Replace Cockpit Drain Hoses
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May 2001 -- Just bought the boat.
This little job's number one on the list.
This is pretty, isn't it.
Please ignore the crud around the engine on this 20 year old boat, and look
at this hose. It's thin-walled bilge pump hose,
UNDER THE WATERLINE.
This is the kind of stuff that sinks boats.
See how the hose makes a 90 degree turn DOWN?
That's because it's under the waterline but the hose doesn't have the structural
strength to handle being full of water!
Sure enough, when I pulled it off (after closing the sea cock)
it cracked and my finger poked through it. It's one of those things that could
have held for another ten years,
or could have failed tomorrow.
The proper hose for
under the waterline applications is
steel reinforced thick rubber hose.
On the left, the old.
On the right, the new!
Here's the port side hose attached to the sea cock. I'm not too thrilled about that plastic fitting, and will pull it off someday when the boat's out of the water. I'm afraid that I'll break it if I mess with it.
Of course, everything on a boat has to have an unexpected problem... In this case, the bilge pump was directly in the way of the hose. The old hose was just kinked up and around the pump, but the new hose is really stiff and strong, and if I attempt to bend it around the bilge pump I'll place unfair stress on the sea-cock. So I had to remove the bilge pump, which is now just sitting there while I try to figure out what to do. (Update: Here's what I did.)
At least the boat isn't going to sink!
