A "ha ha" and something learned.....

[oldsailor]

I read in one of the forums that putting a healthy mix of dish detergent and water in your bilge (plug in, of course) and then driving around for a while is a good way of cleaning your bilge. Sooooooo....I get the boat hooked up, get the bottle of dish detergent from the kitchen, pour a good amount in a 5 gallon bucket, fill the bucket about 2/3 full, and pour it in the bilge. I refill the bucket, pour it in the bilge, and take off for a drive around town to slosh the mixture well in the bilge.

I live in a cul de sac, and have a slight hill to drive up to get to the main road. Imagine my surprise when I look in the rear view mirror and see a soapy stream of water shooting out of the bilge fitting on the back deck...........(yeah, I should have had a camera!!)

I run around the boat and check the switches ....everything is off. Then I notice the bilge switch light is on ....I flick the switch ..nothing ...the fountain of soapy water continues....so, it's back to the battery compartment to disconnect everything from the hot wire.....the fountain shuts off...

Apparently the auto bilge pump is "on" all the time.....anyone else notice that??

Fortunately I had a cut-off switch in the garage, so when I got back from my ride around town and drained the bilge, I installed the switch -- now I just have to remember to push the bar down when I go to the lake. I now also know why my starter battery was showing red lights on the charger whenever I plugged it in the day before we were going to the lake ....the auto bilge pump was drawing on it 24/7.

[Tx Champ]

Now that's funny right there ... Pix would have been priceless!!

[Lea]

I'm crying here!

Yes ( ) "auto" is always on!!

Too funny and thanks for telling on yourself!!!

Hope the bilge is now clean....

Oh...and you just proved you belong here in the Champion forum..

[oldsailor]

Thanks, Lea...

It was too funny not to share ....neighbors probably wondered why I was washing the street.....

[Tx Champ]

I had always heard to pitch a bar of Ivory soap in the bilge to keep it clean ...

[HaulinBass]

Always funny too when your not on the receiving end of the auto bilge, sitting boat to boat in the rain waiting for a T to start.

[ChampionNorm]

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by HaulinBass &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Always funny too when your not on the receiving end of the auto bilge, sitting boat to boat in the rain waiting for a T to start.</TD></TR></TABLE>


+1


My pumps throw it out in a 5 foot stream. I have turned on the livewell pumps and soaked a boat that was not paying attention behind me.

[203]

The pump is always 'armed' but only turns on when the level switch in the bilge rises above a certain point. Your pump is not drawing current from the battery until that switch makes, as it did when you poured the cleanser in there.

My battery charger always starts in the red, then heads over to trickle charge as the battery demands.

That's a funny story, would have loved to had a video of it

[Derwood]

Good one!! Glad I read this because if I had read the "how to clean out your bilge area" before reading this, that would have been me telling that story, not you!! Did it clean out your bilge area????

[JohnM]

You want it to always be "armed", especially if you leave your boat in the water overnight (don't ask me how I know) .

If you own a bass boat your neighbors already think you're nuts between flipping at trees in the yard testing reels before a tournament, firing off the motor in the driveway after routine maintenance etc... a little soapy water is just par for the course.

My current boat shoots the water straight out the back, My Champion shot it out the back but at an angle to the side. I was coming up the ramp one day, the darn thing kicked on and SOAKED an innocent stranger just standing there watching all the pretty boats load up. I wanted to crawl under the dash as I was apologizing.

[HaulinBass]

Yeah, it's probably a good idea that they started exiting the bilge out the back. Don't know how you'd explain to a drunk gomer that just got soaked by the auto bilge.