Greetings,
I had pulled my galley discharge pump (Whale MK-3) and found its coating to be lifting from its aluminum base. What is the best way to refinish this for continued use? I am planning to sand-blast and powder coat it. It is 6 years old. Thank you in advance.
Tom
“Terrier” #31
Hi Tom , not sure what a galley discharge pump is , but I did have my aluminum mast step, powder coated with a polyester powder, and that has held up well.
I have seen corrosion bubble up under powder coated aluminum hatch coamings and aluminum port holes .
I always try to use “un-recycled” glass beads media to blast any metal on my boat that is going to get coated with any protective coating .
Oh, just looked at a Whale Mk III in a catalog. Gee, I have two of those foot pumps, one for fresh the other for salt water, but I don;t remember any aluminum base on them ?
Hi Doug,
I use the Whale gusher 10 bilge pump for my galley discharge. The pump sits in the engine room and the handle extends in to the galley area through a cutout on the engine compartment allowing me to pump and empty the sink. Of course it gets a lot of salt water and that may have hastened the lifting of the coating. And coincidently, they are guaranteed for 5 years! Mike’s original pump lasted 17 years but the coating as far as I can tell is identical. What is the advantage of glass beads over sand?
Cheers,
Tom
Hi Tom , T Y for the clarification on which pump it is .
My BCC came equiped with a Whale Gusher 10 pump, to pump out the bilge, with a handle through a gater in the cockpit.
My Gusher 10 has a yellow coating over the aluminum base, which I suspect is a powder coat. I think that powder coating can be done in epoxy, polyester, or polyeurathane.
When preparing metal , especially aluminum, for any coatings, “white room” cleanliness is critical. Just a fingerprint on the metal will make that area suseptable to early corrosion, and coating damage.
Blast media like sand has impurities like iron , which when blasted onto a metal surface adhear to it and also lead to early corrosion potential.
Glass beads blast media has no impurities, thus is used where corrosion prevention is important, and un-recycled beads are the best garuntee, to reduce surface contamination, prior to coating. Like if you do your blasting in a blast cabinet, there is sure to be other metals contaminating the blast media.
Bottom line is yes a powder coating of your Gusher 10 pump would be a good coating to put on it .
the whale gusher 10 i had was bead blasted and then prepped with alodine and then painted. the alodine adheres well to al and the paint adheres well to alodine. after all that, i decided to rebuild the unit. i found all the parts necessary for the rebuild where not that much less than a new unit. so a new unit was installed and i have a really pretty greenish yellow back up 
Doug and Jo Anne,
Thank you for your replies and info. I am in the process of refinishing the unit and will be using it as a backup. Fresh water flushes will be more frequent as well.
Cheers,
Tom
can I ask a stupid question (again) when you talk about the galley pump, is that a pumps that drains the sink?
Hi Stewart,
Yes, what I am referring to as a galley pump is my manual pump(Whale MK3) that drains the sink. I think my failure after about 5+ years was my not flushing it with fresh water. Cheers,
Tom
interesting, my sink drains thru a thru hull, and I notice at certain times that ithas water at the base. Made a nice cutting board for on top, fits beautifully but the wash cloth was smelling at times. Obviously depending on the load on the tack and the load (when fully loaded it has about half inch of water at base.) So where does the sink pump out to, ie which thru hull.
My galley sink also discharges outside through a thru hall. Meantime I just noticed this BCC. The paint job is fascinating… Must be one of a kind…
Meantime CERYAN is becoming stronger everyday. I got a nice rail built for the back of the cockpit. My wife insisted that we should. I am in the market for a nice chart plotter. Probably a 5" will do. Members’ input, as always will be greatly appreciated.
Mehmet…
CERYAN (Hull#53)
Ahoy Stewart , my BCC came with a 9.5" deep galley sink, and the base of the sink is almost at the water line.
Thus that sink ships water not only on certain tacks , but also in heavy seas.
When at sea I used to put a plastic grating in the sink bottom to break the splashes that come up thru the drain.
While in Langkawi, Bil of BCC Zygote, told me about marking a flooding level, sort of a point of no return, if your boat starts sinking.
I thought it was a good idea for me to mark a spot like that on the mast.
