rev. 7-25-2024
Keel boat sailors think in terms of feet when measuring the depth of the bilge. Multihull sailors think in terms of inches. In the case of my F-24 MK I, more like 1.4 inches in the center groove, 0.7 inches outside the groove, and zero less than a foot to either side.
Typical bilge pump float switch turn on at 2 inches and off at 3/4-inch. That will leave water on the cabin sole, where I would like to have a carpet. In fact, I got a wet carpet. The common bilge pumps are intended to operate in that range.
I'm still looking for a solution I like, but for the moment, I've settled on a tiny pump and a timer, with a float for back-up if the timed pumping is not enough.
Update: Four years later the system is still working. I replaced the pump at 3 years.
The tiny 1-amp pump runs on a timer, for just 1-minute each day. That is more than enough for the minor leaks we have not been able to resolve. Discharge is through the sink drain. The float switch in the background turns it on if the timed runs are not enough. I'm not really worried about sinking, because the trimaran can easily hang from her floats and there isn't really anything other than fiberglass below the probable flooding line.
An Aird Bilge System would be sweet, but $900 seem like overkill.
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