On 21 Apr 2009 as I do recall,
Tony Brooks wrote:
> As far as automatic bilge pumps are concerned. They were probably
> vital on wooden boats that might starts to leak at any time, but I
> suspect only a fool would leave a wooden boat unattended for months on
> end and most people would know how vital keeping the battery charged
> would be.
It's not so much that a wooden boat may *start* to leak at any time;
more that they do naturally leak slightly all the time, for a value of
'slightly' that may vary enormously depending on how hot and dry the
weather is (worse), whether you've been along any muddy canals recently
(better), whether the loading of the boat has changed substantially
recently (bringing new seams below/above the waterline), how much the
hull has been bashed around in locks/by other boats recently (bad), etc.
If you *don't* have an automatic bilge pump it is necessary to pump out
a wooden boat regularly, i.e. every week or so. If you do have one it
will probably go off several times a day (emitting a small quantity of
water each time). If a wooden boat is left at her moorings without
pumping of any kind she *will* eventually sink (my brother's first boat
did -- before he got her -- and oddly enough, come to think of it, his
current one did as well ;-)
--
Harriet Bazley == Loyaulte me lie ==
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.
