04 Sailfish Sump Question

[Legend]

Hi - I have owned my boat for 8 years and have never been able to figure out how the drain water from the shower empties out. I know there is a strainer filter that needs to be cleaned but don't know how the grey water gets out. I assume It does not land in the bilge. I visit many harbors where the discharge of grey water is prohibited. Thanks in advance

 

[DennisG01]

Most likely you have a sump box under an access in the cabin. In the sump would be the strainer and a pump. It would then pump the grey water directly overboard. Turn the shower on and see where the water comes out - should be either the port or starboard side, about the same distance fore/aft as the shower, give or take. The strainers can get pretty nasty, pretty quick - good idea to clean them once a year.

There should be some information in your manual to tell you more - or to check to see if I'm correct. But, anyways, the above is pretty standard - I've just never actually been on your model.

 

[Legend]

Thanks - the manual just says to clean the filter not how to operate. It must be float driven. Guess there is no manual way to disable it in a no discharge zone unless you pull the fuse.

 

[DennisG01]

If it's like the sump boxes I'm used to, it's pretty straight forward. Take the lid off the box and remove filter to clean. It should be quite self explanatory once you physically look at it. Yes, it should just be wired to a float switch to work automatically. You wouldn't want a switch for this as it might get forgotten.

Unless you're in some kind of special area (Lake George is one of them) that doesn't allow ANY overboard discharge of any kind, grey water is not part of the "typical" no-discharge rules. Those rules center around black water. There's a crapload of difference between grey water and black water!

FYI, you can't just pull the fuse because then your box will overflow into the cabin bilge. You'd have to plug the drain in the shower (tape?)

EDIT: Oh, does the manual show the location of the sump box?

 

[Legend]

Yes the manual shows it. It is under the access whole in the cabin floor right outside of the head. I have cleaned the filter a few times it is just a round mesh filter.

 

[Sharkbait282]

You'll need to pull the screws from around the edge of the rectangular floor panel, and remove this panel in order to inspect the sump and clean the filter. This small shower sump pan is separate from the bilge, but does have it's own float switch and pump, which discharges directly overboard.