2018 242X No Bilge While Batteries "Off"

[dalcini]

Prepping my boat for a marina slip this summer. I did a test today and confirmed that:
A.) I have no (factory) bilge without leaving House Battery switch ON
B.) Start Battery switch must also be on or the "low batt" alarm will continue indefinitely

So it seems that I'll need to leave all power off while away. With the battery switches off, I'll need to install an Aux Bilge connected directly to the house battery for peace of mind.

A few notes about my test:

• My bilge behavior is consistent with my 2018 240/2 owner's manual (see excerpt below). However it seems to be different on newer models per a 2023 post by @FSH 210 Sport. It sounds like the newer boats have the bilge wired directly to the House battery which can be better for moored boats.
• I will probably try to mount an aux bilge pump in the rear bilge (under the cleanout hatch) and wire it directly to the House batt. This seemed like a good suggestion from @swatski here.

A couple of questions for you all:
1.) Should I mount it as low as possible, or give it some space so it's not going all the time?
2.) Am I crazy to go ahead and take the boat to the marina before doing this install? (my guess is Yes) I will probably get to it in a month or so.

[edit]
3.) Any pump recommendations?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Prepping my boat for a marina slip this summer. I did a test today and confirmed that:
A.) I have no (factory) bilge without leaving House Battery switch ON
B.) Start Battery switch must also be on or the "low batt" alarm will continue indefinitely

So it seems that I'll need to leave all power off, and to have a bilge, I'll need to install an Aux Bilge connected directly to the house battery for peace of mind.

A few notes about my test:

• My bilge behavior is consistent with my 2018 240/2 owner's manual (see excerpts below). However it seems to be different on newer models per a 2023 post by @FSH 210 Sport. It sounds like the newer boats have the bilge wired directly to the House battery which can be better for moored boats.
• I will probably try to mount an aux bilge in the rear bilge (under the cleanout hatch) and wire directly to the House batt. This seemed like a good suggestion from @swatski here.

A couple of questions for you all:
1.) Should I mount it as low as possible, or give it some space so it's not going all the time?
2.) Am I crazy to go ahead and take the boat to the marina before doing this install? (my guess is Yes) I will probably get to it in a month or so.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

View attachment 235578

Does the slip have power available ?

 

[dalcini]

Yes, I believe all slips have power at this marina @FSH 210 Sport. Lots of big boats there.

I forgot to mention earlier, that my connext screen also runs while the house battery switch is is on - so that's another reason why I can't leave them on.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Yes, I believe all slips have power at this marina @FSH 210 Sport. Lots of big boats there.

I forgot to mention earlier, that my connext screen also runs while the house battery switches is on - so that's another reason why I can't leave them on.

Okay well the simplest solution would be to break out the wiring for the oem bilge pump on the AUTO side and wire it direct to the house battery and solve this issue once and for all. You’re thinking of installing a secondary bilge pump anyway, might as well have them operate the same way.

The bilge pump has three wires, ground, AUTO and MANUAL. I don’t know how your boat is wired up, in my boat the AUTO side of the bilge pump has its own fuse in the battery compartment, and the MANUAL side is fed from the 20A main accessory fuse but has its own 5A circuit breaker. I would imagine that in your boat the AUTO side of the bilge pump and the MANUAL side are fused separately since I’ve not heard of any of the bow rider boats having circuit breakers which is not a good design, especially in a boat.

The power feed for my secondary bilge pump comes from the auxiliary 12V Buss I installed which is fed from the load side of the house battery switch to a 30A breaker which in turn feeds the Buss and the AUTO and MANUAL side are fed from two separate 5A circuit breakers.

This is how I installed my second bilge pump;

Thread 'Additional Bilge pump'

Apr 11, 2022

Another thing I had wanted for some time was additional bilge pump. I had thought about the best place to mount it, next to the oem one would be convenient, but lower in the bilge would be better.

My friend suggested a simple mount that would be easy to put in and easy to remove for service. As it turns out when I tested this set up the two bilge pumps came on at the same time. The mount material is expanded pvc board.



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I can pull it up out of the mechanical hatch on the clean out tray for inspection and cleaning easily and it just rides down in the V of the hull right next to the drain plug, it’s as low as you could get a bilge pump in the boat. IF you get any water in the bilge, turn on the pump, get up on the hump with the bow high and all the water will be forced to right where the pump is.

I would not wet slip my boat without having an active bilge pump in it.

Have you tested the AUTO function of your bilge pump by installing the plug and flooding the bilge with a garden hose? That’s something I do at least once a year.

 

[anmut]

Yes, I believe all slips have power at this marina @FSH 210 Sport. Lots of big boats there.

I forgot to mention earlier, that my connext screen also runs while the house battery switches is on - so that's another reason why I can't leave them on.

You should be able to leave your batteries on and switch the screen off. Mine will go full off if the boat has been running and both keys go to off position, even with batteries on.

 

[sbeassie]

You should be able to leave your batteries on and switch the screen off. Mine will go full off if the boat has been running and both keys go to off position, even with batteries on.

Same here. I can have both battery switches on, but the Connext screen is off if the key is off.

 

[dalcini]

Thanks @anmut & @sbeassie. As @anmut mentioned, I was able to shut down the Connext screen by cycling the ignition key on/off with the battery switches on.

Prior to this I didn't even have the keys in the boat because I was doing battery charger installs. When I turned the house switch on, there was no way to power Connext down except to shut the house switch back off. apparently cycling the ignition key is the only way to do this with the switch on. So if I need to leave my battery switches on overnight, I simply need to ensure that I shut the key off last.