Hank Foglino

This happened to me: After the heavy rains we had at the beginning of the month I went down to check my boat. The bilge was chock full of water and the battery was dead as a doornail. I took the battery home and put it on my small 10 ampere charger for a few hours and returned to the boat. It started right up and I discovered the ribbed hose from the bilge pump had broken off at the through hull fitting and all that was happening was the water was being circulated in the hull until the battery ran out. In as much as there was always water in the system, the bilge pimp did not burn out.

Lessons learned: 

1. Check your system. My boat is 23 years old; I’ve changed the pump a few times but never looked at the hose. The ribbed plastic hose which was designed for its ability to bend easily without collapsing was as brittle as thin ice

2. After a very rainy period, make sure you go down to the slip and take a look at your sweetheart.

3. Boat covers leak ---- a lot. I’ve been using Scotch Guard and I think it’s useless. Can anyone recommend another product that works?

4. Having a small inexpensive battery charger around comes in handy.

I’m too lazy to crawl under the rear seat until I get the boat in the garage so I just fastened the discharge hose pointing into the motor well. If you see a boat with what looks like an umbilical cord coming from under the cover into the motor well, it’s mine.

Hank