Drain to bilge?

Hello All!
Cool Change is back in the water and in her slip in Rockland. The wife and I spent several hours today cleaning a winters worth of storage barn dirt and grunge. By lunch time she (the boat, not the wife ) was looking pretty darn respectable!
Cindy was cleaning and rinsing the floor of the cuddy and wheelhouse and we were puzzled by what we found. There is a scupper in the aft end of the cuddy floor that drains to the forward bilge where it is pumped overboard. Where is a similar scupper in the aft end of the floor of the wheelhouse. I was surprised to find that this also drained to the forward bilge. The odd thing is that for a while after the bilge was pumped out we continued to hear the sound of running water. Hmm. No water ever appeared in the aft bilge, by the transom, which is where I would have assumed it would wind up.

Anybody have any wisdom on this matter?

It has everything to do with the way the boat is sitting.

With mine on the trailer the forward pump will kick on if there is water in there. It's the lowest point


If the boat was running on plane....The aft pump will kick on.

The sound of water running? I don't know.

Now it's not uncommon for a float switch to stick on those forward pumps and contune to run after the water is emptied.

Thanks Wart!
So you think the front and aft bilges are connected? I have been assuming that they were separate.

No..... Lift the Bow high enough and the water in the front will drain to the back.

warthog5":3tcxjxil said:

No..... Lift the Bow high enough and the water in the front will drain to the back.

Click to expand...

Think this is the same question I had last week. After hosing down the pilot house I didn't see any water draining. A few days later I was launching the boat. As soon as the boat hit the slope on the ramp the rear bilge shot out all that water. ...be careful not to be standing next to the boat when launching!

My boat lives in the water. Next time we go out I'll trim us bow high and have my wife drive. I'll go back and pop the hatch in the rear of the cockpit. I really hate to do that...She never grives me the helm back!

Offshore":j7t0rs70 said:

warthog5":j7t0rs70 said:

No..... Lift the Bow high enough and the water in the front will drain to the back.

Click to expand...

Think this is the same question I had last week. After hosing down the pilot house I didn't see any water draining. A few days later I was launching the boat. As soon as the boat hit the slope on the ramp the rear bilge shot out all that water. ...be careful not to be standing next to the boat when launching!

Click to expand...

My bilge(s) get completely emptied twice a year.
In the fall when the boat comes out of the water, and in the spring when she goes back in.

Depending on the steepness of the ramp, the water exiting can be quite dramatic.
I have learned to never position myself on the port quarter when she is on the ramp. :shock: