A week or so ago I realized that my electric bilge pump, which I installed this summer in the Delta, was not pumping the water out of my bilge. The ascent from the bottom of Dura Mater’s bilge to the point way back there at the stern of the boat where the water exits? 6’ depth and 13’ long. So I have decided that she needs a bigger pump.
Before I ever spend a dime I ask for advice from everyone on E Dock. I received E Dock advice from David, s/v Pinocchio, who suggested the wiring was “confused”. I’m pretty sure that is a nice way of asking whether I had mis-wired it. No, it whirred away down there in the bilge. Bobby the J suggested I look for kinks in the hose or to check the fuse. No kinks, fuse was fine. I asked Mr Hedgehog whether he thought I needed a bilge pump with a bigger motor. Mr Hedgehog, who spends money like water on sails and pretty ropes, looked at me sorrowfully: “Yes. I’m afraid so,” was his response.
The current pump is an Atwater 500. A beautiful pump. A clean pump. Since Dura Mater doesn’t get much water in her bilge, and since I also have a manual Whale Gusher (installed by yours truly) I never realized that, even though the little motor worked, it didn’t actually pump the water OUT. Which is the whole point of it, right? Uh huh. I knew the pump worked because, after I wired it up I stuck it into a bucket of water and it squirted that water out enthusiastically. I dropped it gently down into that deep, deep bilge and forgot about it. I think the phrase is: “My Bad”.
DM's bilge is so deep I almost can't see to the bottom of it. In order to retrieve items I have to use a set of long tongs that came with that swanky Williams Sonoma grill set ("What did we do with those long tongs?" "Um .... I don't know....")
Last week I sent away for a new Atwater 1100. It cost $65. Another beautiful pump. A stronger pump that should cause that water to gush out of DM’s transom. Why do I think it’s beautiful? Because I know how to wire it, that’s why. I will give my old pump to Howard, my neighbor on E Dock. Howard’s bilge is only four inches deep. It should work great for him.
Yesterday I installed the new pump. Does it work? Of course! Long may it gush.
Good for you! What are those bits of blue tape?
I consulted my copy of "A Scottish Guy's Guide to Boat Wiring" and you are, of course, correct.
Is the small stuff with gordian knot used to hoist it out for inspection?
(I wonder if all the knots on Arcadia are Gordian knots.)
Getting the right color coordination in the bilge is challenging. Do you mind if I send you a few waterproof connectors? The connectors get used throughout the Moore, but nothing electrical fits into the bilge. Since all the Moore wiring is exposed, I was working on a tidy fashion statement.
Ants
Oh, Ants! Thank you for the offer. I actually did use heat shrink connectors. In fact, I even used that color rather than the yellow ones or the pink ones. Then I tucked them all into a larger tube of rubber that I heat shrank.
It's pink. So I didn't really use painter's tape. Bob and I both work in front of computers a good portion of our days. When we get bored we look at boats or harass each other on the forum. I would refer to it as banter.
If you would like to banter back and forth that would probably be fun, but you'll have to learn how to do it first. I think we should practice awhile offline. Let me know. I think maybe you didn't have an older sister?
On second thought, you speak at least two languages compared with my one. You are probably a really good banterer in one or more others. Let's just send each other pictures of boats, instead. Otherwise I'll have to learn a Uralic language like Estonian. That would be way harder for me than for you to learn to banter in English. Let me know what you think.
Last edited by Philpott; 08-27-2020 at 05:00 PM.
Wow - an unopened pack of 25. I've never seen one of those outside of West Marine or Whale Point.
I buy the little packs of 3-4; only enough for the current project. That's really impressive Ants.
I had an older sister.
.
Last edited by BobJ; 08-27-2020 at 06:31 PM.
Excellent trick, Rick! Thanks! I'll stop by Whalepoint tomorrow.