Arid Bilge Systems at the Miami International Boat Show 2019
Arid Bilge Systems inventor, Alfred, told me about how their bilge systems keep your boat dry, can stop an oil leak disaster from flushing overboard along with preventing any other solution, leak damage in its tracks. My friend Ed Ruff from EC Ruff Marine told me what it takes to install this system……
Quiet version Arid Bilge Systems
SKIPPER’S REVIEW: Hey Sarah O’ Kelly here with Skipper’s Review TV. I am at the Miami International Boat Show 2019. I like to walk around the show, find a couple of things that I feel you guys would find interesting, useful and this just jumped out at me. A bilge pump, but I’m told that we don’t call it a bilge pump. In essence that’s really what it is. It takes the residue water that usually gets left behind from your regular bilge pump and sucks it out. Keeping your boat dry from condensation, prevents mold and mildew and corrosion. Alfred is gonna fill you in a little bit more about exactly what it does, so hit it Alfred.
ARID BILGE SYSTEMS: Certainly, well the Arid Bilge System technology is what we like to call a computerized, automatic vacuum system. It will automatically vacuum from your bow, mid and stern and it will suck up to a hundred feet in distance. It’ll suck every little bit of fluid until it’s completely dry therefore wiping out odor, rust, corrosion. Our system will just suck the liquid up from the source. No need to throw bilge cleaner down there, odor eliminators or ozone machines because our system will suck it down at the source.
SKIPPER’S REVIEW: How does it work and is the actual system where the water is located or is there a pump connecting to it?
ARID BILGE SYSTEMS: So it’s not a pump we create our own internal vacuum system. I’ll show you right over here. This is a good model example this has already been sold for a mega yacht.
What is the difference between a pump and vacuum bilge system?
SKIPPER’S REVIEW: What exactly is the difference between a vacuum and a pump?
ARID BILGE SYSTEMS: So fluid is going through a pump real time and we create a vacuum. Then we’re able to go and route these tubes up to 100 feet in distance. For your bow, mid and stern we’re going to save the stern thruster, bow thruster. That little pickup is taking the fluid out.
SKIPPER’S REVIEW: You have another system, I’m not sure if it’s connected with this or if it’s a separate system…If you do get an oil leak or some sort of solution leak you’ll get an alarm to let you know ahead of time before it gets into too much trouble. Can you tell me a bit about that?
Can you prevent oil from spilling out over-board?
ARID BILGE SYSTEMS: Yeah certainly, well we offer the eco-friendly system. When we create the vacuum inside right here you’re gonna get hydrocarbons you’re gonna get traces amount of oil all over your boat typically in the engine room, especially if it’s a diesel style boat. The oil is just gonna be trickling down in the bilge. Typically the bilge will just pump that stuff right down but we collect it inside the system and then discharge it into a separate reservoir we called the eco-friendly.
Oil is lighter than water so the oil will sit up on top, meanwhile the fluid will be going out gravity feed.
We also offer the echo alarm system which is a probe that we put inside of the echo friendly and it’ll alarm to the owner, captain, crew from the engine you have a big oil spill. Our system is going to suck all that oil right on up. Usually it would just spill out overboard but not with the echo-friendly. The echo-friendly system will let you know to immediately stop everything. We have zones and they’ll all be labeled. So you go back to that zone because potentially if you have a red hydraulic fluid in one of the zones, you can go to that spot, find a clean trail back to the source.
SKIPPER’S REVIEW: If I want to get this installed is this something that I can just install myself is it a pretty simple installation?
ARID BILGE SYSTEMS: Ed is the best one to really explain that part.
SKIPPER’S REVIEW: What do you think of this and what’s your opinion?
WIll this system save on repairs in the long run ?
EC RUFF MARINE: We have saved clients and customers quite a bit of money on thruster repairs or replacement with new units because of the Arid Bilge System.
SKIPPER’S REVIEW: You’ve done quite a few installations have you ever come across any kind of problem or is it difficult to install? Would you feel the average boat owner would be able to do it themselves or do you feel they need to bring you along?
EC RUFF MARINE: The equipment probably should have somebody that’s very familiar with. Placement and wiring mounting the unit in a dry, safe, secure place. I don’t know if a normal, everyday boat owner would be somebody that would want to try to put this in. The details and the stuff that we had to get certified with Arid Bilge Systems, was needed.
SKIPPER’S REVIEW: After you’ve installed these systems have boat owners come back to you and had any complaints or difficulties or in any way not happy with it?
EC RUFF MARINE: We’re seeing, unfortunately or fortunately, less customers calling us back for the same problems that we were called for before we put the unit in. I think they’re making the unit too good for us. It is a superior product. In the past five years we havn’t heard back from the customers.
SKIPPER’S REVIEW: What specifically are the problems that this system is preventing?
EC RUFF MARINE: We’re seeing leakage from garages, air-conditioning units strainers, generators with water laying in the bilge of the boat. When the boats plane off, the water goes to the back transom and it sinks the thruster motors and they don’t like to be wet.
SKIPPER’S REVIEW: Okay all right Ed from EC Rough Marine Alfred from Arid Bilge Systems, thank you so much.
