Fishing Boats

Our January 2024 installation feature followed Lit Up, a 43-foot Jarrett Bay, below deck. Four Arid pickups served two working areas: two in the center engine bilge and two in the aft lazarette.

The Series 4 installation reaches these water-collection points around the boat’s machinery, including the aft area where its gyro stabilizers are located.

Lit Up’s four-pickup layout

A Series 4×4 serves the four pickup locations:

• The center engine bilge: two pickups.
• The aft lazarette bilge: two pickups.

The central cabinet is mounted among hoses and neighboring equipment. From there, intake tubing connects the unit to the pickups in the two bilge areas.

Two bilge areas, four places to collect water

Two pickups in each area give Lit Up four water-collection locations across its two named bilge areas. On your boat, start by checking where water remains, including places separated by the shape of the hull or surrounding structure. That inspection helps establish how many pickup locations the layout needs.

Arid collects residual water through pickups connected to a central unit. Reducing standing water addresses one source of below-deck moisture; it does not replace conventional bilge pumps or the need to investigate leaks. Our guide to how Arid works explains that role.

Planning also includes access. The cabinet, tubing connections and pickups need to remain reachable for inspection and model-specific maintenance. Photographs of the wet areas, access openings and nearby equipment give an installer a more useful starting point than boat length alone.

More about this installation

See the original Lit Up installation feature for the boat and equipment photographs. Jarrett Bay also records Lit Up in the name history of its 43-foot Hull 29.

Explore the current Series 4 options, or see another sportfishing installation aboard Gratitude, a 66-foot Spencer.

A blue marlin beside her name gives Freq-n-out a distinctive signature. Above the cockpit, a tower and outriggers complete the fishing-boat profile. Arid’s company feature, first posted in November 2023, identifies her as a custom Winter yacht and describes her bilge-drying installation as a Series 4×4.

Freq-n-out, the custom Winter yacht featured in Arid’s original company post.

A closer look below deck

The installation photograph takes us from the finished exterior into the machinery space. A cabinet marked Series 4 sits against a pale bulkhead, with a large hose curving above it and down its left side. Blue hoses and yellow-handled valves run alongside; Volvo Penta machinery fills the foreground.

That wider setting matters. The cabinet is one part of an engine room where several systems share the available space. For an owner considering bilge drying, a view like this makes the discussion concrete: where the cabinet can be mounted, how connections will be routed, and what nearby equipment will still need to be reached.

The cabinet is labeled Series 4; Arid’s company caption describes the installation as Series 4×4.

A separate role for residual water

Arid collects residual liquid through connected pickups. It works alongside conventional and emergency bilge pumps, which retain their own role. The photographed cabinet is part of that drying system. For a new installation, the pickup arrangement and cabinet position should follow the boat’s own low points and available access.

Freq-n-out’s transom brings the story back above deck. The name and marlin artwork are clearly visible beneath the cockpit shade, connecting the equipment feature with a recognizable boat.

Freq-n-out’s named transom and blue marlin artwork, shown in the same company feature.

Keep both kinds of image in your boat’s records: a clear vessel view and an installation view showing the cabinet label, connections and surrounding machinery. Together, they give a service conversation more context than a close-up of equipment alone.

See how Arid removes residual bilge water, or explore the current systems for a new installation. The equipment described here belongs to the historical company feature.

View the original Freq-n-out post for its caption and gallery.

Aboard Out-A-Line, a 61-foot Viking sportfishing yacht, the Arid installation centers on a Series 2×2 24-volt unit. The original photographs show the boat on blue water and the cabinet fitted below deck.

A Viking sportfisher with space below deck

This 2005 Viking 61 has a three-stateroom, three-head layout. The exterior photograph captures its tall fishing tower above the enclosed cabin; the installation photograph offers a closer look at one part of the equipment arrangement below.

