Replacing bilge pump

[Mike Davis]

Recently, my rule bilge pump stopped working and I'm going to replace it with an automatic pump with float switch. I've read some forums about mounting the pump on a piece of plywood. However, the bilge is very deep in my cd31 and I'm not sure how to go about mounting the pump. I'd like to hear about how my fellow cd sailors have installed their pumps.

[Sea Hunt Video]

Mike:

I installed a Rule in the bilge on S/V Bali Ha'i.

I used a piece of starboard perhaps 10" x 4" (I'm guessing) that would sit comfortably at the bottom of the bilge. I attached a 2 lb. weight to the underside of the board to keep it from floating up. I used an old SCUBA diving weight with slates in the weight. I attached it to the bottom underside of the starboard with tie wraps.

Then I attached the Rule pump to starboard. I can lift up the pump and board easily for cleaning, servicing, etc.

With the weight on the underside of the board it keeps the pump level and a little bit off the bottom so that very small amounts of water do not trigger the pump. If water level is above the weight and topside of the starboard then the pump kicks in.

This has worked well although, candidly, S/V Bali Ha'i is a very dry girl and the bilge is usually bone dry.

I hope this helps.

Sorry, no pictures.

[moctrams]

I have my bile pump mounted on a platform in the starboard locker with the inlet hose in the bilge and outlet to a thru hull. I also have the "water witch" secured to a pole and drop it in the bilge. This configuration is bullet proof and never failed. I just clean out the inlet filter. See pics.

[Jim Walsh]

I have my bilge pump attached to a piece of stainless flat stock 1/8” X 3” X 30” (I’m guessing at the length). It’s bolted to the aft side of my shower sump with a wing nut. As Roberto states it’s best to keep it an inch or two off the bottom of your bilge so it isn’t triggered needlessly.
For access I remove my sump and bilge access panels, remove the wing nut, and lift the pump out by the “handle”.
If you mount it so the wing nut is in the shower sump it’s easy to reach the wing nut when it slips out of your hand.....as opposed to the bilge.

[Sea Hunt Video]

Mike:

Practical Sailor recently published (20 March 2019) an article on bilge pump installation and maintenance. You may get some ideas from this article.

[Ben Thomas]

The main caveat with "water witch" bilge pump switch is that terminals must be kept very clean in order for them to make the common wire connection when terminals are in contact with water. I had a small (about a cup) oil spill into the bilge when changing oil a couple years ago and even though I had I cleaned the bilge three times with pads and dawn soap, wiping it down with paper towels and dawn then hand pumping it out 4 times into buckets there was still a small residual of oil left on surface of bilge water that kept the switch's from activating, unknown to me.
I found out the hard way that they had failed ( two bilge pumps two switch's) After 18 years of use, and multiple times offshore the bilge pump hoses which had functioned normally for those 18 years, more importantly the thru hulls for both when motoring because of the stern squat were and have been underwater many many times decided to syphon back into the bilge, one 3/4" hose and one 1 1/4" hose both flowing heavily into bilge.
Not knowing this was going on until I poked my head below to grab something I noticed a shimmering on the sole which happened to be 4" of water.
We were in about 60' of water depth on the Columbia river. I manually held the bilge pump breakers to activate the pumps, First mate came below to hold breakers while I went up to helm and started the hand pump, All three barely kept up with the incoming water.
I headed towards the Washington side of river where I planned on running aground in the shallows if we could not keep up with the incoming flow. About a 100 feet away from sand bar I slowed the boat to 2 knots from 6, the stern raised and the water stopped flowing in.
At this time I still did not know the cause of incoming water, after three red herrings:1. raw water pump seal had blown and leaking 2. small leak in exhaust hose, slow drip and 3. packing gland on rudder stock dripping about 30 drips per minute.
These items among all the others I had checked before leaving the dock 3 days earlier and were fine.
Lesson: always have clean bilge, check that switch's are spotless and clean. Carry spares and don't spill oil into bilge
I have since replaced all bilge hose and raised the loops before exiting the thru hulls ( the loops I managed to get another 1.5"in height ). Replaced exhaust hose. Replaced raw water pump and carry extra pump.

[bottomscraper]

On Mahalo we have 2 electric pumps. One is a small remotely mounted diaphragm pump with a Water Witch switch. The water pickup for this is at the bottom of the bilge with a screen and check valve. This pump does all the work with condensation and minor things like tank leaks. The second pump is a Rule 3700 centrifugal pump. This is mounted about 8" above the bottom of the bilge on a frame made from HDPE. It has an Aqualarm enclosed float switch.

I test all pumps (including the manual one) and switches every spring by filling the bilge with fresh water. I just use the rinse water from dewinterizing the fresh water tanks. This also keeps the boat smelling fresh.

I did have one Water Witch switch fail. It was 6 years old, they sent me a replacement free of charge within a few days.

Oil contamination isn't such a problem since we replaced our old Perkins "Mr. Leaky" with the new Beta.

[jbenagh]

Rich,

what make and model is your diaphragm pump? I've been thinking of replicating your setup.

Jeff

[fmueller]

We did this: G10 platform to raise the pump a bit and the switch even more to avoid pump cycling or a one way valve (bilge will always have a few inches of water though) mounted on flat aluminum stock. Stock mounted to the forward surface of the bilge/aft surface of the encapsulated ballast ... when you do this you need to loop the hose to the pump thru hull as high as possible to avoid siphon down flooding as much as possible at high heeling angles. On Jerezana this is done by running the outlet hose to just under the toe rail in the stbd. locker and then down a foot to the pump thru hull.

I can get rid of most of the residual bilge water left by the raised electric pump with the manual OEM Whale bilge pump (handle in the cockpit) which has its uptake on the bilge bottom ... but I rarely do. Since my rebuild I have no leaks, but ice melt from the ice box goes directly into the bilge - so usually no chance of having a bone dry bilge. I've just made a mental note of where the residual water level is - after the electric pump cycles fully and shuts off. That is my "no leaks" indicator.

picture worth a thousand words:

cheers ... Fred

[bottomscraper]

Rich,

what make and model is your diaphragm pump? I've been thinking of replicating your setup.

Jeff

It's a Whale Gulper (Model 320 if I remember correctly).