Bilges/inspection hatches etc

[phil5]

I was reading a very interesting topic in this section of the forum about water in the cabin bilge. Not being very knowledgeable about this subject - or about boats in general - I learnt quite a lot. But some of the comments, suggestions & terms by folk with prior knowledge passed me by. I've been searching around for a website or book that explains the deepest workings of a narrowboat, with clear, uncomplicated drawings or pictures that maybe have the names of the various boat parts. Something like an 'Idiots Guide' assuming no prior knowledge. Eg: 'This is how the Bilge works' (or should work !!)

 

Anybody have any suggestions ?

 

I also have several questions that I'd like to get answers to. Namely :

 

How deep is the cabin bilge generally ? Mine only appears to be a couple of inches.

 

How many inspection hatches would it be sensible to have & how would you go about cutting/opening/closing them - which leads to the question ........... how do you locate where the floor bearers are so you can avoid them - without having to rip up your existing flooring ?

 

 

 

 

[Richard T]

The Narrowboat Builders Book by Graham Booth is a good start. It is a little dated but much of the material in it is still relevant.It can be obtained from the usual sources - it is published by Waterways World. For engine and electrics try downloading the course guides fron Tony Brooks - whilst he no longer runs courses the guides can found here -http://www.tb-training.co.uk/

 

To answer your specific questions - the bilge is generally quite small about 150mm much of this is taken up with ballast e.g. blue bricks, paving slabs or similar hence you only finding 50m or so.

Floor bearers can often be found by looking for screws in the floor.

Most boats have a solid bulkhead which separates the cabin from engine bilges. Inspection hatches tend to be close to this as most boats are ballasted stern down so any water gathers there. You may choose to put one in near say shower drain point etc.

 

Hope that this helps.

Happy boating in 2014

 

RichardT

[phil5]

^{Thanks Richard - I'll look out for that book !}

 

^{My bilge depth appears to be only 90/100mm. There's a small rough hole near the engine/cabin bulkhead as you suggested there might be & 1 near the shower which is a square hole. It's hard to see the base-plate from this one as a paving slab obscures most of it, but I can see enough to know there's no water in either !!}

 

^{Thanks again}

[nebulae]

I am always surprised at the lack of access to the bilges of most narrowboats.Seagoing boats generaly have access to all the bilges via removeable floorboards, The best you can hope for is a hatch against the rear cabin bulkhead,very seldom a bige pump in the cabin section..I have had to remove major areas of floorboards in not very old boats,particularly around showers.To remove the floor without wrecking expensive fit outs is a tricky job .Easier to have several removeable sections.so you can check on the baseplate. Especialy if the boat has a wet bilge like old Harborough Marine boats. If you get water in the bilge,say from a failed water pipe,much easier to dry the bilge with a few removeable floor sections.

[Neil2]

I'm equally puzzled why few narrowboats have proper access to the bilge(s) but I guess it interferes with the non-marine type fitout the vast majority of boats have and probably few buyers would appreciate the facility.

 

But I like to know what's going on down there so to me it's essential to have at least a couple of access points.

 

How you do this depends very much on how the floor has been laid and supported.

 

With luck the builder/fitter will have given this some thought and you may find that under the floor covering the floor has been put down in panels so all you need to do is make one or two easily accessible/removable.

 

If this isn't the case, the only quick solution is to cut access hatches.

 

For obvious reasons you can't just go cutting holes any old where, it needs some thought as to how the hatches are going to be supported. The most straightforward way is to cut out a section of floor between two bearers - there's probably several ways of doing this but I did it with a jig saw with a block of wood to raise the blade just enough so it cut through the floor and just into the bearer, if that makes sense. So the removable panel will have support on at least two opposite edges and that will probably do if you only cut a relatively "thin" hatch. Wide hatches would need supporting on the other two sides with "noggins" at 90 degrees to the bearers - these may or may not already exist but if the floor has not been put down with easily removable panels the noggins probably won't be in the right places. Fitting these as an afterthought could be a pain given the restricted working conditions in a NB bilge. The last boat I had, a previous owner had created hatches and just screwed support battens underneath which rested on the concrete slab ballast - I suspect he hadn't thought the exercise through...

 

The starting point is to remove floor coverings and see where the screws/nails are fixing the floor to the bearers.

[hilary barr]

I thought the water naturally ran to the stern due to the fact the boat slopes down towards the stern.???? Have been checking the engine bay down there and have a small amount of wafer down there but not enough to cover the bilge pump.

 

Also, Haven't heard the bulge pump cut in .......aargh. Should I be worried.

[phil5]

I think water is supposed to run naturally to the stern but I understand that sometimes the holes it runs through in the floor bearers can get blocked - by moved ballast or maybe rust flakes etc. Also, from what I've read & heard, the bilge round the engine, in the stern, is often separated from the cabin bilges by a bulkhead, so people generally recommend at least one inspection hatch on the cabin-side of this bulkhead.

 

As for the engine bay bilge, my boat's had around an inch of water in there for the 3 months I've owned it. I know it had a slight drip from the stern gland from the survey - I'm guessing the rest is rainwater ! I'm having a bilge pump fitted shortly but I wouldn't worry Hilary, a lot of pumps won't suck water out below a certain point - ie : they won't make the bilge totally dry. If your pump is able to be operated manually as well as automatically, it's probably be worth just flicking the switch to test it's working ok !

 

Thanks for the tips Neil

[Retro69]

drip from your sterngland is normal you have to grease it after cruising with your stern gland greaser also i put a container under the stern gland to catch any drips and empty it when im greasing my gland.......OOOOHH MATRON. BILGE PUMP WONT GET ALL THEWATER I USE NAPPIES OR MOP AND BUCKET NOW AND THEN sorry bout the caps. hope this helps good luck

[phil5]

I won't rise to it !!