Honwave T38 - Floor lots of water

[smallribber]

I think it is generally agreed that most sibs have compromises. The high pressure air floor ones are very good for quick assemble and fold up but they do not have a sump or bilge so any water that gets in tends to hang about.

In my view the self draining bung is not very good and on my last trip out it got very rough. Although the T38 handled it fine a lot of water go in the boat from massive spray. I had a spare auto life jacket in the boat and it actually went off due to the amount of water in the boat.

I have just bought a vintage Singer sewing machine so am going to make a bow dodger (more on that later) but have also bought a cheap caravan pump from ebay and will connect that to my battery via a switch as a simple small bilge pump. Hopefully that will wiz it out when too much water gets in.

I think I will also get some of the eva foam mats with the holes in as this might also help a little

link below to the little pump

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12V-Motor...53.m2749.l2649

I was wondering if others have had this issue with their honwaves or indeed any other high pressure floor sib and what they did to over come it

[Jung at Heart]

Smallribber - Your 12v sub pump seems a neat and straightforward solution, presumably you’ll keep a manual pump as a backup?

Not sure if it will be an issue, a discussion on another forum suggested that caravan type pumps may not be suitable for salt water, the suggested solution was this pump

https://www.force4.co.uk/item/Rule/N...0-Pump-12V/G37

[smallribber]

Originally Posted by Jung at Heart

Smallribber - Your 12v sub pump seems a neat and straightforward solution, presumably you’ll keep a manual pump as a backup?

Not sure if it will be an issue, a discussion on another forum suggested that caravan type pumps may not be suitable for salt water, the suggested solution was this pump

https://www.force4.co.uk/item/Rule/N...0-Pump-12V/G37

Those Rule pumps are quite big. Re the cheap pumps not being any good for salt water you might be correct but there is quite a lot of theory spoken on here with no real life evidence. I think at £8.99 I will give them a go.

I will not also carry a manual pump I have a large sponge and bailer (sponge kept inside the bailer) which will get most out quite quickly.

I am trying not to load the Sib up too much

[Jung at Heart]

Originally Posted by smallribber

Re the cheap pumps not being any good for salt water you might be correct but there is quite a lot of theory spoken on here with no real life evidence. I think at £8.99 I will give them a go.

I’d go the same route as you and try the £8.99 pump, I imagine it will do the job and if it broke due to corrosion/salt build up or whatever it’s cheap enough to replace with the same, or something else if it didn’t perform well enough.

The speaking of theory with no real life evidence is probably found anywhere there are people, that’s a FACT [emoji23]

[Fenlander]

>>>The high pressure air floor ones are very good for quick assemble and fold up but they do not have a sump or bilge so any water that gets in tends to hang about.


Not nit picking but in case this factor affected someone's decision making re SIB choices...

It is only the particular design used by Honwave and some similar others that suffer this.

SIBs with flat air floors and sausage keels (some Zodiac, Quicksilver, Excel and others) behave as an alloy floor model with a large bilge void. Even my Aerotec with its strongly defined V has a degree of void and the water never comes over the air floor even in rough weather.

[GuyC]

My Zodiac CFR 360 has a self bailer and I never seem to get water hanging about even with some poor helming and reasonable amounts of water coming aboard.

[smallribber]

Originally Posted by Fenlander

>>>The high pressure air floor ones are very good for quick assemble and fold up but they do not have a sump or bilge so any water that gets in tends to hang about.


Not nit picking but in case this factor affected someone's decision making re SIB choices...

It is only the particular design used by Honwave and some similar others that suffer this.

SIBs with flat air floors and sausage keels (some Zodiac, Quicksilver, Excel and others) behave as an alloy floor model with a large bilge void. Even my Aerotec with its strongly defined V has a degree of void and the water never comes over the air floor even in rough weather.

You are quite correct Fenlander. Other designs have a solution even if it is perhaps only a part solution to this issue.

I have not seen many outing reports from you this year which of course is an odd year but I was wondering if you have been able to get out this year on the boat

[Fenlander]

>>>I was wondering if you have been able to get out this year on the boat

Sadly this looks to be our worse holiday/boating year for decades. I don't normally post much family personal stuff but.... I currently have onerous family responsibilities at both ends with a longish term ill at-home daughter and 89yr old father just cancer diagnosed and already suffering.