Later, I discovered that the bottom of the 9.5" deep sink was just about the same height as the water line.
I decided to reduce the depth of the sink to 6", for safety reasons.
I feel much better now and don’t seem to ship water in the sink anymore.
The sink manufacturer located in the East, also manufactures a 6" deep sink with the same rim size. They mostly sell their ss sinks to RV and trailer builders.
I tried to purchase the shallower sink from the manufacturer, but they only sell to retail outlets not to individules like me.
If anyone finds a RV center who will order a 6" deep sink from the same mfg., please share the address and contact #
L O L , Douglas
As I recall, Terrier is a BCC hull only, with the deck and all the rest a unique creation. We visited Terrier in Port Townsend back in the 1980?s and were very impressed. So, I?m guessing that the sink may not be in the same location as it is in Sam?s boats. It’s not clear to me why a Whale Gusher is needed, or where it pumps to?
We installed a deep sink in Shaula in the usual location on our SLM 1981 BCC #59. SLM had installed a drawer just below the sink compartment which meant that only a shallow sink and its drain would fit. I changed the drawer (both of them) to compartments with bottom-hinged doors. The sink drains to a seacock below the sink (SLM installed). When we?re not heeled, the water level is just below the sink drain. Of course we have been several inches below the scribed-in waterline. When we?re underway, the water is sucked out to a lower level, and this happens on either tack. OK, when we?re rolling our guts out with no wind and sloppy seas on the beam, some ocean slurps up and down through the drain. On a passage and moving, there?s some sucking noise that can get on the nerves of the off-watch who is trying to sleep, so we sometimes close off the seacock. I guess my point is that on the SLM interior, a galley pump isn?t needed, at least not on boats produced in the early 1980?s.
Douglas, I think you will regret changing to a 6? deep sink. Shucks, I need a sink that will hold a few dirty dishes! Are you concerned about the ocean coming into the boat via the sink? It seems like the depth of the sink is not a factor, unlike the height of the top of the sink. The sink seacock should solve this problem in the rare case where?s there?s a concern. I guess if the boat is aground and lying on the port side, you would certainly want that seacock closed!
Dan
Hi Dan , I have had the 6.5" deep sink onboard since 2005, and for my use, I haven’t noticed any problems with it.
In 2003, I noticed some sea water seepage in the compartment under the sink, and around the tail piece - sink drain.
Upon disassembly I found the chrome plated-brass tail piece was just about to fail because of corrosion, and already had pin holes in it.
The pin holes allowed sea water to seep into the boat, Gosh , me says , must fix that right away.
I found a chrome plated plastic tail piece to replace the brass one, but now the chrome is peeling off exposing the gray plastic pipe, and if anything in the compartment below, knocks against the drain hose or tail piece, the plastic one could break away , not good !
I always try to follow Brion Toss’s advice to me, that is to always try to build in “A Reserve Of Neglect”, when doing projects on our boats.
I also had my sink drain tail pipe corrode and leak this summer. Replaced it with SS tail pipe. Definitely something to watch out for… that tailpipe sits in seawater 24/7 on my boat.
Gee, Thanks Ben , I could only find plastic 2" tail piece over here in Asia, but glad to know that a SS tail piece is available.
BTW , the SS sink mfg of the sink installed by the Morse Co., is Polar Ware , at : http://www.polarware.com/
Ben,
I was able to find a stainless steel pipe, but had no luck locating a stainless steel nut(collar). a brass collar was used, it’s better than the pot metal that was there, but that’s not saying much. i’d sure like to change it out for a stainless fitting if you have a source.
best regards,
i’m pretty sure mine is brass too… have to double check when i get back
Douglas, I get why you prefer the shallower sink–it raises the tailpiece up above the unhealed-over sealevel.
Shaula’s brass tailpiece also had to be replaced about 7 yrs ago. I was happy to find a sturdy looking plastic replacement in a big Coffs Harbour plumbing store. It was a relief to be rid of the brass and to avoid SS.
I certainly agree that the sink plumbing is a potential danger and should be inspected yearly or so, especially if the tailpiece is metal. Maybe a little paranoia is a good thing when it comes to boats!
Dan
Ceryan looks good, its a bit of work tho ain’t it just!
