Trouble Shooting Your Bilge on a Boat

In San Diego, the sailing capital of the world, when visiting I stay on a boat. Sometimes I leave it for a long time and this means everything needs to be working fine or I will have problems when I come back. One of the biggest issues is the bilge pump. If it isn't working you can sink your ship. No one wants to incur the cost of removing a ship from the bottom of the ocean.

I have been gone for two months and when I came back everything looked normal. I noticed the battery was dead. Apparently, I didn't have it plugged in the right way for charging while trying to hook up multiple batteries. I looked at the bilge and it was full of water. Thankfully, it was excessive which means it was working for a while.

After trouble shooting I came across the problem and the bilge started removing water as it was supposed to. However, I have to be more mindful to ensure that I don't sink my ship if I get a leak or heavy storms fill up the cabin.

1.) Check to make sure your bilge is plugged in.
2.) Ensure you have appropriate electricity running to the bilge.
3.) Check the fuses to ensure they are in good working order.
4.) Check the float to make sure it isn't stuck.
5.) Remove debris and check water lines to ensure they are not plugged.
6.) Make sure you have enough volts on the batter.