Filter screen above bilge well?

[renns]

Greetings! I'm working on an older 16' aluminum bow rider similar to the Starcraft SS16. It is destined to be our primary cottage boat, and will remain in the water around 7 months/yr, either at the cottage or marina slip. When sitting for long periods of time it will be covered, but when at the cottage, it will often sit open. Our property has lots of large trees along the shoreline, and we inevitably get pine needles and leaves into the boat. We plan to go with marine vinyl flooring for easy cleaning.

So - to my question... Has anyone seen or implemented a filter screen that catches the random debris from the boat floor before it falls into the bilge well? I was thinking of something like a large sink strainer that could be pulled out and cleaned easily on a regular basis. Any advice in this area would be appreciated. The floor is out, and foam being removed currently. I hope to figure out these details in the next couple weeks while shop temperatures still allow productive work to be accomplished. Thx!

 

[Scott Danforth]

Boat cover

 

[renns]

Scott-yes, a boat cover will be used for longer periods when the boat is not in use. However, it will spend lots of hours uncovered through the summer months. We are at a water-access cottage, so the boat serves dual purpose both for recreation and utility, and I hope to equip it during the rebuild to serve both purposes. Covering between each use is not going to happen.

 

[renns]

In our area, the welded aluminum utility boats are very popular. Here's a typical boat - likely never covered the entire season. Welded aluminum diamond plate flooring, with either self-draining hull, or draining to bilge well at back depending on model. I'm hoping to achieve similar functionality in my build, although we will use mooring cover for periods of inactivity or heavy rains.

 

[76SeaRay]

I don't know if this helps but my 76 Sea Ray has a belly tank amidships so it has a lowered walk space for the galley and v berth in front of the enclosed tank space. The original design used a strainer drain in the floor area in the galley walk space that drained into a plastic pipe that ran under the fuel tank (foamed in place) aft to the engine bilge where the pump is located. Although there should never be water in that area (the boat is a hardtop), the drain is more for accidental leaks into that area. Over the years (leaking windshield that wasn't fixed by the PO), the drain let enough small dirt through that eventually it plugged the pipe running to the bilge pump. So, a floor drain could probably be used but careful with keeping it clean on a regular basis.

 

[renns]

Thanks for info. The boat as-purchased had an open section in the floor about 16" x 16" back against the transom, with any water and debris from the floor falling down into the hull where the float switch and bilge pump are located. My thought is to make a stainless screen panel to fit in that area to catch the solids before they drop another 10" down into that cave, and potentially jam up or plug the bilge pump and/or float switch. It will definitely be checked often, as the portable fuel tanks are adjacent to that well.

 

[76SeaRay]

Sounds reasonable to me if you have to leave it uncovered for extended periods of time. Just make sure you have enough battery for the bilge pump depending upon how long between run times.

 

[KJM]

I used a stainless steel household shower drain in mine. Works great and didn't rust even on salt water. Another option I used to use was to just wrap the bilge pump itself with screen from a window but you would still need to clean out the bilge, so go with the floor drain.

 

[renns]

Thanks for the info. I was in the store the other day looking at kitchen sieves. I have seen others using the aluminum screening around the bilge pump, but I'd like to keep the crap from falling down in there in the first place.

 

[todhunter]

I'm using Perko 0361005CHR in my boat.