What are you guys using for bilge pumps?

[stmbtwle]

Any water in my 27FC collects in the keel just forward of the skeg. As we all know that area is more than a little bit "tight", and then there's the propeller shaft. The PO installed an new model automatic Jabsco 500 there but had to grind the "ears" off the strainer to get it past the shaft, and it's still a wrestling match getting it in or out. However that pump is dying. The old model Jabsco 500 which I think might fit is no longer available, and I'm at a loss what to install.

If I can't find a centrifugal pump small enough I've thought of a diaphragm pump mounted in the locker, but they're nortoriously touchy about debris and reliability would be an issue.

Any suggestions?

[mistyjim1]

I'd check eBay for the old style 500 your sure fits, everything shows up there sooner or later. Give it a month and you can probably find a couple in good shape. One to wear and one to spare

[stmbtwle]

I did find a couple copies, but I also found a "Shoreline 800" at Walmart, and it goes in IF I take the base off. Once past the shaft I could put the base back on and fiddle it into position. A separate float switch on a piece of aluminum bar finished the job, for a whole lot less $ than another computerized Rule. It moves the water, too!

[kerrye]

I used one similar to this with a hose and sensor down in the narrow bilge. https://www.defender.com/product.jsp?id=1612482

[kerrye]

https://www.hodgesmarine.com/Whale-Gulp ... 19Actually this one with this sensor.

[stmbtwle]

Thanks guys, I didn't know such a beast was even available. I'll look into them. The centrifugal could be located forward as a backup. I'm very much a fan of multiple pumps.

[WillieC]

Kerry, does your system include a filter screen of some sort? (I am like steamboatwillie, just catching up with this type of pump having used the skinny pencil pump that came with the boat, then the one piece rule pump that doesn't get low enough to ever run, which is sort of good.)

I see Whale has a kit with the remote switch and screen (and length of hose to the remote mounted pump) that goes down low into the bilge narrows, but it also looks too wide for use on the A25s. Thus my question to Kerry. I am also interested in what type of switch you used. I really want to avoid the mercury type switch. Surely there are better options.
Thanks for posting.

[stmbtwle]

WillieC
I don't think mercury is even allowed any more. Modern float switches may look the same but they're not. However many manufacturers now also have water-sensing switches with no moving parts. They'll work with any pump, and can't stick. I like 'em.
https://www.amazon.com/attwood-Digital- ... 234&sr=8-7

[kerrye]

The switch I used is the one in the second (?) link. It's electronic, very thin and fits down in the narrow bilge. It sees to work quite well. The filter screen mechanism which came with it didn't fit in that small bilge space so I did the following: I had an existing manual pump with a non-screened hose going down to that narrow bilge. I added the hose from the new electric pump and put it in the bilge about 8" away from the existing hose for the manual pump. I then took a piece of 3/4" black irrigation pipe about 8" long, put 90 degree barbed fittings on either end so it could be connected to each hose and then drilled a bunch of small holes in the irrigation pipe so it functions like a screen for both the manual pump and the electric pump. That pipe lays right at the bottom of the narrow bilge. I thought I put pictures of that set up on here somewhere but a search was unsuccessful.

[kerrye]

This is the switch. I mounted it to a piece of 1/2" Ipe about 10 inches long and it stands upright in that narrow bilge keeping the switch in the correct orientation and it makes putting the switch in place and removing it quite easy. I ended up wiring the switch incorrectly at first and it didn't work but I finally got it right. Don't know if it was the result of poor instructions or my idiocy. I recall thinking it was poor instructions, but that could just be an indication of my idiocy. https://www.hodgesmarine.com/Whale-Elec ... be9006.htm

[DesertAlbin736]

We inherited a belt driven diaphragm bilge pump mounted in the bilge section just forward of the aft cabin with suction hose run down into the keel sump. It has a small inline strainer which clogs easily & has to be cleaned out frequently. No automatic float switch & has to be switched on & off manually at the helm station. Not a big deal since our boat is not kept in the water full time. If we did decide on full time wet slip moorage I'd have to wire in a float switch & on/off/auto dashboard switch. Backup pump is a manual Whale Gusher also mounted in the aft bilge section. Diaphragm pumps are great but also very expensive, > $400.

[WillieC]

Thanks, Kerry. That switch showed up lower on the page of the pump. Looks like a good unit.

That pipe you describe has a name, which I forget.

A little searching found this!

viewtopic.php?f=28&t=10266&start=30&hilit=strainer+pipe

[kerrye]

Yep that’s what I was looking for. Good work

[keoki62]

I have one of these mounted vertically on an angle under shaft and one forward.

[stmbtwle]

Interesting. Did you have to take it apart to get it past the shaft?