why do large boats have spouts near water level that continuously dump out water?
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They shouldn’t be consistently dumping water out but that is the intended purpose of it. Boats go on water and try as you might, inevitably some water ends up inside the boat. This all flows to the lowest point inside the boat. If you didn’t get it out, eventually you’d have enough water to destroy/sink your boat. Back in the old days they’d use buckets to dump it over the side trying to keep as much out because obviously you’d don’t want water inside your boat.
Today we have electronics and such, so we don’t have to do it manually. Instead we have what is called a bilge pump! So it sits at the lowest point in the boat in an area thats designed for the water to flow to it. When you turn the pump on, it pumps the water from inside the boat to outside the boat. This keeps minimal amounts of water inside the boat instead of it accruing over periods of time.
It’s over the water line by design. If it was under the water line then the water would flow into the pump which could be designed to keep it from entering, but then when it worked it would have to push the water inside with more force than the water on the outside coming in. It’s just easier to put it above the water line so there’s no water resistance coming in and it can flow unimpeded besides gravity.
Often times a boat like mine it is automatic. When the water reaches a certain height this triggers the pump to turn and it runs until it goes below a certain height. This isn’t some crazy big expensive boat, but a little 19 foot wakeboard boat. Bilge pumps are standard equipment on most boats these days. Since mine is a little river boat that only sits like 6 inches out of the water, having a little water get into the boat over the side isn’t that rare. It’s not a concern though because whenever my boats in the water I keep my pump on so it doesn’t accrue too much and it pumps when needed.
If a boat is continuously pumping water out, that is an issue though. That would mean the boat was taking on more water than it could pump out and it would eventually sink. That boat is immediate need of either A figuring out why it’s taking on so much water and fixing it. Like is there a hole in the boat letting water leak in? Or B if there isn’t a major issue letting water in then it means the pump isn’t big enough and can’t flow out the amount of water necessary. They need to either install another bilge pump to help it or they need to upgrade the one they have to a bigger more capable unit.
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