bilge pumps

mattbcha · Post by **mattbcha** » Fri Sep 25, 2009 11:41 am

i know this is an old topic but humor me please or at least direct me to some old threads. i have a detonator and would like to install a handmade bilge pump. im not very good with these type undertakings but i have a good friend who is. i just neeed a parts list and directions. anyone? thank you very much for any help.

matt hagan louisville ky

mr ray · Post by **mr ray** » Fri Sep 25, 2009 4:13 pm

Do a search and you'll find a thread here with a link to a "how-to" with step by steps and parts list.

marclamenace · Post by **marclamenace** » Fri Sep 25, 2009 5:21 pm

You can see my setup here: easy enough to do, very lightweight but the battery won't last as long as a more heavy one (obviously). Very easy to move from a boat to another, build the whole thing for less than a 100$.

http://picasaweb.google.fr/Marclamenace ... PDE6rUfVnM#

This very recent thread gives also good ideas:

http://www.cboats.net/cforum/viewtopic.php?t=7960811

I don't know where exactly is the document mr ray's speaking of, but me thinks it would be nice to have something like that in the outfit section for newbies, we always have many questions around bilge pumps.

Marc Evans · Post by **Marc Evans** » Fri Sep 25, 2009 6:27 pm

Look at the thread http://www.cboats.net/cforum/viewtopic.php?t=7960732. In my response I've put in the links to some other folks who have built systems.

Marc

philcanoe · Post by **philcanoe** » Fri Sep 25, 2009 11:33 pm

mattbcha wrote:i know this is an old topic but humor me please ...

Louie · Post by **Louie** » Sat Sep 26, 2009 12:41 pm

Phill

Last weekend on the Gauley Milt, Nolan, and Suttie were using version two of two types shown in your diagram. Roy from Wisconson and Lynn had a pump in their boat but it wasn't workin.Matt, Dooley, and myself were doin it the old fashon way we got out of the boat, streched our legs, took a break and dumped our boats.

gumpy · Post by **gumpy** » Sat Sep 26, 2009 6:59 pm

not that i have a tenth of the boating (or swimming) experience as that last guy, but last week on the UY i needed to roll 3 times, come up w/boat full of water in a midriver eddy. once was right above heinzerling. i'd hate to wash through there with a boat full of water and miss all the fun, much easier to flip a switch and rest for 30 seconds. my detonator has 2 attwood v1250's and i can email you pics if you like.

bambam · Post by **bambam** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 12:20 am

I'm guessing the guys in the dugout canoes gave a bunch of grief to the upstarts embracing the new technology, birchbark, too.

I run with pumps. I don't consider it cheating. By the time the pumps would do you any good in most rapids, most rapids are done. I think it makes the day more fun. Sure, I try to run stuff dry most of the time but sometimes it's fun to just run the meat or jump in that playspot knowing you are going to fill up and knowing it will be easy to just pump it out. If conditions warrant, I take a break and dump the boat out. I don't bail as my boats don't have a bailing space.

That last comment warrants a little more attention. Minimizing how much water can get in your boat will help a lot when it comes to pumps.

Keep it simple.

I use twin Attwood 1250's. Some WalMarts stock them for around $20 each so shop around. Marine supply stores may ask twice that. The pumps don't weigh much so use two of them and run them off of one battery. Wiring diagram: Brown is positive, black is negative. Wire the switch somewhere between the positive (red) terminal of the battery and the brown wires. Make a loop.

Fresh water doesn't conduct low voltage DC current very well so I don't waterproof anything and have never had any problems. My 79 cent ordinary light switch from Lowes has been working fine for the last 100 river runs or so as has the ordinary lamp cord wiring with connections simply twisted together, folded over, and wrapped with a bit of electrical tape to keep from popping airbags. Route the wires with some care so they can't get tangled up with body parts.

Hoses. Pumps come with some oddball size output, thinking 1-1/8". You can get this at Lowes. Keep the hoses as short as you can. I ran mine to the stern and that was dumb. Doing that keeps two hoses-full worth of water in the boat when you kill the pumps. Consider spewing it out amidships. For this you'll need through-hull fittings. Light, inexpensive, and available from marine supply places. 90 degree fittings are the way to go.

Power. If I ever get around to outfitting my Grumman I may look at a diesel generator. Meanwhile, for my Ocoee and my tandem Blast I like the Werker brand WKA12-2.3F. The gobbledygook portion of that means it's 12 volts and good for 2.3 amp hours. Translation? It has enough grunt to pump out the Blast (love that boat but it is WET as a tandem when surfing) all day. Twenty bucks or so at my local battery place plus another twenty for the matching charger. (Battery geeks note, I tried to halve the weight with a 1.3 Ah battery and found it too small.)

Attaching the battery to your boat is an issue. The case on a Werker is black ABS. I used plumbers ABS pipe cement to connect some chunks of ABS to the battery case for attachment points.

Hope this helps, happy outfitting,

Ken

craig · Post by **craig** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 2:28 am

I've seen this posted a few times; "fresh water will not conduct electricity very well", or similar comments. Does this mean in salt water, like the ocean I should be careful with my pump? I run it with a Lithium battery..

bambam · Post by **bambam** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 12:45 pm

I've never tried it but would expect salt water to conduct very well.

TheKrikkitWars · Post by **TheKrikkitWars** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 1:26 pm

For what it's worth, with clever foaming out, and a snappy roll, you can get it so your boat dumps abotu 4/5ths of the water when you roll, no need for pumps then, just a stretch of deep water.

jknkboaters · Post by **jknkboaters** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 11:28 pm

This website answers alot of questions about electric bilge pumps for whitewater canoes.

http://jtkcanoes.weebly.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It has several categories:
Parts List
Questions & Answers
Products
Electric Bilge Pump Benefits
Photos of Installed Bilge Pump Kit

mattbcha · Post by **mattbcha** » Sat Oct 10, 2009 1:27 am

Thank you to everyone who replied, even the smartassess

, and to the ones who private messaged. will be going shopping and starting to make pump ine the next couple weeks, may have some more questions.

matt hagan louisville ky

Freak18 · Post by **Freak18** » Thu Jan 07, 2010 5:17 am

We just think for the bilge pump installation which is the manner, but it is essential not to overlook key details. We must not place the pump in the bilge unrestrained so that we can avoid a wrong installation. I wanted to use this both my basement dehumidifier in my home to take some process of appearances.

Smurfwarrior · Post by **Smurfwarrior** » Fri Jan 08, 2010 3:47 pm

Freak- seeing the way you wrote that post (your first no less) leads me to believe that you're either on something, or really need to be!

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