'56 Bell Boy 18' Express Cruiser

Done with the transom rebuild. Re-glassed the stringers and frames. Drilled the limber holes larger and sealed with epoxy. We are ready to put the sole back in. Before I glass this puppy in, I have a question about the drainage. The factory configuration has no way for water on the deck to get out of the boat. Since the deck is below the waterline, how is this usually done? Maybe a sump, and pumped out? Or just drains to the bilge? A pump on deck under the back seat? I'm perplexed.

[Marty Loken (Norseboater)]

Draining Your Bilge...

One of the better approaches is to leave an open sump area at the center of the transom, large enough to accommodate a bilge pump that's mounted flush to the bottom of the hull. Having enlarged the drain holes between stringers, all water should drain to the low sump area and be pumped overboard. (If the hull somehow doesn't have drain-plug holes, you'll want to add one or two, of course, so that water can escape easily when the boat's on the trailer.)

We often make the sump opening a half-circle shape, with a radius of approximately 10-12 inches, making it easy to service the bilge pump. Water draining across the cockpit floor also needs to be allowed to flow into the sump, too, so it sometimes helps to artificially elevate the outer sides of the cockpit floor in the splashwell area, helping water drain toward the center.

Hope this helps a bit...

- Marty

[Tim_Mattson]

Sweet work.Bilge pumps on Decks seem to never ,EVER,suck enough to seem like their doing much ,unless it`s pouring down rain and you are ankle deep in water.
I regret the lack of a Sump on my Seafair which also is flat and sits below water on the deck.
I`ll be doing a sump at some point,basically picking one side of center,as it has a keel to the transom,then sloping all sides toward the desired region.
On Ken Cook`s Skagit,I took Door Skin and capped the stringers and foamed it before it was glassed in place.I shaped the foam to get a nice big Radius at the side and rear of the hull before capping with a courtesy layer of Cloth and epoxy as the rear is almost always wet.One section un-capped to act as the sump.
His boat had forward sumps too,and the old gas tanks(built into the hull with Glass) were opened up , cleaned until nothing ugly was left,then a forward Bilge pump with auto-float was placed as low as possible.Brass plugs make it possible to "manage " water flow in this one as the forward seat floor could stay dry if dammed off.
Some boats tend to pool water forward at rest and some rear bilge sumps don`t really function unless the bow is propped slightly.
Keep a back-up plan in case water defies you.
My favorite sump is in my 18`Pac Mariner that will hold almost 5 gallons before it is full.I put a new drain thru the small front dam so under deck would drain,it was made with no escape as it sat.Now it`s plugged until I want to check for forward deck leaks.Having a deep bow ,the sump drains forward on this one unless added sump plug is plugged and allowed to fill,which a pump loves.
Auto bilges will sometimes shut -off if a sump is too small,as it empties before it can keep prime.Testing with real water is always a good idea!
Also remember the size of the bilge hose will allow that much diameter of water to drain back as you shut it off.Big isn`t always better and two small ones are what I favor,with a switch for each one....wire them to each switch and you have a working bilge pump virtually every time.
Hoping to find some pics of the items described above....found all but the rear sump pics that would help most.....sorry.
TimM

[Mark_Denis]

Hi David, glad to see you posting progress on your BB18. It's looking great so far!

Hope you don't mind me posting the links to your blog and progress pages:

http://56bellboy.blogspot.com/

http://shareaproject.com/pages/projectTut,p,509,00.html

Keep up the great work!

Hi David, glad to see you posting progress on your BB18. It's looking great so far!

Hope you don't mind me posting the links to your blog and progress pages:

http://56bellboy.blogspot.com/

http://shareaproject.com/pages/projectTut,p,509,00.html

Keep up the great work!

Great, thanks Mark. But now I have to get going on updates. I have about 500 new photos, with no text to go with them.

Also, thanks to everybody with ideas about drainage. The explanations and photos are a great help. The sump idea seems good to me. A great way to keep water out of the bilge and easily pumped out of the boat. I am not sure about the advantages over draining to the bilge. Because of the way the knees, keelson, and bulkhead are situated, a sump would be a challenge to design. What are the reasons I should not drain to the bilge? I am just trying to make things safe and practical.

[Mark_Denis]

Everyone here looooves progress pictures. Labeling 500 of em shouldn't take that long right?

[BellBoyBob]

I would love to see how your BB is progressing. My dad's BB 404 from 1960 spent its life in Santa Rosa and Lake Almanor, CA until it became MY Bellboy and now lives in NY. You have a real classic there and it is so much fun to restore them, respecting the classic aspect while adding the modern amenities. Looking forward to seeing how your boy is coming along! These pics show the 404 Express cruiser and my son Matt seadoing Lake Almanor last summer with Mt Lassen in the background.
Bob

Gosh... it has been a while since I posted progress. Here are a few more pix of recent work we have done.

[Tim McCrain]

Looks good!

Very clean work, can't wait to see the finished project.

Tim

overhead almost done

TG pine on overhead painted with oil enamel. Mahogany brightwork will look like deck beams going across the tg. Grabrails made from an old mahogany desk from the 50s we got on CL.

[IMG] By artpop2 at 2011-12-03[/IMG]

[slo-mo]

Bell Boy resurrection...

Way to re-purpose and economize with the desk AP, you and your son should be proud. Come around more often will ya?

-g