A milestone and a BIG thank you!

[IRGuy]

I noticed that the last post I made a few minutes ago was my 1,200th here.. a milestone for me.

I think with this in mind it is a good time for me to pause for a bit and thank you all. Your assistance, tolerance, answers to my (sometimes dumb) questions, recommendations, personal comments (mostly positive, some negative), and most important of all your friendship has made my rebuilding of "Phoenix" easier and better than it would have been without your support.

It really isn't possible for me to mention all of you who come to mind at this moment, so to take the easy way out and not miss any one of you I won't name you here individually, but instead I will name just one. Captain Patrick.. you will never know how much your personal help, information and suggestions, and the information you have taken the time to publish in the Owner's Tips has made my work both easier and of better quality than it would have been otherwise. There is a lot of you in "Phoenix"! In fact I will add that there is a lot of all of you in "Phoenix"!

Thank you one and all! It has been a great time! Now you had all better get ready for my next 1,200!

[Harry Babb]

Good post Frank

I share your sentiments exactly.

As I have said to many of my friend both here on 31 and elsewhere....this site is an amazing gathering of Gentlemen....

Cheers! ! !

hb

[Capt.Frank]

Frank,
I know you have learned alot from this group as I have. You should be getting real close to getting "Phoniex" in the water this spring. I know she looks better than when I saw her last winter.

one of the other Franks

[IRGuy]

Harry...

Thanks for the kind words! This is a very special place!

Another Frank...

Yes.. "Phoenix" is about 90% ready to paint. I have removed all the rot in the cockpit sole and replaced it with rigid foam with a fiberglas skin, redid the engine room and generator space vent system, done a bunch of wiring, designed and installed a hatch gutter drain system and sump, got the generator running, got the trim tabs running again, and done a bunch of smaller things since your visit. I am planning on having her back in my slip before spring. I will have quite a bit of interior work to do, but the heavy stuff is pretty much done. I can't wait!

[Skipper Dick]

Frank
How did you design the gutter drain? I've run tubing from each gutter drain to a sump, but it is mostly ineffective. I think the small pump in the sump gets overwhelmed and most of the rain water and such just over flows and goes into the bilge anyway. After every typical Florida rain storm, I can easily vacuum 5-7 gallons out of the bilge.

I'm not sure if I should put in a larger sump or a larger pump at this point.

Dick

[IRGuy]

Dick...

I built my gutter drain system from 1/2" and 3/4" Sched 40 PVC pipe and fittings and a couple of 1/2" hoses with threaded fittings on each end. For a sump I used a 2 gallon plastic pail, and a small bilge pump with an integral float switch. My discharge comes up through the cockpit deck and then out one of the scupper holes in the transom. (I did not want to put another hole in the transom).

I tested the pump and found it moved water so fast it splashed all over the place, so I made an angled baffle to deflect it's output out the flapper behind the scupper on the transom.

Describing in words the details of the piping will be difficult.. if you want to discuss this with me drop me and email and we can set up a time to talk.

[Skipper Dick]

Frank,

Thanks. You've pretty much painted a picture I can see. I think my solution is to get a larger sump and faster pump. The 3/4 hose I've used to direct the flow to the sump seems to be capable. the problem is on the very end at the sump.

If I get real ambitious, I might just pull my deck since it is held down with about 30 plus screws and white silicon and turn it upside down and do a real job on putting in pvc piping. Or I might just be able to do it with the deck on. I'll have to look at it.

Thanks again for the details. I think I'll fuss with it this week end.

Dick

[IRGuy]

Dick...
I am not familiar with the B31 cockpit sole so I can't comment on if it is possible to do the piping with it in place.. but I suspect it is nearly impossible, or at least a lot of work. I was simply going to run hose from each hatch gutter to a sump/pump until I decided to repair all the soft spots in the sole which required that it be out of the boat and upside down on a pair of sawhorses.

I mounted the plastic pail to a piece of 3/8" PVC sheet stock and then mounted this on a clear space on the stbd rudder shelf outside of the swing of the rudder arm. I mounted the pump/switch combo to a round piece of 3/8" PVC sheet about an inch in diameter smaller than the bottom of the pail and just dropped the assembly into the pail (I didn't want to put too many holes in the pail bottom). The pump can't tip over because of the round base and really can't move more than a half inch in in any direction. The water from the gutters exits the gutter manifold through a piece of 3/4" hose which hangs in the pail, so there is no fixed connection between the manifold and the pail/pump. The pump discharge line is part hose and part PVC pipe, so alignment of the pump to the piping is not critical.

It was easier to build this system than it is to describe it! Good luck!