poor paddler's electric bilge pump

[OC1_SURFER]

During the past several months, there have been a few posts on this board about electric bilge pumps. Some of the pumps mentioned have been production models which are usually overly priced. Others have been home-made versions that are probably a little less expensive. Well, another open-boater and I have figured out a way to produce a fairly high output bilge pump for about $60. What's more: it is light in weight, self contained, and very portable from one boat to another.

Most of the home-made systems that I'm familiar with use 12volt Attwood pumps. These are fine pumps, but you have to have an external power source and wire in a switch somewhere. This all takes up space and adds weight.

Here's what we did: We started with the Attwood Waterbuster. Most of you are probably familiar with this pump. It runs on three D cells and has a push-button on/off switch on the side of the housing. It is rated to pump 200 gallons per hour (gph) which is not nearly fast enough to empty a swamped ten or eleven foot whitewater canoe. So, we modified it. We got rid of the D cells which totaled only 4.5volts, and we implanted a higher voltage set-up in the pump housing. My friend used a 6volt rechargeble industrial battery in his (sorry, but I don't know all of the specs of this battery). I used two Black & Decker Versapak batteries in mine which total 7.2volts. By the way, we have been informed by qualified electricians that increasing the voltage to these motors by such a minute amount will not harm them. Increasing the voltage increases the rpms of the pump which means you have a higher output. My pump is now pumping a gallon of water in 5 seconds, which is equal to 720 gph! This is nearly four times its original output.

The main thing that we had to do to make this work was to increase the size of the pump housing to hold the larger batteries. We did away with the cover that came on the pump, and bought a 4" PVC clean-out adaptor with threaded plug. After shortening it an inch or so, we glued it into the pump housing. It was a perfect fit. This gave us plenty of room for the larger batteries. The plug then screws into the adaptor.

I also used some urethane caulk to get a better seal around the switch. The rubber boot that comes on the switch is very suspect. I simply applied the caulk around the boot generously. Another thing I did was to remove the heavy metal plate on the intake (bottom) of the pump. This thing probably weighed a couple of pounds. I use some small bungee cords to hold the pump in place (behind saddle).

My total cost on this project was:

Attwood Waterbuster Pump...$30
2 B&D Versapak Rechargable Batteries...$20 (already had the charger)
PVC clean-out w/plug...$6
small bungees...$3
glue, wire connectors, pipe thread sealant, urethane sealant...not much

I'd just like to add that this system works great. I've emptied my Ocoee several times without a recharge on the batteries. So, if you're a paddler on a budget, or you just like to tinker with stuff, this might be the way to go if you want a bilge pump.

T. Prater

[Jim Michaud]

Bilge pumps are great. I put mine together with my own parts and an Atwood 1250 pump. I wasn't thrilled about how fast the boat emptied out while running creeks so I added a second pump to the same battery. I figured that if one pump was good, two were better. Now the kayakers don't have to wait for me while I empty the boat.

My only problem was with the switch getting wet. I solved the problem by completely covering the switch with a hot glue gun.