Mounting the Bilge Pump

[CapnSantiago]

OK, so I bought this sailboat and one of the surveyor comments are that the bilge pump is unsecured and this needs to be corrected. Indeed a cursory inspection reveals that the automatic bilge pump is just setting in the corner of the bilge being held upright and in-place by the flexible hosing run to it.

So, how do you secure a bilge pump and what do you secure it to. It's an elongated oval in plan and has no loops, eyelets, or attachment points. There is some sort of fiberglassed stringer nearby, but I really don't want to go drilling holes through it (or the hull) to strap and attach with some sort of self tapping screw.

[SanderO]

Clamps on the hose?

[PBzeer]

One trick that was passed on to me, is to screw the pump to a flat zinc, the weight will keep it in place, and it's easy to remove, without drilling holes in the boat. Another way, without drilling holes in the boat, is to epoxy a piece of starboard in the bilge, then screw the pump to that.

[Valdensule]

I used the same marine all purpose clear sealent I used to seal my deck hardware. It adhears fine as long as you can keep it "blocked in" until the sealent sets. This way if I want to replace the pump later I dont have to deal with screws, clamps ect. as well as the gunk that can build up in the hardware. I can just rip it out and put a new on in it place. You have to be careful to keep the bead of sealent away from the pump intake. Otherwise the solution seems to be working fine. Needless to say, all must be dry and fairly clean upon install. Also I don't have a huge capacity pump to deal with on my 25'er, hope it helps.

[Valiente]

Screw it to a plank, and then secure the plank with lashed line. You can then vary the depth of the pump by fiddling with the plank, or retrieve it for service.

[mdbee]

My pump had a pastic bottom piece that clips to the pump and acts like a screen. I used 4200 to attach it to the hull, then the pump just clips to it.

[sailingdog]

I've used a variant of Valiente's idea, but used PVC pipe instead. Makes retreiving the pump to clean it out or service it very simple.

[SanderO]

The trouble with mounting a pump on something glued to the hull is that it means that there will aways be a pool of water as deep as the something you glue to the hull

if you don't want to screw anything into the hull glue a block to the hill but attach the pump along side the block with plastic wire ties.

I don't care for loose things in the boat. which can slide about when the boat rolls. It's a most annoying sound.

jef
sv shiva

[Valiente]

Originally Posted by sailingdog

I've used a variant of Valiente's idea, but used PVC pipe instead. Makes retreiving the pump to clean it out or service it very simple.

Rigid pipe would, of course, be better. I just used what I had lying around. Not being in salt water means I can take a lot of shortcuts.

[Rickm505]

My automatic bilge pumps are screwed into 1/4 plywood which are about 8" square. The cable and hose limit movement but they can move a bit.