How many bilge pumps do you have?

KK42 is my focus, but this might be fun for the whole forum...

I have two confirmed (and labeled on the bridge/panel), but I feel there is a third emergency (I know, "feel", but the PO didn't know anything about the boat, so I've had to discover many things myself.

My aft is in the deep well behind the engine. The front one I only know by the through hull and it running about once a day, I haven't found it yet, but haven't looked hard yet.

6 electric and 2 manual installed, a couple spare electric.

Three

I have 4. Aft, middle, forward compartment and the 4th is in my spare parts drawer.

Four, six or eight—depending on your definition of a bilge pump.

Four in true bilge areas—three with float switches and one water “sensing” pump.

Two in shower sumps that would provide additional pumping capacity should in-flooding water ever reach them.

Two small Whale Supersubs—one in a tray under each stuffing box (I like a dry bilge)

I also have Groco flush fittings on the Lehmans and genset that, with a quick-couple hose, can draw water from the bilge using engine pumps.

Overkill? Totally. But most of that came with the boat and I see no reason to remove any of it.

I think I have two shower sumps too... though you have to turn them on manually I'd expect. They should be auto IMO.

Ooo, I like the flush fittings idea.

What do you mean by "water sensing pump"?

Three, two electric with float switches and a manual pump installed in the lazaret. This pump is located such that I can stand with my upper body sticking out while working the pump handle. The pump has about 20' of 1 1/2' flex hose attached, with a strainer at the end, so that it can located where most needed. The hose hangs on a hook in the engine room, within sight through an opening into the lazaret. That pump and the second on a float switch has never been used but for tests. Fingers always crossed.

I have 2 bilge pumps, both recently updated and connected to Blue Guard sensors and their new IoT gateway, and one Whale sump pump for the shower that I installed a few months ago after getting sick of shower boxes.

Installed
4 x 3500 gph @ 24v
2 x 4000 gph @ 240v

Spare
3 x 3500 gph @ 24v
1 x 4000 gph @ 240v

For my 27' Express, Two electric. Both are switched and at least one may be both come on with a float switch.

And a couple portable manual operated ones. I have lent one or two out and they finally came back.

Three Rule Gold Bilge Pumps

Main cabin - 2000 with Ultra Pumpswitch Junior
Engine compartment - 3700 with Ultra Pumpswitch Senior and alarm
Cockpit lazarette - 2000 with Ultra Pumpswitch Junior

bridaus said:

I think I have two shower sumps too... though you have to turn them on manually I'd expect. They should be auto IMO.

Ooo, I like the flush fittings idea.

What do you mean by "water sensing pump"?

Click to expand...

Our shower sumps have float switches so no need to turn them on. The “water-sensing pump” is computerized and uses electronic sensors vs a float to activate.

I have one electric in the bilge forward of the engine and above the keel, and one Whale manual pump that sucks from the same area.

I now feel inadequate compared with all these boats with multiple electric pumps. Should I carry a spare? I have to admit I rarely look at or think about the poor pump, or do any maintenance on it. [emoji15]

Not enough and it is on the list to get done soon-ish. On our 42' Navigator, there is a Rule 2000 in the rudder box and another under the center-ish of the hull. Unfortunately, THAT ISN'T WHERE THE WATER SITS!!! I mean really, the factory couldn't figure out where water sits and put pumps in those locations? I plan on putting one of those Whale pumps with the remote pickup where the water sits forward, then a much, much bigger one in the "well" between the engines with a new thru hull. I haven't decided on a manual one yet. TBH, I am not sure where I would put it. We will see. Still, I am disappointed at the factory's lack of priority regarding bilge pumps.

cardude01 said:

I now feel inadequate compared with all these boats with multiple electric pumps. Should I carry a spare? I have to admit I rarely look at or think about the poor pump, or do any maintenance on it. [emoji15]

Click to expand...

Me too, although I might have four (showers) just no spares. Add it to the list.

Main bilge: 2x2000 gph, 12v, one low & one high. High has a very loud bell alarm. Spare in box.

Lazarette: 2x3500 gph, 12v. Spare in box.

All have auto/manual/fuse/light panel in pilothouse.

Also have a 2” clutched Jabsco belted to starboard engine, 3600 gph.

Three pumps... one manual pump aft and one electric midship. My third is an engine driven pump. I have the float switch for my electric connected to an Aqua Alarm 12VDC bell alarm. My bilge is always dry and having enough water to activate the float switch in my bilge would signal a problem!

Despite ABYC standards, I am personally not a fan of being able to manually turn off automatic operation of my bilge pump. If I had oil/chemicals pouring into the bilge, I would simply and easily disconnect the fuse at the battery.

