Bilge pump outfitting

cheajack · Post by **cheajack** » Thu Jun 03, 2010 11:12 am

See a previous post where I cautioned you that the installation kits at Wal-Mart did not fit the Tsunami. A battery and charger from Batteries plus is under $60. Switches at Ace hardware are around $6. E-mail me your shipping address and I'll mail you a rubber boot for the switch. It is really not that complicated. If I can do it anybody can,

craig · Post by **craig** » Thu Jun 03, 2010 11:57 am

marine or rv store should have the tubing you need. I used clear tubing (smooth walled) I think it's sold for drinking water needs. It is sold by the ft, $2 or so per ft, can't imagine it would take more than 3-4 ft. No need for thru hull fitting, just zip tie it to a thwart or bag laces, but a thru hull fitting is cheap too

ncdavid · Post by **ncdavid** » Thu Jun 03, 2010 12:16 pm

http://www.lowcostbatteries.com/product_p/12v-1.2ah.htm
http://www.lowcostbatteries.com/product ... harger.htm

That's under $50 for a charger and 2 batteries.
I use the smaller 3/4" tubing in my Tsunami 1200. Just wrap some tape around the tubing and jam it in the outlet. Mine hasn't come loose yet.

Todhunter · Post by **Todhunter** » Thu Jun 03, 2010 2:56 pm

If you want something lighter than an SLA battery (but more expensive), you can build a bilge pump setup with a T1200 pump, and 4.25 Ah Li-Ion battery that weighs just under 2lb with all the wires, switches, and pelican case for about $220 (including charger). Or you can build it with a 5 Ah NiMH battery for about $170 (including charger).

Either your bilge setup will be light, or your wallet will be light - you choose.

If you don't know much about batteries, the amp-hour (Ah) or milliamp-hour (mAh) rating is important - this is an indicator of how long the battery will last, with a higher number lasting longer.

cheajack · Post by **cheajack** » Thu Jun 03, 2010 11:03 pm

I believe the outlet for the Tsunami 1200 takes 1 1/8" I.D. tubing. No modification needed. http://www.attwoodmarine.com/store/prod ... Bilge-Pump. Again, it ain't rocket science. If it was I couldn't do it.

Todhunter · Post by **Todhunter** » Fri Jun 04, 2010 12:07 pm

cheajack wrote:I believe the outlet for the Tsunami 1200 takes 1 1/8" I.D. tubing. No modification needed. http://www.attwoodmarine.com/store/prod ... Bilge-Pump. Again, it ain't rocket science. If it was I couldn't do it.

Correct - 1.125" outlet.

ncdavid · Post by **ncdavid** » Fri Jun 04, 2010 12:27 pm

Yep, 1.25". And I use 0.75" tubing. I have plenty of the 1.25" but I like the impressive spray from the smaller diameter tubing. And the smaller hole in the boat for the thru-hull.

Todhunter · Post by **Todhunter** » Fri Jun 04, 2010 1:18 pm

ncdavid wrote:Yep, 1.25". And I use 0.75" tubing. I have plenty of the 1.25" but I like the impressive spray from the smaller diameter tubing. And the smaller hole in the boat for the thru-hull.

Yeah, you do shoot a stream pretty far when you pump - you could be sneaky and fill someone else's boat with that stream!

dafriend · Post by **dafriend** » Fri Jun 04, 2010 11:57 pm

All kinds of bilge plumbing supplies, pumps, switches etc. at iboats.com

agrestal · Post by **agrestal** » Sat Jun 05, 2010 12:19 am

ncdavid wrote:Yep, 1.25". And I use 0.75" tubing. I have plenty of the 1.25" but I like the impressive spray from the smaller diameter tubing. And the smaller hole in the boat for the thru-hull.

Gilley changed his small diameter tubing to larger diameter tubing and said the same pump is able to git r don much faster now (minus impressive spray).

jatakasawa · Post by **jatakasawa** » Sun Jun 06, 2010 9:38 pm

[quote="klund"]To answer the OP. Dual-bilge sounds like overkill for a nitro. I would put in the biggest bags you can find and some sidewall foam and go with a single 1200 gph the others have mentioned. The 1200 gph seems to be about the right size for a playboat (takes about 15 seconds to empty my prelude when it's completely full).

Took the family paddling on some easy water today and tested the pump by rolling a dozen times or so. It seems to work great. I need to secure the battery from bouncing around with some velcro, but other than that it operated fine.

As far as pumping out water....my wife and I agree it took somewhere between 3-4 MINUTES to empty!!!!

Dual pumps are a must for my boat. My float bags are adequate and fully inflated but 3-4 minutes is way too long. I bought the Attwood Tsunami pump from Wally-World (the 1200 or 1250...can't remember.) I am using 1" interior diameter tubing and it seems to have less "force" than most pumps I see. But I don't' see how that could affect how fast it drains the boat.

kslund · Post by **kslund** » Mon Jun 07, 2010 1:36 am

Hmm... sorry for the possible bad advice.

My phantom took about 30-60 seconds to fully empty - the prelude is around 15-20 seconds after a roll (it rolls up pretty dry). This is with a attwood v1250. As I metioned earlier - I measured the true output to be about 640 gph with 18 in. head (it's actually probably more like 13 in. in my canoe but I was measuring with a 5 gal. bucket, and the sides are a little higher than my canoe). that means I can pump about 5 gallons every 30 seconds.

You mentioned that it was pumping slow. Check the voltage on your battery when it's pumping - maybe it's low - the higher the voltage the faster it will pump. Check and seen how fast your pump really is - see how long it takes to drain a 5 gal bucket and do the math to figure out the GPH.

Maybe the nitro just holds a ton of water - based on what you said, adding a second pump will cut your time down to 1 1/2 to 2 minutes.

jatakasawa · Post by **jatakasawa** » Mon Jun 07, 2010 10:43 pm

You're probably on to something with that voltage thing. Perhaps the voltage is super low when it runs...could be my wiring, too. Never been a great electrician.

And that leads me to believe that maybe a second pump on the battery would slow it down even more, thus not really helping at all! Here's what my battery is labled:

Enercell sealed Lead-Acid Battery
12vc . 5 Ah

Does that sound like the right deal for a pump? The pre-pubescent looking kid at Radio Shack thought so but maybe I invested a little too much trust in him. Ha!

kslund · Post by **kslund** » Mon Jun 07, 2010 11:44 pm

is that 0.5 Ah or 5 Ah?

0.5 would be too small.

5Ah should be good for a dual pump system - I guess I would do what folks on this board with dual pumps systems recommend

12 V is the nominal voltage, and it sounds like that is what you bought - you can run the pumps lower or higher than 12, within reason (like 10-14 volts) and they will correspondingly pump slower/faster.

Marc Evans · Post by **Marc Evans** » Tue Jun 08, 2010 4:53 am

Just to add to this discussion, I run 12 2600 mAh NiMH AA batteries in series (14.4 volts) with a Attwood V1250 pump. Last year I ran the 100 miles of the Salmon River in Idaho and never changed the batteries. Yes, I was in a small boat (Spanish Fly), but I ran every wet line, played as much as I could and didn't go to shore to dump unless I was getting out for other reasons. So, a 12 V, 5Ah battery is more than enough to run a pump.

Marc

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Bilge pump outfitting

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