[C320-list] Bilge pump question/observation

[Stephen]

My MK2 came with a Rule 1100. 

The Jabsco would seem more appropriate to pump out the shower sump than the bilge with that capacity. I think your Jabsco was way undersized and question why you would use an 800 gph pump when a bigger pump will fit. 

I have fitted a complete 2nd pump, a Johnson L2200, with it's own independent water level switch set a little higher than the smaller pump to act as a backup and emergency pump.  I have fitted both pumps with screw on hose connections that need no tools to remove or connect as well as plugs and sockets on the wiring.  I also have a complete ready to go replacement for each pump.

Overkill?  Perhaps.  You may care to read 
http://www.whsyc.org/Flooding/Flooding.html before dismissing my approach though.

You could also consider the following scenario:

Your caught in big lumpy seas on a lee shore with water coming in from somewhere when your pump goes out.  How confident are you of quickly finding the replacement pump, removing the hose clamps and hoses, disconnecting the wiring, replacing the hoses and clamps and making good electrical connections while being tossed all around?  Who is steering in these tumultuous seas while you do the replacing?

Won't happen to you?  Perhaps not, who can tell?

Stephen Cox
Tegwen 1141


>So the bilge pump goes out on my new-to-me 320. It’s a Jabsco
>37202-2012 diaphram pump under the port settee in the cabin. I think
>crap, there goes another $250 out of my refit fund.
>
>Then I start looking at the label on the pump. It is rated for 2.8
>gallons per minute. That’s about 160 gallons an hour tops, probably
>more like 110 in real-life conditions. It would struggle to keep up
>with a bad stuffing box leak.
>
>So I dig up a Rule 800 gallon-per-hour non-automatic pump, wire it into
>the existing lines, put a check valve between the two sections of hose
>that used to go to the pump and, ta-da, I now have five times more
>pumping capacity than I did before. (The Rule pump fits nicely between
>a couple of keel bolts just aft of the mast.)
>
>Best of all, these Rule pumps are $38 at Defender.
>
>I know Rules don’t have the best reputation for reliability, even
>though they are industry standard, but I can buy five of these before I
>reach the cost of one Jabsco. It takes 10 minutes to wire in a new one
>if the existing one fails.
>
>So what’s wrong with my thinking here?
>