GoingFishing Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 Gray Raiders So before I go into too much detail some context to this report, I haven't had the opportunity to fish for almost a month as personal life and work have spilled overtime into the weekends. Also missed an opportunity last week due to bad forecast so my mood was foul! Wednesday came about and the boss said to me" make sure you go for a fish this weekend", I spent the next two days trying to figure out what I did wrong !!! Turns out I'm outrageously on edge ! Friday night and the wife said to me " go for a fish this weekend and don't come back until your mood has changed" I said great see u next year !!! I took these signs as a omen and had planned to Head out sunday with the purpose of finding a feed. I had been keeping a close eye on the weather and Sunday was looking not ideal but reasonable. Woke up Sunday morning to find cloud cover everywhere- the forecast had changed from "cloudy with chance of showers" to "showers with chance of thunderstorm". I faced a dilemma - can the trip and be a sour grape all week, or head out and pray for the best. Decided for the later On the way to the boat ramp it started raining, arrived to find that I'd left the net at home - awesome start!! Headed out and arrived on location and started a drift , managed to stay there for 2 hours and catch a feed which I was pleased with. Could see some really dark clouds heading my direction so I packed up to head back in and as I got to queenscliff the rain came hammering down- I got absolutely soaked and at one point couldn't see more than 3m in front of me. Wind was howling, waves were messy and I looked like a soaked rat! Slowly made my way back into the harbour and grew concerned that my bilge pump had not activated yet, I thought surely with the amount of rain that came down it would have some work to do. Got to the ramp and let the plug out and lots of water come pouring out. So now there's obviously something wrong with the bilge pump- does anyone know how I can do a manual test on that ? I have a Quintrex renegade with a automatic bilge pump So good news - came home with a feed, bad news - bilge pump not working. Such is life At least I'm not a sour grape this week Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
night_rider Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 Top feed indeed! I had a very similar outing just the other week, but I returned to the boat ramp at about 10pm with a very wet donut... Most auto pumps have a simple float switch which you can test by lifting it to simulate water being in the hull, however I'm not familiar with your hull design regardless of this I'd assume you can access the pump? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ric001 Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 If you can access the bilge pump and have enough access to put it in a bucket then fill the bucket with water. That saves trying to fill the bilge with water to check the pump. There was a thread a few weeks ago about checking bilge pumps that you might want to do a search on. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cameldownunder Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 Bilge pump in my boat is connected to a switch. Off/Auto/On. Next to the light switch. Hope it helps. Otherwise like other said, put the hose in your boat and wait Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xsite Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 We encounter same problem 4weeks ago at botany bay, the difference is we went home empty handed. our anchor did not hold and we was coming close to the rock so decided to go home, Our boat does not have full windscreen so you can imagine how wet we was worst fishing day ever. Xsite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brad_tate Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 My bilge pump is electrically operated, not a float switch. To test it you just press your thumb on the sensor, which I assume just works on resistance, and moist skin is enough to activate it. If yours is not working I suggest replacing it (they are not expensive) and testing it every so often as part of your regular maintenance. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoingFishing Posted February 23, 2016 Author Share Posted February 23, 2016 Thanks for the feedback guys I will have a try and testing it sometime this week when I have some time. Tastee I'm not mechanically hands on- how much do u think it would cost to purchase and have it installed at the repair shop ? Glad I found out now rather than out on the water in an emergency ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harold Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 An automatic bilge pump for a trailer sized boat would cost less than $150 from whitworths. A marine tech would charge circa $100 to fit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yowie Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 Some good fillets from that lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoingFishing Posted February 23, 2016 Author Share Posted February 23, 2016 Thanks Harold Yowie it was an interesting day, I find the blue spots average size is around 35-40cm and most trips il get the majority of fish in that size with one or two over 40cm. On this trip it was the other way around most fish were around 40-45 and one or two around the 35cm. Certainly not complaining ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sydney south Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 First test that there is power to the unit. If it has a separate float switch - Test the float switch is working by lifting it up. If it has a built in float switch. This is most likely the issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yowie Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 Thanks Harold Yowie it was an interesting day, I find the blue spots average size is around 35-40cm and most trips il get the majority of fish in that size with one or two over 40cm. On this trip it was the other way around most fish were around 40-45 and one or two around the 35cm. Certainly not complaining ! Late last year, I was pulling up quite a few around the 31/32 cm mark as well as the usual 35 to 40 mark. Maybe they have grown a bit since then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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