Mid-ship bilge pump

[Baroloman]

I have a 3297 and the central bilge, just fore of the potable water pump, is always wet. The pump float engages when there is more than an 1 1/2" or so, but always leaves that behind. Manually engaging the float purges most of the water, but some water is released back into the bilge when the pump switch is released. Occasional manual mopping of the remainder is tedious. Any solutions?

[buster53]

Most boats have a little water in the bilge as the bilge pump cannot get it all out. Nature of the beast…don’t loose sleep over it.

[Viper]

Ya your typical bilge pump won't get all the water out, that's not what they're designed to do. Unless you have a newer pump that incorporates a check valve, any water left in the hose when the pump stops will run back into the bilge.

I guess the bigger question is; where is the water coming from? If it's from shaft logs, not much you can do short of installing a dripless log system. Have you ruled out all other possible sources?

[km1125]

On my older boat I just installed a very small bilge pump right next to the big one. I did add a check valve to the output. I think it was a 360GPH or 500GPH unit. It would draw water down to about 1/8". It also meant the main pump didn't have to run very often at all (if ever).

You could also go with a "dry bilge" system. There are some retail ones but you can also so a pretty simple DIY system

[plittle2005]

Mopping? Use a wet-dry vac.