INVESTIGATOR 563

Hi All, about to fit electric bilge pumps, one each side of the centreboard case. Am interested to find out where others have run their outlet hoses to. Any ideas very much appreciated. Thanks in advance

Contemplating the same thing.

Thinking I’ll pump it to the cockpit.

Which of the bilges are you going to fit. I was just going to do the two closest to the campion way.

Hi Luke, I was going to put one on each side of the centreboard case back near the step at the lowest point. My only worry with pumping into the cockpit was how slow it would drain through those two small cockpit drains. The advantage would be that you would see immediately that there was a problem.

Which pump you looking to use? I was looking at the float combined ones.

Not sure yet mate. I do have a 500gph Rule one here which fits into the space but if I can, I would like to get one slightly different so that the outlet pipe runs parallel with the bilge opening. The one I have has a mounting / filter which fits to the pump square to the outlet and makes it hard to get the outlet pipe to fit correctly. Am going to check out what's available to see if I can get a bit better than I have. I don't mind if it has an inbuilt float switch or seperate

Hey fellas,

Don't know if it helps, but on one of mine there is the standard manual pump which exits through a skin fitting in the transom, low on the starboard side.

However, the newer boat doesn't have a manual pump at all, or the skin fitting on the transom. It has an electric pump fitted - manual, not auto - and it exits at a skin fitting on the highest and most rearmost point of the port side, adjacent to the transom. So if power fails I suppose it's a bucket job.

Thanks Geoff. I have been just checking the pumps out on the net and after measuring the width of the bilges on each side of the centreboard case, I have 60mm each side so am looking for a pump that will fit. So far, I have found a Rule Lo Pro might do the job. 900gph with a good head pumping height. These pumps can be set up with the outlet sticking straight up and then they are within the 60 mm width. I think they can be got both manual and auto. I think they would need a non return valve fitted and I really like the idea of a skin fitting high up on the transom. Thanks heaps. Cheers

This thread is regarding my hand pump Peter...
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1069&p=5621&hilit=Bilge#p5621
...but I had a similar dilemma. I have the cockpit outlet as shown but a screw on weighted end hose made from caravan drain pipe I can put directly over the side if sailing in sus weather. I’ve never needed it yet but it’s there. I have a flexible internal draw pipe to suck from whichever “tray” of water I select but I really wonder if in an emergency situation just draining from the rear area would be sufficient for safety. The small amount of water held by the “dams” I considered would only be of nuisance value once I’d cleared any above that level and hopefully slopped a leak or sealed an open hatch that had allowed a wave in.

Anyway my $0.02 worth for anyone weighing up options.

Hi all. I ended up ordering and have finally received two fully automatic Rule LowPro bilge pumps. They are just the thing for the Investigator. I will fit one on each side of the centreboard case towards the rear near the step. The beauty of them is that you could epoxy glue a small tapered piece of timber ( a wedge) on top of the lead ingots which has a very thin layer of fibreglass over the lead. Then it would be possible to fit the pumps by screwing the base to the timber. The extra bit of height of the timber would not matter with the timber being tapered like a wedge. This will allow the pickup of the pump to end up lower than the piece of wood and will then sit right down to the bottom of the area. Also it will mean that you don't have to have the screws penetrate the fibreglass over the lead. The outlet of the pumps can be turned to any angle to fit the whole thing in the narrow section of the two bilges. They are exactly the correct width to fit in there. I love them. Then just have to work out where to run the exit hoses to. Probably high up on each side of the transom.

I silicone some flat sections of stainless to the bottom of my pumps and float switches to weigh them down. Having kids on the boat a lot I tend to need to replace a pump pretty often as the switch them on while playing inside the boat and the pumps burnout running dry for hours while I’m focused on the sails.