Installing an automatic bilge pump

Dick Kobayashi · Post by **Dick Kobayashi** » Feb 26th, '12, 10:15

My whale manual bilge pump needs to be rebuilt and I bought the kit at the end of the last season. Joe - you did this, any tips? But my main question is about installing an automatic bilge pump, the principal reason for this is not to substitute for the Whale - I know I need a working manual pump. The reason is to reduce wear and tear on me, given that to work the Whale effectively requires awkward positioning. I don't take on that much water but last summer I had excessive drip from the shaft coupling and got a direct sense of how fast those drips can accumulate. So I am thinking about installing a Rule fully automatic pump. Has anyone done this. Does the Rule just sit in the bottom of the bilge or is it bolted in place. I was thinking of a dedicated hose to the transom with the exit near the upper stbd corner of the transom to limit the risk of backflow. I welcome any ideas on this.

moctrams · Post by **moctrams** » Feb 26th, '12, 10:44

This is a good read for deep bilge sailboats i.e. Cape Dory. I have this arrangement on Gabbiano with a "Water Witch" sensor in the bilge.
http://continuouswave.com/maintenance-l ... BilgePump/

Joe Myerson · Post by **Joe Myerson** » Feb 26th, '12, 10:57

Dick,

I haven't gone the automatic bilge-pump route yet, primarily because I'm nervous about putting another hole in my boat, and because I'm afraid of the possibility of the battery going dead and the boat sinking anyway, but I think you're probably wise to consider installing one.

As for the Whale, the actual rebuild is pretty easy.

The most difficult part is removing and re-installing the pump. You absolutely must have a second person, or you will not be able to get the bolts back in place. All the assistant has to do is turn the bolt while the poor soul (you) who crawls into the cockpit locker, lies on his back and holds the nut in a wrench.

Good luck.

--Joe

Neil Gordon · Post by **Neil Gordon** » Feb 26th, '12, 14:18

Dick,

My Rule pump is secured in the bilge with just a couple of screws. (There's a base that screws down, the the pump itself just snaps into it.)

Steve Laume · Post by **Steve Laume** » Feb 26th, '12, 15:23

Hi Dick, I went wit a Johnson non automatic pump.

http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?pat ... &id=337004

I have always heard about the unreliability of automatic switches and have other reservations about automatic pumps. The nice thing about the Johnson pumps is that you mount the base to the boat, I epoxied in a flat board, then the pump just snaps in and out of the base. It makes it very easy to clean or replace.

Once I had a board contoured to the hull shape and epoxied in place with the pump base screwed to it, it is simply a matter of snapping the pump in. I wired to a dedicated breaker so I can manually switch it on. You could also mount an automatic switch if that was your preference but then you would want the pump wired directly to your battery. I ran the discharge hose, with a high loop, to a through hull above the water line opposite the existing through hull. I suppose it could back siphon if the boat was heeled and the pump was actuated but I always control when it runs so I do not consider this a problem.

As for your existing Whale pump, Joe was pretty much right on. I do all my own work on Raven, mostly, alone, so the idea of not being able to remove the pump or get at the bolts to the wind vane or back stay bothered me enough to do something about it. It was simply a matter of cutting an inspection port into the vertical surface at the back of the cockpit well. Now it is easy to get to all of these items. It is much easier to install and inspection port than it is to crawl into the cockpit locker even once. Once it is there you can reach in an arm and deal with the pump anytime you want to.

I hope the CD-25 has more room for hoses coming out of the bilge than the CD-30 does. There is a picture on the projects page of what I did get get room for two 1&1/2" hoses to exit the bilge on
Raven.

It seems like time to get going on the boat projects, Steve.

Dick Kobayashi · Post by **Dick Kobayashi** » Feb 26th, '12, 22:26

Thanks all, I think my basic orientation is to take the route that Steve describes. I haven't had any serious leakage except for my shaft last summer - so no reason to get spooked. Even before my manual pump stopped working I was pretty sick of the peculiar position I had to put myself into to make the pump pump. So my thinking is to follow Steve's approach with the view that if I later wanted the pump to function automatically I could add an appropriate switch. I do like the idea of flipping a switch to pump the bilge and most importantly having 2 pumps on board. I have an unused circuit on my panel labeled anchor light and indeed there is an anchor light on the top of the mast - very handsome. It is connected to a wire the comes out of the mast base and is attached to...nothing. And as far as I can tell there never has been power to the mast for that function.

Again thanks all this has been very very helpful.

Marc Theriault · Post by **Marc Theriault** » Feb 27th, '12, 17:22

Dick,

This winter i installed the Whale SuperSub Smart 650 Bilge Pump, the pump have a built in sensor and i plug it with an manual/automatic switch. The built in sensor make the installation pretty easy.

http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?pat ... id=1207040

Marc

tjr818 · Post by **tjr818** » Feb 28th, '12, 13:40

I have a CD27 and I cannot access the bilge to screw anything in place.

How have others done that on a 27? I have mounted my pump on a small piece of cedar and screwed a vertical piece of 1x2 as a handle that I use to lower the pump to the bottom or to retrieve it for cleaning. This seems to work, but the pump is not really tied down.

Mike Thompson · Post by **Mike Thompson** » Feb 29th, '12, 11:46

HAVEN is a CD-28 and has a fair sized bilge. Getting at the automatic bilge pump can be a hassle. Here's my
solution.

Attach the bilge pump and the float switch to a piece of board. Attach weights to the bottom of the board.
The weights keep this assembly on the bottom of the bilge. Have long electrical leads so you can take
the whole assembly out of the bilge without disconnecting any wires, so it can be cleaned, fixed etc.

I tether the assembly so it doesn't slide down into the deepest part of the bilge and normal it is above
the water level. If the water hasn't reached the switch, I know the pump was not activated and this
allows me to gauge how much water came in. I count the strokes on the manual pump necessary to
empty the bilge. Also this avoids unnecessary battery discharge and helps to keep the pump clean.
The manual pump inlet pipe goes to the deepest darkest part of the bilge.

If I were to do this whole installation again I would have a electrical connector board in the engine
compartment so there would be no connections in the bilge. Almost every year, the connections are
corroded.

There are 2 batteries and the bilge pump is NOT connected to the one that starts the engine

Mike

gvanbell · Post by **gvanbell** » Mar 4th, '12, 12:24

Don't know if any of you are following our blog about rebuilding our CD 27, but we came up with a pretty decent solution for the bilge pump arrangement that includes both a manual and an electric pump.

http://capedory27.blogspot.com/2010/08/ ... place.html

Cheers.

-g

Sea Hunt Video · Post by **Sea Hunt Video** » Mar 4th, '12, 13:44

Dick:

Don Casey has an instructive article on installing two (2) bilge pumps - smaller one on the bottom, larger one (more gph) above it.

I think this is the website page but I am not sure. I am "computer challenged" at best.

http://www.boatus.com/boattech/casey/14.htm

The Cape Dory Board