Out-A-Line’s Series 2 installation

The equipment photograph shows a slim Series 2 cabinet mounted against a bulkhead, with its front panel facing into the compartment. Connected tubing runs beneath it, alongside the larger hoses already aboard.

Our original feature identifies a two-zone setup. Those zones describe the installation featured here; they are not a recommendation based solely on the boat’s length. Pickup locations should follow the actual places where water collects.

A two-zone installation brings two collection areas back to one cabinet. The useful detail here is that a 61-foot boat is documented with a Series 2 setup: hull length alone does not tell an installer how many separate wet points need attention. The layout, drainage paths and chosen collection areas decide that conversation.

The water that remains

Arid’s role is to collect shallow residual water from connected low points. Conventional bilge pumps remain responsible for higher-volume pumping, and recurring water still calls for an inspection of its source.

The close view of the cabinet also shows why installation photographs are worth keeping. A clear view of the panel and the surrounding connections can help an owner explain the arrangement when requesting service or planning later work. Include the tubing route and access opening in your own installation records, along with the model and power-supply details.

For owners planning a similar installation, a look below deck is more useful than a size comparison alone. Identify separate wet areas, check tubing routes and leave room to reach the equipment for inspection and service.

See the original Out-A-Line feature and photographs, learn how Arid works, browse the Arid product range, or discuss the layout of your boat with our team.

More sportfishing installations

• Gratitude: a Series 4 installation aboard a 66-foot Spencer
• Current Series 2 product information
• Owner manuals and installation resources

With her yellow hull, tower and long foredeck, Gratitude is easy to pick out underway. Below deck, the 66-foot Spencer convertible sportfish carries an Arid Series 4×4, installed forward in the engine room.

A Carolina sportfisher from Spencer Yachts

Gratitude is a 66-foot convertible sportfisher built by Spencer Yachts in Wanchese, North Carolina. Spencer’s boats carry the Carolina sportfishing tradition into custom yachts designed around fishing and time offshore. Gratitude’s tower, open cockpit and long foredeck make that purpose clear in the exterior photograph.

The machinery spaces deserve the same care as the visible finishes. Reaching residual water beneath and around equipment helps keep those less accessible areas ready for inspection. A dry-bilge system is one part of that maintenance routine, fitted to the individual boat’s drainage and pickup locations.

Forward in Gratitude’s engine room

The installation photograph gives a close view of the Series 4 cabinet among the yacht’s machinery. Its blue-topped front panel, control and indicator lights face into the compartment. A large blue hose passes beneath the cabinet, while other equipment stands close beside it.

That view shows how a drying unit becomes part of an existing engine room. Its location is separate from the places it serves: pickup tubing connects the cabinet to low points where residual water collects.

Follow the water before choosing pickups

A wet point can be a small pocket of water left after drainage and ordinary pumping. It does not have to mean an entire flooded compartment. Several pockets can need separate attention if water cannot drain freely between them.

For a sportfisher with machinery, hoses and structural divisions below deck, tracing those pockets is a useful first step. Look for the places that remain wet, note whether they communicate with one another, and check how each can be reached. A photograph of the cabinet alone cannot map that work.

Gratitude’s forward engine-room installation provides a concrete example of a cabinet location. Another boat’s pickup plan should come from its own layout, with conventional bilge pumps retained for higher-volume pumping. If water repeatedly returns, investigate its source as well as removing what remains.

Leave room for the next inspection

The close installation view also puts service access in perspective. Before fitting a cabinet into a similar space, consider whether someone can read its indicators, reach its controls and connections, and carry out the maintenance described in the model’s manual. Include the surrounding equipment in planning photographs so those clearances are visible.

Compare the current Series 4 product information with your requirements; Gratitude’s photographed installation records its own configuration. For another sportfishing setup, see the Series 2 installation aboard Out-A-Line.

View Gratitude’s original exterior and engine-room photographs, learn how Arid collects residual bilge water, or discuss your sportfisher’s installation with our team.

Explore current Arid systems.