Bilge Pump

[Tom Curry]

I will be keeping my catalina 22 in the water all season this year. Because of this I will be installing a bilge pump.  The instructions that came with the pump say to install the outlet as close to the pump as possible. To do this I'll have to install the outlet on the side. Common sense tells me the best place on a sailboat for this outlet would be on the transom. Does anyone have any thoughts or comments? Also, where is the best location for the pump itself?Thanks

 

[LaDonna Bubak - Planet Catalina]

Placement

The only place to install the pump is the lowest point in the boat. I'm not sure about the set up for a 22 but I ran the hose aft to the outboard well. It does take a slight upward angle but I have a pretty strong pump, so it should do the trick. I don't think it would be wise to drill a hole in the side of the boat just for the output hose. Remember: you can never have too much money or too big of a bilge pump (unless it doesn't fit)!LaDonna

 

[Joe]

pump location-under seat

On my Catalina 25, which I bought a year ago, a manually operated bilge pump is installed in the storage locker under the port side cockpit seat. It has a removable handle. There is a check valve just downstream from the pump. The outlet is on the transom. It hasn't worked since I bought the boat, because the check valve will not support the pressure differential required to draw water up from the bilge. I've determined that a better check valve would make it work, but haven't tried a new one yet.

 

[Leon Sisson]

Bilge Pump Overkill.

Here's a lot more bilge pump opinion than you asked for:In "This Old Boat", Don Casey recommends having three bilge pumps:  1.) A 30GPM or so manual diaphram pump with 1" or 1-1/2" hoses. This could have its screened pickup hose located beside the swing keel trunk. This is your last line of defense against sinking on a really bad day.  2.) A huge (2,500-5,000GPH) electric centrifugal pump using 1-1/2" hose. This pump would be sized to keep up with a failed thru-hull hose, or otherwise slow down a serious leak. Casey suggests that this pump have only a manual switch, but it seems to me that if the boat has a big battery charger which is usually connected to shore power, I'd add an automatic switch for use when the charger is plugged in. Casey estimates that failed 1-1/2" plumbing 6" below the waterline will admit almost 2,000GPH.  3.) A small electric centrifugal pump (400-500GPH), with integrated float switch, using 1/2" hose, and equiped with one of those 3-way on-off-auto switches located at your electrical control panel. In at least the automatic mode, it would get its power directly (through an in-line fuse) from one of the ship's batteries, without going through any main disconnects. This pump's main job would be to slurp up as thoroughly as possible of the small amount of water that seems to sneek aboard every boat. This pump should be mounted as low as possible. (The skinny 1/2" hose is to reduce drain-back volume after shut-off.) The best place for bilge pump discharge thru-hulls seems to be in the transom just outboard of the cockpit foot-well above the heeled waterline. Each pump gets its own thru-hull. Don't use check valves. Use hoses with smooth inner surfaces. Remember to divide the advertised capacity of pumps by at least two, to determine how much water they'll actually move. I doubt that any one Catalina 22 would want, have, or need all this pumping capacity. Depending on the thickness of your wallet, size of your battery bank, and your level of paranoia maybe one or two of the above would suffice.