Self-Bailing Nautical Construction

Leo ..... The nautical term “Self Bailing” should give you guys great comfort. The US Navy Bureau of Ships (USN BuShips) defines it this way:

“Self–bailing boats are designed to remove water from the boat deck or cockpit area using gravity not pumps of any kind. The water is discharged overboard through appropriate openings in the sides or transom.”

This is different from boats that rely on human powered or mechanical bilge pumps to discharge any water taken aboard in rain or heavy seas over the bow, sides or transom. The nautical term for water getting in this way, as opposed to a hole in the hull, is “Down-Flooding.” A dead battery or broken pump could, over time, result in a sinking.

While a self bailing boat’s deck will drain dry all by itself, that still leaves the question of water that has gotten “below decks” into the interior of the boat’s hull. An open hatch, for example, would allow water to flood a hull, requiring a bilge pump or manual bailing with a bucket (Bail in old English) to throw it back overboard.
Your boat is a typical “pontoon catamaran” design. The USN BuShips definition of a pontoon is:
”Pontoons are airtight hollow structures, similar to pressure vessels, designed to provide buoyancy in water.”

Therefore, your boat does not have a hull below decks, it has two sealed pontoons instead. These are by definition “airtight” .... so there cannot be any openings or hatchways into them through which water could flow.

Be of good cheer .... Failing a punctured pontoon, you guys are sink-proof.

The next time you come to Maine, I will give you my father’s copy of this excellent, classic book that provides information and instruction on operating small boats. That book is still taught at Annapolis and is considered required reading in any course leading to getting a small boat handling license or simply a US Power Squadron Certificate. When my dad had a powerboat (36 Foot, flying bridge Egg Harbor) and was elected as Commodore at the Stamford Yacht club, Chapman’s book was his bible. I am sure he would be delighted to have you have it.