On Aug 18, 12:29 pm, wrote:
On Aug 18, 12:15 pm, wrote:



On Aug 18, 11:46 am, wrote:

I want to decide whether or not to install self bailing on my Tolman
to go offshore. From what I can see, self bailing is installed on
boats with sealed decks with the scuppers roughly 3" above the deck.
My boat has no deck because I think it is important to have access to
the hull at all times. My current floatation is from two compartments
with screw on covers at bow and stern. I can even get into them if
necessary. This lack of deck means that any scuppers would be far
above the bottom of the boat and would not drain much water. Instead,
I rely on the inherent dryness of the boat (very high bow and sides)
and the completely sealed dry well in front of the motor and a large
3500 gph pump just in case. From my reading, I see that scuppers seem
to cause a lot of problems too. However, one web site stated flatly
that any boat going offshore had to have self bailing. So, thoughts?

It would be pointless to install scuppers on your boat. And 3500 gph
is under extremely ideal conditions. Best figure that your real world
results would be about half that. That's about 30 gpm. If you take
multiple hits, no bilge pump is going to keep up. Make sure you
travel in a group if you're going offshore in a boat not really suited
to be offshore. It's not that you can't make the trip successfully
given the correct conditions. It's that many combinations of things
can rapidly overwhelm you. Simply encountering a small storm and then
having the engine quit can be more than your boat can handle.

I do have a 9.8 hp pull start kicker too.
BTW, I currently do not have a cover for my boat and last week I left
the plug in her and she filled with rainwater to the height of the
stringers (8"). I used my small pump (750 gal/hr) to pump her out and
it took 5 min. The same thing with the 3500 gph should therefor take
about 65 sec. I am installing the 3500 with asmooth hose instead of
the corrugated stuff so it may be even faster.

Currently, the float compartments use the hull skin. For this trip, I
intend to fill them with small closed cell foam blocks. I also intend
to fill part of my oversized drywell in front of the motor with foam
blocks.
I could install a temporary deck with closed cell foam below it and
install very large scuppers above said deck. You can do stuff like
this in a home built boat.