Bilge pump operation

[SquareB]

I’m curious about the bilge pump operation on our Bennington and have a few questions, I wasn’t able to find any operation detail in the Bennington manual our boat is stored in the slip, but on a lift and not in the water.

We came from a v-hull where the bilge pump only had two positions, On and Off , it would run if needed (water in the bilge) any time the batteries were connected with the switch in the off position.

On our Bennington we have three, 3 position switches, On, Off, and Auto.
I was poking around the boat yesterday and noticed some water in the outboard tune under the black access panel that covers the bilge pump, I turned the battery switches and the master switch on the dash on, and selected all 3 pumps to the On position, all 3 pumps came on as expected and pumped the water out. I’m not sure why there was any water in the tunes but that’s another topic for a later discussion.

• Can anyone explain when you would use the Auto position? I’m guess while underway, with everything powered up. It does not function when the dash master is not selected on, so I don’t believe would offer any “tune leak protection” if the boat was left in the water.
• Is Off just off and why would you leave them in this position?
• Should the pumps come on regardless of switch position when there is water in the bilges as long as the batteries are connected? This would seem beneficial if the boat was left in the water for days at a time And there’s was a leak in one of the tunes.

Maybe I’m overthinking this, looking forward to any input anyone would have.

 

[Jgedeon]

The default install you are correct the batteries needs to be on and you can set the switch to auto. They are not wired directly to the batteries. You could set you switch to auto and when the float switch senses enough water it will pump the water out.

There are two power leads, one for auto and one for on, we have wired ours so that auto, the float switch, is wired directly to the batteries. Doing this, if we are away from the boat for long periods and the boat is in the water we could find ourselves with low or dead batteries.

Our first toon was an I/O, with a bilge in the motor area, it was common to get water in the engine compartment when pulling tubes and having to turn the bilge on. The center toon could get water in it for various reason as it was a storage area that weather and water could easily get into. But we also had a bad weld that leaked at the seam for the nose cone, center toon was replaced under warranty. We would leave the pump in auto with batterys on when in the water. The assessory switch turned the non-critical things off; sound system, navigation system.

Second toon was an outboard model. The only time we got water in a toon was the center storage toon. We had learned to leave the bilge in auto for the center toon. We never had issues with leaking water in this toon but would get water in the center storage toon from weather mainly.

Third and current toon has twin outboards. The transom of the outer toons get water in them easily and the bilges have had the auto lead wired direct to the batteries. The hatches in these two toons do not seal well. Have seen a number of like toons fill with water and the hatch floating at the docks. Never seemed like the boat was sinking, but did sit lower. In our boat we have the twin tanks so our third bildge is by the aft fuel tank and the only time we have seen water in this area is from a full day of water sports and heavy rains. But have never seen it very full. And while underway have to bilge set to auto and then try running it manually at the end of the day.

As covered above, the pumps will only come on when the batteries are on and the the master is on and when either in the manual on position, or when the float swith triggers and the switch is in the auto position with the standard way they are wired.

The bilges that are now hardwired to the battery are wired to the house battery so that if we do deplete the house battery we can always start the motors.

 

[SquareB]

Thanks for your response, did you have your pumps hardwired by Bennington or do it yourself?
I would prefer to duplicate your setup as we have twin outboards as well.

 

[Jgedeon]

Thanks for your response, did you have your pumps hardwired by Bennington or do it yourself?
I would prefer to duplicate your setup as we have twin outboards as well.

I was going to do it myself, but the dealer did it while prepping our new boat since they knew it was something I was going to do. If you have the RGB Underwater Illumination lights make sure you follow the wires from the bilge to the connector coming through the toon. I don't remember the wire color off hand for the float switch but should be going to the boat the next couple of days and will be sure to make a note of the wire color for the float switch.

Edit update: I just looked at the wiring diagram. It shows the flow switch is on the multi color wire: brown/red or brown/white. I remember this as being correct. Brown was direct on for the bilge and black for ground.

 

[LaurencetheAdventurer]

I get a huge amount of water from Monsoons - hit's the front deck and rolls down into the center toon. I had mine hard-wired by the dealer and leave it on auto - problem solved. I did not want to mess with the electrical and have similar issues that some of the members reported after an electrical fire and warranty challenges.