I'd like to install an auto electric bilge pump since I only have the manual. Can I widen the chase that my manual hose runs trough to get tubing into the engine compartment?
84 Catalina 27 bilge pump install
- Thread starter Jon Jenney
- Start date
If you are installing an additional pump you will need a new discharge line and thruhull fixture. Your discharge line should run the shortest distance to a spot in the hull above the waterline. This points to a spot on the starboard or port sides of the hull? Do not understand your question about running tubing to the engine comparment. Perhaps a picture and an indication of what you are trying to accomplish would help.
I need to run my new auto pump hose from the bilge under the floor into the engine compartment. Do I dare expand the hole the manual hose runs through in order to accommodate a hose for the auto bilge pump.
For those of us who don’t own your particular boat, or perhaps due to previous modification, it would be helpful,to see a picture of the bulkhead you need to open up.
the answer is probably dependent on what it is made of, how thick, how much meat is around the existing hole and how more you need to remove, and the placement.
Can you get some photos showing the area and the existing hole?
Greg
Hi Jon, I have a 1987 Catalina 27 Tall Rig and you are correct, you really need to know what that system looks like to understand it. The short answer is "No, you do not need to widen the area going into the engine compartment." My bilge pump fits nicely in the bilge and I have the same diameter tube connected to the electric bilge pump as the manual pump that is installed in the transom compartment. There is enough space for two 1" OD tubing to go from the bilge to engine compartment. Both the manual and auto electric pump use the same transom discharge port. This is done by using a check valve in the back of the boat near the transom. This year I tried to install a backup electric bilge pump (i.e. two auto electric pumps) but this meant adding two more check valves. It is still a work in progress.
Rich Kish
Cleveland, Ohio
Hi Jon, I have a 1987 Catalina 27 Tall Rig and you are correct, you really need to know what that system looks like to understand it. The short answer is "No, you do not need to widen the area going into the engine compartment." My bilge pump fits nicely in the bilge and I have the same diameter tube connected to the electric bilge pump as the manual pump that is installed in the transom compartment. There is enough space for two 1" OD tubing to go from the bilge to engine compartment. Both the manual and auto electric pump use the same transom discharge port. This is done by using a check valve in the back of the boat near the transom. This year I tried to install a backup electric bilge pump (i.e. two auto electric pumps) but this meant adding two more check valves. It is still a work in progress.
Rich Kish
Cleveland, Ohio
Yes. I will try to get some photos this week. You are in Port Clinton? My boat is in Sandusky.
Check valves are notorious for failure. Better to put an anti-siphon loop between automatic bilge pump and thruhull than use check valves anywhere. I bolted the anti-siphon valve to the starboard wall of the engine compartment (from the quarter berth). Apparently there’s no need for a loop in the manual pump line, I guess because the pump itself is well above the waterline.
I need to do the same thing. What did you decide to do for the electric bilge line ?