Stephen Trapani wrote in
:

Larry wrote:
Stephen Trapani wrote in news:JTN1o.45739
:

So since I have no shore power, could the bilge switch itself be
eating up a whole zinc within six months? There seems to be an
unexplained drain of the batteries also.



Assuming the negative terminal of the batteries is connected to the
block of the engine, most are, AND if there is ANY leakage path
between the positive terminal of the batteries to the sea, yes, it'll
gobble up the zincs in no time....sometimes eating the prop, rudder,
other underwater metals connected to DC ground inside the boat.

When you say "bilge switch" are you referring to the bilge pump float
switch?

Yes.

Stephen


The bilge float switch is certainly a possible leakage path. A good
half of them I've encountered were wirenutted to the wiring, completely
unsealed, another leakage path to battery + terminal. Disconnect the +
and - wires for the bilge pump from the battery
terminals....completely. Submerge the pump and float switch completely
by just pulling a hose off a thruhull and flood the boat with seawater
to just over the pump. Connect one lead of your ohmmeter on the highest
resistance scale to any submerged metal object like the engine mounts
that are now under seawater to get a good connection to the conductive
water. Keeping the open ends of the wires out of the water, measure the
resistance from each power wire to that underwater metal piece. It
should read infinite resistance....no conduction path, whatsoever, even
though the pump is submerged. If you get any resistance lower than
infinity, disconnect the interconnecting wire between the float switch
and the pump to isolate them from each other. Now unconnected from each
other, test each of the two parts for resistance to determine which one
of them is leaking into the seawater. Replace it. Retest the new
installation before repowering it DIRECTLY TO THE BATTERY through a
separate appropriate fuse mounted much higher than the bilge and
completely separate from everything else in the boat.

I'm always horrified to find a bilge pump connected to a breaker panel
that's SO easy to flip off when in a hurry to leave the boat in its
storage position.....with no live bilge pump to keep her afloat! I
never install bilge pumps that aren't a real pain in the ass to shut
OFF. NO ON-OFF BILGE PUMP SWITCHES!! I can't figure why Rule even
sells one! IT has 3 positions...automatic, OFF and on. Off? Why would
anyone ever set the bilge pump to OFF?! Are they crazy?! "I think my
bilge pump is broken. There's water in my bilge.", captain X says to
me. "Do you have a breaker or bilge pump switch?", I query. "Sure!",
he says, proudly. "You won't when I'm done with it.", I growl.

A boat sank. A diver was retrieving personal stuff from the hull 24'
down. "Can you check to see if you see a bilge pump breaker on the main
power panel or a bilge pump switch?", I asked him. The look on his face
when he came up again told all I needed to know. The goddamned bilge
pump switch was set to OFF! Duhh!

If yours is like that rewire the bilge pump DIRECTLY to a high mounted
inline fuse with HEAVY wire so you can high fuse it safely, DIRECTLY TO
THE BATTERY TERMINALS without any battery switches, breaker panels, or
any kind of switch that can turn the pump OFF at all! That pump needs
to have power if there's even a little power left in the dead
batteries....the last electrical device STILL RUNNING when she goes
under for the last time!



--
iPhone 4 is to cellular technology what the Titanic is to cruise ships.

Larry