Bilge compartments layout and pump locations

[mrpardijs]

I have a Bavaria 37 Exclusive from 1996 and currently have one manual bilge pump in the saloon bilge. I'm planning on installing one or more automatic pumps as well. Now I'm figuring out where water from internal or external leaks goes to.

It looks like the bilge under the v-berth is not connected to the saloon bilge, neither is the galley bilge. Also the engine bilge is separated (which is a good thing), but water from the aft cabin where the fuel tank is does flow through some limber holes to de saloon bilge. In fact I have a small fuel hose leakage from the tank so sometimes the water in de saloon bilge is mixed with diesel.

Isn't the idea that all should flow to the central deepest point where the bilge pump is, except for the engine compartments? What are reasonable places to install extra pumps?

[JEN-et-ROSS]

If they're not already present you could introduce a few strategically placed limber holes to encourage the water in the various bilge spaces to eventually migrate to the saloon bilge where your pump is, thus avoiding extra pumps and expense...
Some folk like the idea, others don't, but it will solve the problem..

[symphony2]

You are correct. There are limber holes in the grid in the bilge and eventually everything except for the engine compartment and the heads eventually drains to the sump - albeit often slowly as it gets into the transverse stringers as well. The back up electric pump should be in the same location as the manual pump. You should be able to get the boat watertight so that the pumps have very little to do.

[SYJetzt]

Why additional pumps?  The boats are usually tight and a bone-dry bilge is the norm.  If your boat is damp in the bilge, first try to find and seal the leak, which can be a tricky task.  After that, you're one step closer to every boat owner's nirvana.

[mrpardijs]

Normally the bilge should be dry, yes. The idea of extra pump(s) is to mitigate the situation in case there's a leak in a hose or through hull or whatsoever, therefore, I would reckon that especially the heads bilge would flow through to the central bilge.

[Yngmar]

Yup, bilge pumps on dry boats are for buying you time so you can find the burst hose, failed seacock, punctured diaphragm, broken rudder tube or popped out transducer. And help you locate the source of ingress, because once the water is high enough you will no longer see where it comes in.

On ours everything except the under-engine section was limberholed into the lowest spot, where the intake strainer for a manual bilge pump and an automatic bilge pump were located. Oh, and the V-berth was separate, which is because it acts as a partial crash bulkhead (somewhat compromised by wire holes going through at mid-level). Useful, because that's where the fragile transducers were.

So bilge pumps go into the lowest spot, somewhere in the center of the boat. We also had a roving high capacity pump with a long hose and cable. Also handy for pumping out other peoples boats if you end up needing to assist someone.