My electric bilge pump is wired directly to the battery via a fuse, and I wired a high amp diode for two-way (on/off) switch operation with the high water alarm (the diode prevents the alarm from sounding when I manually activate the pump). The diode and wiring are sealed with marine shrink tubing.

cardude01 said:

I have one electric in the bilge forward of the engine and above the keel, and one Whale manual pump that sucks from the same area.

I now feel inadequate compared with all these boats with multiple electric pumps. Should I carry a spare? I have to admit I rarely look at or think about the poor pump, or do any maintenance on it. [emoji15]

Click to expand...

Most electric pumps (even the large ones) are generally good for dispensing of water from small leaks and accumulations from rain, leaving a hatch open, shaft drips, etc. No electric pump is going to offset a leak from a hull breach. I visit my boat weekly and am more concerned about having an alarm to notify someone (or me) that there is a leak--a remote monitoring system is on my list! If I were doing some serious offshore cruising, I would certainly have a high capacity engine driven pump and gas-powered bilge pump.

Make sure to have plenty of wooden plugs too!

I do have some plugs, somewhere....

Guess I need to zip tie those plugs to the thru hulls?

I’ve often thought about getting a spare 115v high volume pump I could run off the generator in an emergency, but haven’t. Running out of room!

Something like this maybe? I could drop it in the bilge in an emergency. Big discharge hose should move some water. It says 53 GPM Max, but that’s prob not with 30’ of hose.
https://www.amazon.com/Tsurumi-semi-vortex-submersible-agitator-discharge/dp/B07Q844LSM

I have 3 electric pumps - forward bilge, aft bilge, and lazarette (near the rudder stuffing box), plus the shower sump (with a manual switch) and a Groco flush sea cock for the Volvo. The electric pumps are all on the small side.

Dave

38 in total

4 in aft cockpit
2 in engine room
1 Fwd aft Holding tank
1 Midships companionway

I have 3 Rule pumps, 1 aft, 1 in the ER bilge, and 1 forward. I also have a shower pump, but as it is inside a sump box, it wouldn't help much unless I disconnected the hose from the shower to open it up. There is a manual pump centrally in the ER. I have one spare on board.

Vashon_Trawler said:

Most electric pumps (even the large ones) are generally good for dispensing of water from small leaks and accumulations from rain, leaving a hatch open, shaft drips, etc. No electric pump is going to offset a leak from a hull breach.

Click to expand...

I felt pretty comfortable with my current setup: 4 pumps with a total nominal capacity of 8500 GPH on a 40' boat.

However, when changing the depth transducer I realized a failure of even that single small fitting would overwhelm all my pumping capacity and sink the boat.

The math is pretty straightforward. Even assuming all 4 pumps work correctly my effective pump rate would probably be 4000-5000 GPH. The transducer fitting, a 2" hole located 2' below the waterline will admit about 6700 GPH.

Absent quickly acquiring more pumping capacity or stemming the flow, the boat is going to the bottom.

That is just an example, but my takeaway is the importance of the advice above: Be ready to deal with flooding situations by limiting the ingress of water--don't just expect to rely on your pumps.

2 compartments with 2 bilge pumps each plus the shower sump pump. All less than 5 years old and water tested annually. Also have dry bilges.

Ted

danderer said:

That is just an example, but my takeaway is the importance of the advice above: Be ready to deal with flooding situations by limiting the ingress of water--don't just expect to rely on your pumps.

Click to expand...

I wholeheartedly agree! Focusing on pumps is important, but boaters should seriously focus more energy on their thru hull and seacock situation (e.g., use through bolted sea cocks with heafty flange adapters).

I do feel confident in my prop shaft driven bilge pump. Assuming my engine is still working, it should move a lot of water (thousands of gallons per hour). It is probably overkill for my 24' trawler. I mostly travel the Florida ICW and coastal waters, so my hope is it will provide enough time for me to beach the boat, plug the hole, or get my wife and little one on the dinghy!

Lots

If one had a hole in the hull he needed to try to fill in an emergency, I read on another thread that people have used foam rubber. Would that be like memory foam or some other kind?

Three 2000 GPH on two circuits. One at lowest point aft engine, one forward of engine, and on forward under galley with catastrophic alarm. Also plumbing engine raw water intake to bilge via y-valve.

Three in bilge with float switches. Plus one diaphragm type, manually switched, with a pancake pickup to get the bilge almost dry.

Two in shower sumps with float switches.

Three in spare parts inventory.

Three normal, one high water level emergency, and one shower sump.
John