Winter Projects: Bilge Pumps

This winter the projects aboard MAYAN are primarily of the "Once Done You'll Never See Them" category. So far engines have been services, minor leaks have been fixed, some rigging work has been completed at the masthead, and the one exception is that we're nearing completion of the annual varnish binge.

Today's post is about bilge pumps, a topic only a sailor could love, and one often neglected until the water is up to one's knees.

MAYAN has a small 12-volt bilge pump which is for clearing out the water when the washup-technician (me) spills the pasta water. As a result, there are two other pumps to deal with a serious leak.

Ideal 11" Manual Bladder Pump 30-Gal/Min

The first is a manual Edson pump with a 4' handle which will move 30 gallons of water per minute activated by even a small crewmember. On the right is the Edson pump stripped down. Because it is solid bronze, even after constant service from 1947 it is still in great shape and only needed new rubber bits.

The second is a 60 gallon per minute Jabsco pump belted to the Yanmar generator engine through a clutch.

While pumps almost never save a boat with a serious leak, they do buy time for the crew to address the issue and stop the water from coming aboard.

A key problem with a serious leak is that every bit of rubbish in the boat, under the bunks and along the inside of the hull flows into the bilge and will clog the intake of the pumps. Often, pump intakes are buried at the bottom of the bilge where the crew can't get to them to clear the blockage.

Engine Driven Pump Pick-Up Under Saloon Sole

The first step with MAYAN's pumps was to relocate the pickup to a place where a crew could easily reach the intake even if there were three feet of water in the boat. This required moving the pickups to the bilge beneath the main saloon sole.

The second step was to build a screen (sometimes called a Strum Box) which will keep rubbish from clogging the intake, and once the inevitable clog occurred, to allow the crew to clear it easily.

PVC Screens for Bilge Pump Pickup

The picture above shows the bilge beneath the Saloon sole. It is easily accessed by lifting a hatch in the sole. This is the inlet of the 60-gallon per minute engine-driven pump with it's 2" hose leading to a 10" long length of schedule 40 PVC pipe, and the screens. The entire screen can be removed when it clogs (It will clog!) and replaced by the spare screen tied to the hose in the picture so it won't wash away. The crew can then clear the clog by removing the end cap on the end of the PVC pipe and returning it to the bilge as the spare.

All connections are hand fit, as this is on the suction side of the pump and the use of a hose clamp would make it impossible to swap in the spare or clear the screen.

Once we've finished all this work, all the hoses and screens will be laying in the bilge for years, hopefully never to be used except for testing and training. We'll post an example of the training program in a future edition of the blog.