So for me Covid lockdown/restrictions//re-lockdown threat is the least of my worries.

As I always say though that's the beauty of a daily set up SIB... it sits here in packed away in the garage eating nothing to be brought out as soon as things improve timewise.

In the meantime I much enjoy the chat and outings of others on here.

[duggie12]

Sorry to hear that fenlander, hope things pick up for you soon

[Jung at Heart]

Fenlander, it sounds like things are pretty tough, its those responsibilities that make it so important to find time to unwind occasionally, you clearly get an uplift from your SIB adventures and your contributions to the forum have helped me to find a way in this pursuit without making too many expensive mistakes. I’m grateful that you can find the time to keep posting.

[Steve509926]

Not sure if the eva floor mats will stay in place in a Honwave, they are really intended for a flat floor and if they are wet on the smooth side they are slippy. The ones fitted in my Excel are a tight fit so they can't move or slip about.

[chipko]

Just goes to show how experiences/expectations differ.
Been sibbing for years with sausage keel ply/alu floors, Aerotec V and lastly T38 shallow V. Never bothered about bilge water or splash over bows.
Agree T38 has no bilge void but only an inch or so of water max right at the transom end worst case. Big toobs and a decent shear rise makes it a pretty dry sib when pushing on. On the plane the self bailer can mostly deal with it, or time to get out the manual bailer/bucket and slow down.
Also never bothered with a bow dodger...apart from keeping kit dry tucked under it found most spray comes in over the windward gunwale further back. When the going gets tough we tend to sit in and low, so a canopy just restricts forward vision and can also be an unwanted sail.
Probably worth adding we tend to wear wetsuits/dry suits and all our kit is stashed in tethered dry bags.
Good luck with the caravan drinking water pump...it ain’t gonna like salt and sand.

[smallribber]

Originally Posted by Fenlander

>>>I was wondering if you have been able to get out this year on the boat

Sadly this looks to be our worse holiday/boating year for decades. I don't normally post much family personal stuff but.... I currently have onerous family responsibilities at both ends with a longish term ill at-home daughter and 89yr old father just cancer diagnosed and already suffering.

So for me Covid lockdown/restrictions//re-lockdown threat is the least of my worries.

As I always say though that's the beauty of a daily set up SIB... it sits here in packed away in the garage eating nothing to be brought out as soon as things improve timewise.

In the meantime I much enjoy the chat and outings of others on here.

I hope things improve for you soon and perhaps you can get one outing in.

In the meantime I would reiterate what others have said in thanking you for the good sound advice you give others which points them in the right direction and also saves them money

[Fenlander]

>>>you clearly get an uplift from your SIB adventures

Thanks for the comments guys.

Yes once I feel movement of the sea under any craft... large or small... all stresses evaporate. In fact it's before that... the first sniff of sea air and sound of rattling halyards from the moorings.

[Flamair]

Originally Posted by smallribber

I hope things improve for you soon and perhaps you can get one outing in.



In the meantime I would reiterate what others have said in thanking you for the good sound advice you give others which points them in the right direction and also saves them money

I'll back that up too...!

Fenlander has provided me with some superb advice since I joined. And so continues to do.. (See my engine cooling issues thread!)

Many thanks, and I hope things improve for you soon and you fit some sib-ing in this year.

[duggie12]

Likewise. When I was in the market for a new engine recently a suzuki wasn't my first choice - but I nearly opted for one because of a service write up that fenlander had previously posted

[Ferryman]

Originally Posted by Fenlander

>>>you clearly get an uplift from your SIB adventures

Thanks for the comments guys.

Yes once I feel movement of the sea under any craft... large or small... all stresses evaporate. In fact it's before that... the first sniff of sea air and sound of rattling halyards from the moorings.

Beautifully put!! Those thoughts got me through a couple of awful years!! [emoji106]⚓️⚓️

[smallribber]

The little pump arrived and I had some spare clear pipe from my Camper Van conversion that fitted the outlet.

All I have done is fix the pump to the bottom of the transom with some Velcro and run a wire to my little 12v battery. If I get water in the boat all I need to do is plug the connecting plug in then unplug it when the water has gone.

If you look at the little video it pumps it out quite quickly.

We will see if it stands the test of time

[smallribber]

Here is the little video

https://youtu.be/cK9W5c-yeg4