I do have the Arid Bilge System. Al Baurley, its inventor and patent holder, has been my electronics guy for more than 20 years. I had unit #3 installed on Fanfare for several years, but found I needed more bilge pickups than its four. So I went through the boat and cataloged the areas water seemed to accumulate. Fanfare has five watertight compartments: bow (the Wine Cellar); generator room under the galley, by far the largest; two engine rooms and the very shallow aft cabin. That would do it if we were not using the boat. When we are on board I need a pickup under the aft shower for the water that gets behind the shower shelf, otherwise this water accumulates until the boat gets up on plane when it sloshes aft and sets off the bilge alarm. Another pickup is across from this under the guest stateroom (if this tiny cubicle qualifies for such a grandiose term). Even though I try to avoid it, open ocean voyages often entail larger seas with quantities of heavy solid spray soaking us on the flybridge. When this happens my engine rooms leak as water comes down the control cables, with water collecting between the outer engine stringers and the hull. So each ER has a second pickup there. The port pickup also detects when the bronze piping of my air conditioning sea water pumps begins to leak which happens every several years. So there you have nine pickups. With my original unit I had to move the pickups around to dry each zone. Now I don't.
I also have one of Al's more recent additions, an hour-counter registering the running time for each zone. I reset this every week or so, more often if I suspect something unusual. That's how the AC pipe leak was discovered early. As I was not aboard then, this may have saved me the cost of the unit since, caught early, the boat didn't sink. Al's website, <
www.aridbilge.com > shows his current units which combine these functions in one box.
The great benefit of the Arid Bilge System is that it is automatic, self-checking, and designed for year around operation. If it malfunctions it sounds an audible alarm. It works by using a vacuum/pressure pump and sensors. Every few hours it polls the pickups by pulling a vacuum through each one's small diameter plastic hose. If the vacuum does not drop by drawing air within 30 seconds the little computer knows there must be water there, and, after checking all the other zones, it returns to suck on the wet one until it, too, detects air and shuts down. The pressure side expels the water over the side.
My early unit had some teething problems, most now rectified. My current unit is mounted on the interior wall of my stbd. engine room. This unfortunately acts as a sound board for the air pump and makes operations too audible. However, it does tip me off that there is a leak, so I should check the counters. Al seems to be aboard my boat at least every six months or so for some electric problem or another and checks his units while there. So I have had to perform little maintenance on it myself. It appears from my bills that the most common problem is the cleaning of the solenoid-operated vacuum valves on each pickup line at the air pump box. This could have been caused by some foaming detergent or bilge cleaner bubbling over and into the valves. I don't use these any more. I hope this fixes it.
I used to worry that the little vacuum/pressure pump would work so hard it would soon wear out. So far, so good.
As to results, especially "that Hatteras smell," I am not a very good judge. I try to remember to sniff on arrival, but I am usually so excited to get aboard that I forget. Besides, now it is much like perfume to me. (Just kidding!) I believe it is better. But my boat is shut up in storage for 8 months per year, and has 40+ years of smell accumulated before Al's system was installed. But my bilges are bone dry. If that was the cause, it's done. Everything my testamonial says on Al's website is true.
Full disclosure: I acquired my original Arid Bilge unit at a discounted price. My present units are, I believe, fully paid for, as are all maintenance items. As mentioned, I have not performed most repairs myself. In contrast to most other %#**%@#$ damn things on this boat.
