HAND OPERATED BILGE PUMP INSTALLATION
Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2020 11:17 pm
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At the same time I did the OB bracket upgrade I also installed the hand bilge pump I’d picked up a year earlier as one of witless worth’s quarterly super sale items. It was, if I recall, just over 20 bucks. The boat previously had a loose 12v bilge pump which I’d never used. I had a 12 v pump on my old cruiser but my opinion is they are fine for nuisance rain water but in a serious leak you will run out of battery and sink. Different on a power boat moving with the engine powering the battery.
There are many ways to install pumps all probably as good as one another. I decided to bung mine just above the cabin step on the convenient piece of bulkhead as per photo. My reasoning was that it can be operated by crew from inside the cabin with the storm boards in place in rough weather if you’re taking on water for some reason. On the rare times I would be solo these days it could be worked from the cockpit with my tiller extension allowing me to use both at once.
The fittings I used to do the right angle through the bulkhead are cheap and simple high pressure water pipe (I think) fittings from bunny’s which will glue very neatly internally to the outlet at the top. I then added one of their screw couplers with a stopper in the end as a plug to keep insects and salt air out of the pump when just sitting on the mooring. For normal operation, the water pumps out of the outlet into the cockpit and out the drains but I’ve rigged a screw in extension pipe for pumping over the side which I’d set up if I was facing really heavyweight weather, which is highly unlikely for us.
The main use for this really, is pumping out a little nuisance rain water that seeps in and the washout water I spray in the whole interior every haulout. On the inside I have clamped a flexible hose that will go into all three chambers of the floor pan and suck out the contents. As you can see all that’s visible in the cockpit is the four bolt heads and the opening. I take the screw in plug out when sailing. I’ve got to add a small retainer chord of 2mm spectra to hold it so I don’t lose it.
I must say having not used one of these gusher style pumps before I was bloody impressed with how well it works and how it pumps lots of water very quickly. I may see if I can rig it up as a deck wash. It was only a base model too. I’ve yet to rig some C clips up to hold the removable handle close by.
At the same time I did the OB bracket upgrade I also installed the hand bilge pump I’d picked up a year earlier as one of witless worth’s quarterly super sale items. It was, if I recall, just over 20 bucks. The boat previously had a loose 12v bilge pump which I’d never used. I had a 12 v pump on my old cruiser but my opinion is they are fine for nuisance rain water but in a serious leak you will run out of battery and sink. Different on a power boat moving with the engine powering the battery.
There are many ways to install pumps all probably as good as one another. I decided to bung mine just above the cabin step on the convenient piece of bulkhead as per photo. My reasoning was that it can be operated by crew from inside the cabin with the storm boards in place in rough weather if you’re taking on water for some reason. On the rare times I would be solo these days it could be worked from the cockpit with my tiller extension allowing me to use both at once.
The fittings I used to do the right angle through the bulkhead are cheap and simple high pressure water pipe (I think) fittings from bunny’s which will glue very neatly internally to the outlet at the top. I then added one of their screw couplers with a stopper in the end as a plug to keep insects and salt air out of the pump when just sitting on the mooring. For normal operation, the water pumps out of the outlet into the cockpit and out the drains but I’ve rigged a screw in extension pipe for pumping over the side which I’d set up if I was facing really heavyweight weather, which is highly unlikely for us.
The main use for this really, is pumping out a little nuisance rain water that seeps in and the washout water I spray in the whole interior every haulout. On the inside I have clamped a flexible hose that will go into all three chambers of the floor pan and suck out the contents. As you can see all that’s visible in the cockpit is the four bolt heads and the opening. I take the screw in plug out when sailing. I’ve got to add a small retainer chord of 2mm spectra to hold it so I don’t lose it.
I must say having not used one of these gusher style pumps before I was bloody impressed with how well it works and how it pumps lots of water very quickly. I may see if I can rig it up as a deck wash. It was only a base model too. I’ve yet to rig some C clips up to hold the removable handle close by.