You may wish to check the bilge pumps and seacocks

[jpwrist]

I own a 2001 Albin and take fairly good care of her including flipping the switches on the bilge pumps regularly to establish that they are functioning.

You can imagine my surprise when the following happened. I had a leak in the seal on the seawater cooling water pump and had the yard replace it. I closed the seacock to this line and when they took the pump out they let the disconnected inlet line trail in the bilge (their mistake) and left. A number of hours later when they came back, water from the midsection diaphragm pump had sprayed the inside of the battery compartment area.

I spent five hours washing and cleaning to remove all the salt water.

After doing an analysis (including, adding water to the boat and testing all the switches under “real” water conditions, and hauling and removing the seacock), I found three problems.

1) The seacock was leaking in a closed position. This was not a recent thing, but probably had been that way for quite a while. The connection to the water pump kept this from being apparent.

2) The diaphragm of the mid ship bilge pump had sprung a leak.

3) The switch of the forward pump functioned when moved manually, but did not float when it was submerged in water.

Thus, the lesson is: 1) you may wish to do a real life test by adding water to the boat to see if all the bilge pumps are functioning properly, 2) disconnect the lines to the seacocks and see if the seacocks are functioning.

Jos

[Veebyes2]

Good advice. I am in the habit of closing all seacocks when the boat is unoccupied for anything more than a shore excursion of a few hours. This ensures that the seacocks operate freely at all times.

For ease of bilge pump maintenance the whole pump/switch combo is fixed onto a removable plate in the keel. The plate is not screwed down. Short of the boat turning over, the plate does not move.

[chiefrcd]

Several times a year I wash out my bilge by filling it up and pumping it out using all the bilge pumps. I fill it from the rear compartment using a hose. Keeps the bilge clean and pretty much odor free and test all the pumps as well.

[Donya]

After taking possession last fall of our boat and doing a through inspection of all systems I found the forward bilge pump float switch did not work and holding tank seacock stuck in the open position.
I replaced the float switch with a Johnson Pump electronic type and heat shrink connectors instead of the splice caps that was used.
Was able to free up the seacock but will be replaced at the spring haul out.