I can't get my boat on a cartop either - it's about 24 ft long. Being a
clinker ( carvel ) wooden boat, it's always going to make some water, which
will be salt. And if it's raining, the water will be fresh. If had much
more than 6" of water in the bilges it would be getting close to doing
serious damage. Sort of eliminates ping pong balls in 2ft tubes, 6" dunny
floats. If the Rule float switches were reliable, they would be the easiest
solution. So how do we get Rule to lift their game?
DF

"Ron Thornton" wrote in message
...
William,

I chose the tank float because of the amount of buoyancy which will
definitely be enough to trip a microswitch directly. The mass of the
float and rod might give the delay effect you want but it would also
leave some water in the bilge, which is not a problem for me cause my
bilge is dry except when it rains (got'a seal those leaks) or I'm
underway with the shaft slightly dripping.

I have trouble getting my 14 ton sailboat on the cartop.

Regards, Ron