Emergency Engine Driven Bilge Pump

[SabreKai]

I'd be buying a honda centrifugal, leave minimum fuel in the tank, add stabilizer and then run it once a month as part of your damage collision drill.

Honda Water Pumps: Centrifugal, Submersible, and Diaphragm Pumps gives lots of choices. Figure a 2 inch hole 2 feet below the waterline puts 112 gallons a minute into the hull, this would be my choice.

[Andrew Troup]

Just came across this old thread, with an unanswered question from HopCar, who is puzzled by why everyone assumes the contents of the bilge will clog the pumps in an emergency.

In my case, for two reasons: firstly because most accounts of boats which get knocked down mention major clogging problems with pulped books and charts, smashed breakfast spreads, drums of flour and rice, smashed joinery or shredded insulation (from attempts to locate a leak hidden behind the interior woodwork) etc etc etc.

The other reason is my own experiences along these lines.

To give just one example:

I never knew a dozen eggs could travel so far

One particularly gifted egg fell into an open drawer, and then something else fell on top, hiding it, and then the drawer slid closed again - all without breaking the egg. It did however break when I tried to remove it.
The log records that it was broken while "resisting arrest"

I'd only discovered it days later - I still don't understand or believe it. I wonder if one of my crewmates was exercising a talent for gallows humour... we'd been counting the eggs, knowing how many we'd started with, and there was this one 'hold-out'...

[lockie]

"Just came across this old thread, with an unanswered question from HopCar, who is puzzled by why everyone assumes the contents of the bilge will clog the pumps in an emergency"

I am even more puzzled by the number of people who don't assume something close to worst case when they imagine things going wrong. Even with my day and coastal excursions, I find Plans B and C are not infrequently required.

The multiplier effect, often caused by goofs brought about by fatigue or a brain overloaded by strong weather, simultaneous failures etc, is always a surprise.

Sort of a combination of "Murphy's Law"", "reverse serendipity" and "Black Magic Happens".

Maybe that's why I love sailing - my inner misery-guts pessimist can thrive alongside my inner lotus-eater.

Graeme