⛵️This $50 Boat Project MIGHT SAVE OUR LIVES! | INFO YOU NEED! | Hallberg Rassy 352

This $50 Boat Project MIGHT SAVE OUR LIVES! | INFO YOU NEED!

In today’s episode, we’re in the engine bay tackling another project—one that could literally determine whether we sink or float. Jeff takes you through our bilge pump setup why it’s lacking and what he’s doing to upgrade it all before he’s even had breakfast.

What Are We Working On?

Basicily, I paid someone to do the wiring of this portion and it could be a little cleaner. But we’re also making some upgrades—I’m adding a sound-making device so that when the second float switch is hit, it starts alerting us with sound since we should never get to that point.

Added a bus bar back here to clean up the amount of wires. I also learned a couple other things about bilge panels and most build panels on the market utilize an auto-off manual switch.

Important Upgrades Made

In the manual position, you don’t want to have a momentary switch because in the case of an emergency, where you need that to run consistently—you can’t lose a crew member just standing there pulling that over or trying to put a piece of duct tape on and tape it. Time is of the essence.

I’ve bought a new switch which is an On-Off-On switch, so now I’m switching that. These channels don’t have any indication with a light to show you when you are in auto mode, so if it was to get bumped off or what have you—I would see the green light is out. Now I can just visually verify and move on.

Why Upgrade Bilge Pumps?

I’m also because of our testing the other day, learned that our secondary bilge pump is not powerful enough. The whole idea with that centrifugal style pump is in the case of emergency—it can start moving some serious water.

Jeff’s Findings

Kristen and I measured the head, ran it, and found that it is nowhere near adequate. So by upgrading this, I’m putting us in a position for when we’re in a better marketplace—we can get a much bigger pump, put it in place, and then do the second panel at that point.

Finalizing the Upgrades

P.S. We should never get to the float switch point. Here’s what the modified bilge panel looks like when you swap the fuse out for a breaker, add in a little LED and so on.

Safety First!

Remember that safety is a lifestyle—it’s not a product you can buy. It should be an ongoing process to keep testing your bilge system, making sure it works, and upgrading as necessary.

The Bottom Line

That took a few days—rewiring the entire back of the panel. If you’re wanting to do this type of change yourself on your boat, we’ll have a list of the items Jeff used down in the description box below.

Join The Joco Crew

Thank you so much to all of our patrons for supporting our channel—you are helping to keep this dream going so we can share it all with you. If you’d like to join the Joco crew, we’ll have a link down below.

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