Day 126

To coin a phrase, " nothing should be found in the sump other than dust and cobwebs! "
Regardless, the flow of water that ( in my experience ) will eventually, at one time or another, end up inside the boat as well as outside, needs to be carefully considered. In our boat, we plan to put one secondary sump area near the forward edge of the keel, and the primary, of course, under the prop shaft seal area.
This may be somewhat unconventional, we think, but it does solve many problems to do with the creation of water-tight bulkheads. The center section of the boat will still have a valve to drain ( unexpected ) water into the aft sump, but any water in the forward section, excluding the anchor chain drain off, will end up in the forward sump and will need to be pumped out separately.

The plate at the bottom of the forward sump must have an access for placing lead trim if needed. ( photo below )
Once the trim ballast is in place, the hatch can be bolted in place with a sealant as we likely won't have to access it again.
Other plates were cut from patterns Gena made from " trimming cardboard until it fit " They fit in very nicely!

The weather has been brutally cold this spring with lots of snow every weekend ( it seems! ) which has seriously hampered our efforts to get off to a good start. Shortly after these photos were taken we recieved yet another 20" of snow and had to shovel our way into the boat!


Here's a view of the raised seating for the hatch in the forward sump