Secondary bilge suggestions and ideas

[liquid_acid]

This year I plan to get a well at the marina about 15 mins from my house for my 98' outback. Years before I trailered to the ramp and was a pain when you wanted to go right to the ramp from work.

The first year I bought the boat, I got a well for a couple months. Not knowing that there was a crack in one of the exhaust baffles, it was taking on water slowly. I went out one Saturday morning and came back and docked the boat. I returned about 8 hours later and there was quite a bit of water in the stern of the boat. I've since fixed the crack and the leak. Now Im left with the uneasy feeling of leaving it there with only one bilge pump running. As you can tell, that time that left me feeling uneasy, as the bilge did not turn on for whatever reason. I've tested it every year several times and seems to work every time.

Has anyone installed a second ballast pump? Did you plump it to the existing plumbing? What pump is a reasonable price for a secondary pump?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Chris

[parrothd]

I have a slip so I always install a second pump and second bilge outlet. There are kits on Amazon and the pumps(Sahara). Just glue the new one down, splice the wires and drill a hole..

The pumps don't last long, usually a year or so, usually the automatic switch fails. Just buy the same model and swap out as needed..

[parrothd]

Shoreline Marine Plumbing Kit 3/4" X 5' Hose https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004UOUBW4..._N0TixbNJTZZMM

You may want chrome or black and the attwood/seaflow/Shara pump.

[roosm]

I have a Supra 2001 SSV and had first a leak by the rudder since previous owner had hit something and I had a crack in the hull that was covered by the rudder-mounting hardware. Then I found out that the rudder mounting bolts were not the original and they were not brass, but something that did rust and as the heads of the bolts rusted away the rudder started to move creating a new leak.
Good thing that I caught it in time both times. Cost me a couple of alternators and starter engines as the water was this high up!

This left me uneasy for sure so I installed two separate systems running of separate batteries.
I had the orginal bilge pump with internal automatic switch that tended to stay on once it came on after a couple of years.
I also had a Rule 1100 GPH automatic that starts and runs 1 second, if the pump feels resistance it will keep running until the resistance is not there anymore.
This works great, though drains a lot of battery and when for different reasons I couldn't wakeboard for 2 weeks I always needed to worry about the battery condition.

I replaced the stock pump with another smaller Rule-pump and bought a Water Witch bilge pump switch. Google it!
This has since worked flawlessly. I had the orginial pump my first 2 years with the boat, got this back in 2010 and it is still holding up. Since I haven't had a leak since 2009 either I finally went ahead and removed the 1100 gph Rule last year so that I didn't have the headache with the batteries.
Now everything works perfect. low amperage pump that doesn't draw anything unless there is water present and the water witch works perfect. You might have to wipe it clean a couple of times per year and that is it.

Mike

[trayson]

When I replaced the pump in my Supra, I went a different route. As you'll find out, it's typically the switch that fails before the pump itself. I went with the attwood digital bilge switch. There are NO MOVING PARTS on that switch (it's more of a sensor) and that gave me a lot of peace of mind. Amazon had the best price. Then I went with a Johnson pump that I could just swap out the insides if the pump failed. I went with the low boy pump just because it sounded cool and had good reviews.

[rdlangston13]

I would like to add a second pump where the hole in the fuel tank is. that goes directly to the bilge and i believe it is at a lower point in the boat than the pump behind the fuel tank.