Commander #65 "Lucky Dawg"

[mbd]

Yeah, but it's removed each season and in and out of there a lot during the season, so there are plenty of opportunities to inspect it.

All you'd really need is something to attach the pump to and heavy enough to sink it. I wonder what the smart guys/gals on the forum do with theirs? I suppose the search button would turn up a lot of alternatives, but I'm at work, so I suppose I should get back to it.

[Westgate]

Kyle,

On Arthur we have a manual pump who's hose goes to the deepest part of the bilge just aft of the keel void. I pump this out by hand when needed which up to now has only been after the ice melt from the fridge has drained out. It is a Titan whale gusher and can really move a lot of water in a hurry. Just to see what it could do I filled the bilge up with water and had it pumped dry in under two minutes.

http://images.westmarine.com/full/03525_f.jpg

We also have an electric bilge pump (Rule 2000 I think) mounted into the floor of the bilge using 3/16" SS screws. It sits below the sole access panel closest to the companionway. Does a Commander have two access hatches? The glass is thick enough there that 3/16" does not penetrate through and beside all you would go into would be the keel void which is dry as a bone right . Remember to mount the switch higher than the pump which is easy since the bilge floor slopes up fast right there.

I like this system because the electric pump stays high and dry 99% of the time but is there if needed. It is also easy to get to for inspection and cleaning. I have not measured exactly how much water has to be present to turn the bilge pump on but I ran a hose into the bilge after initial set up and I took a minute or two to "fill" the aft bilge to the turn on level. Some say you need two pumps, some more. I think that the important thing is to have at least one manual and one electric and of course one bucket .


Sounds like your windows need rebedding. We did it last year and it was a messy but straight forward job. Took all day to do the first two but an hour to do the last two! We bought a big 'ol piece of 1/2" Lexan from the local glass house and I cut the panes using the old ones as templates. I cut them out over-sized and did final shaping using my table top sander. Follow Lackey's advice and use longer screws and nuts during the initial set-up. Makes life a lot easier. I recommend using butyl I got mine at ACE. If you have time fill in the void between the inner and outer skins using the techniques described by Ebb. Makes for a tigher, cleaner final product. I remember the hardest part of the job was cleaning all the junk (Silicon 5200 buytl) off the old frames. Finally ended up using a wire wheel on my drill. Took it off pretty fast

Andrew