instead of sucks

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: 19' Cuddy Bilge Blower Hose routing???

Bilge blower needs to be pulling air out of the bilge. If it's blowing into the bilge, it's just stirring up the 'heavier than air' gas fumes and doing nothing beneficial. Wiring may have been reversed on the motor when installed.

That plexiglass cover....I agree, that looks flat out wrong.

I agree, that cover definitely looks like an ill-conceived owner add-on plexi cover :facepalm:

Don't know enough about blower motors to know if it could have been wired in reverse. There's a chance though, and no matter the reason, it should blow OUT for fume evacuation.

The plexi cover & blowing in fan may indicate that water was entering the bilge thru those vent holes, and the fan was switched to blow into the bilge to aid drying it out.... If you can, you might try & look around the bilge and into any areas you can that are below decks, to see if there was evidence of water intrusion. I hope not, but I can't imagine the reason that plexi cover was installed. IMHO, it does nothing to improve the rear view of the boat.