Auto bailer question

nziegler773

New Member
I just bought a used boat that has an auto bailer. The bailer opens when the bung is pulled but does not close when the bung is pushed back in. It will manually close if I push it from the hull side though but that is hard to do while sailing (ha ha). I am assuming that it should close back flat when the bung is pushed in, right? How can I fix this?
 
You will need to replace the rubber bands in the bailer. It's a bit of a pain. Vangaurd sells a replacement kit, but frankly I think it's way to expencive for basiclly 2 rubber bands. What I suggest is to take the bailer off, check to see if the bands have broken or just came off. If you need to replace them go to a local hardware store and you'll find much cheaper ones in the plumbing department.

Hope this helps!

Cheers
Mark
 
they are "9" o-rings. Never worked out if that number related to the diameter or not, but both work. Might even get away with 9.5's. The smaller the o-ring the harder it will be to pull the plug out, but the tighter the bailer will close.

Good for making sure a slightly proud edge doesn't catch on anything.

Check that every edge of the bailer trap door isn't burred.

Sometimes that happens and stops it closing perfectly flush.

Also, after a while the trap door can become hollow (curved inwards) and the jaws that hold the trap door in the bailer assembly stretch open a bit. This all contributes to the door not closing, or the trap door popping out of the hinge.

The best way to return everything to "as new" is to hold the trapdoor in boiling water for a minute or so, and the hinge jaws also. You'll have to dissasemble the unit and take it off the boat for that.

The plastic returns to it's first moulded shape when heated. I just wait for it to reshape or give it a hand with pliers, then run it under the cold tap to set it.
 
I'd like to share my experience with both O-rings and Stephen's spring solution (as seen on ebay).

I've had my Laser for a couple of years. I've changed the O-rings a couple of times though it fixed the bailer it would gradually degrade over a couple of months and then stop closing again. The cost of the O-rings is an annoyance, but more annoying is spending time fixing something only for it to fail again.

I saw the springs on ebay and thought I'd give them a try. They're only about an inch long and were easy to fit. Quite a bit of thought appears to have gone into them and they use existing clips on the bailer.

The difference is immediately obvious. The springs aren't particularly strong but because the force is applied further from the door pivot it opens and closes really nicely - like it should do. In comparison the mechanics of the O-ring solution are just all wrong.

I hear the arguments about class legality but I don't understand the almost negative reaction to this very simple and innovative idea. We have plenty of discussion about carbon spars, non-legal sails, even a completely new bailer, so what is it with bailer springs?

Anyway my summary is that I'm happy and my bailer now works perfectly and I expect it to continue doing so for a long time. My own conscience is clear in that there's no performance advantage and I get to spend less time fixing my boat and more time sailing / in the bar, which is what it's all about.

Cheers
Dave


nb. I've no connection with the seller of these things other than as a customer.
 

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