My Bilge Pump Install

[Shookie]

I know there are a few of these threads, but figured I would post my adventure of putting a 2nd bilge pump in my 242. Made it off the wait list and got a wet slip so this was priority #1 to get it installed before my boat is in the water. Did most of the work last weekend and drilled my first hole today and finished it up.

Here’s where the existing bilge is.



I bought an Attwood 800gph pump and a Rule float switch on Amazon. Debated on different pumps and switches and based on prices and some reviews I read, I went this way.



For the rest, I went to West Marine. Black, ¾” thru hull fittings had long ship times on Amazon so I figured I'd go there to get that, hose, wiring, fuse, etc…. Of course, they had everything except a black thru-hull. Sales guy was great. Checked around and had it in stock in California and got it shipped for free but it took over a week which sucked.



Debated on where and how to mount the pump and switch. Mounted the pump close to the existing one. Used a couple short screws to attached the holder for the pump. Dug through my stash of brackets and stuff. Found an L bracket and used it for the switch. Probably not the best way, but it’s sturdy and does what I need it to do.

 

[Shookie]

Hooked up the wiring and zip tied everything. I didn’t take a picture of the wiring connected to the battery…… inserted a 5 amp fuse on the hot side and connected to the house battery. Connected the hose to the pump and ran it alongside the existing hose




Drilled a 1” hole through the side wall to get the hose out to the hull.




Read up on drilling holes through fiberglass. Until today, I was a virgin. Decided to put the new fitting next to the existing one. Got some painters tape, covered the area up and marked where to drill.




I drilled a small pilot hole. DRILL IN REVERSE! I was honestly surprised at how easy it was to drill through the hull. I wasn’t pushing that hard. After the pilot hole, used the hole saw (also in reverse) and drilled the main hole (1”).

 

[Shookie]

Cleaned everything up and climbed up in the boat. Not easy to reach this area so I actually laid down in the storage area and attached the hose and everything to the fitting. I did use a little silicone on the outside since the fitting didn’t come with an o-ring or gasket.




Finally, got the hose and started filling it up with water. Took a while….. but sure enough as it filled up, the float raised up and turned on the pump. Voila!

 

[Beachbummer]

Excellent! One of the nice thing about your pump and the hose size it uses is that it can be found in reinforced nylon at the big hardware stores. The next size up for the bigger pump (Tsunami 1200) at 1+1/8in is much harder to find and more expensive. If you had not done it yet I'd suggest checking pricing and quality there to give you another option.

The 12v breakers are also quite cheap, so I preferred that over a fuse when I did mine in case I am able to reset it if it fails...but that's also a double edge decision as I have had one OEM breaker fail and unable to be reset and it left me without a pump when I needed it...

As it is done, and nicely, there's nothing left to do but enjoy your new mod and extra piece of mind!!!

 

[Shookie]

Thanks man, didn’t even think about a breaker. I have a pile of spare fuses I keep on the boat just in case something goes wrong while I’m on it.

 

[tabbibus]

I got anxious when it came to the part of drilling the hole. Good job man!

 

[Shookie]

I got anxious when it came to the part of drilling the hole. Good job man!

Me too, was easy though.

 

[SandfleaDDH]

So I've come across threads about people adding a 2nd bilge pump because they thought the stock pump wasn't doing enough, or wasn't in a good enough location. And I've also come across threads where people installed a 2nd pump because after reading the manual, they thought they had to leave the house battery ON in order to have the bilge run automatically while wet stored. In fact, when I first got my boat, I thought the same thing as the manual is a little weird about it. But I figured my reading comprehension was the problem, so I turned off my batteries, left my main switch on the on position, and filled up the engine compartment, and waited ....Nothing. Turned the batteries on, and it pumped. Hmmmm.... Then I got smart and checked the fuse, and sure enough that was it. Replaced the fuse, and she pumped out right away with batteries turned off. So my question is.... are these 2nd bilge pumps purely for backup, and hard wired just in case? Or is there something more sinister afoot that I'm not aware of? Thanks. These friggen boats are awesome... but much weirder than my last boats.

 

[Shookie]

So I've come across threads about people adding a 2nd bilge pump because they thought the stock pump wasn't doing enough, or wasn't in a good enough location. And I've also come across threads where people installed a 2nd pump because after reading the manual, they thought they had to leave the house battery ON in order to have the bilge run automatically while wet stored. In fact, when I first got my boat, I thought the same thing as the manual is a little weird about it. But I figured my reading comprehension was the problem, so I turned off my batteries, left my main switch on the on position, and filled up the engine compartment, and waited ....Nothing. Turned the batteries on, and it pumped. Hmmmm.... Then I got smart and checked the fuse, and sure enough that was it. Replaced the fuse, and she pumped out right away with batteries turned off. So my question is.... are these 2nd bilge pumps purely for backup, and hard wired just in case? Or is there something more sinister afoot that I'm not aware of? Thanks. These friggen boats are awesome... but much weirder than my last boats.

My pump doesn’t turn on with the batteries off. i haven’t looked into why…. If the batteries are on, I hear the pump come on every couple minutes for a second. I kept my boat in a wet slip for a summer so that’s why I added one. There was no chance I was keeping my boat in a slip without backup. If something like a broken water line or something drastic like that happens, I also have double to capacity to pump out water…. That’s not a bad thing.

 

[SandfleaDDH]

My pump doesn’t turn on with the batteries off. i haven’t looked into why….

If the main switch is on, and the batteries are off, the pump should kick in automatically when needed. But it won't come on manually without batteries on. If it isn't doing this, it's probably the fuse in the port storage locker. Thanks for the response.

 

[drewkaree]

So I've come across threads about people adding a 2nd bilge pump because they thought the stock pump wasn't doing enough, or wasn't in a good enough location. And I've also come across threads where people installed a 2nd pump because after reading the manual, they thought they had to leave the house battery ON in order to have the bilge run automatically while wet stored. In fact, when I first got my boat, I thought the same thing as the manual is a little weird about it. But I figured my reading comprehension was the problem, so I turned off my batteries, left my main switch on the on position, and filled up the engine compartment, and waited ....Nothing. Turned the batteries on, and it pumped. Hmmmm.... Then I got smart and checked the fuse, and sure enough that was it. Replaced the fuse, and she pumped out right away with batteries turned off. So my question is.... are these 2nd bilge pumps purely for backup, and hard wired just in case? Or is there something more sinister afoot that I'm not aware of? Thanks. These friggen boats are awesome... but much weirder than my last boats.

I have no idea why someone would be adding a 2nd pump for that reason, it's always been my understanding, and my personal experience, that the OEM bilge pump is NOT in the lowest spot in the boat, and IMO, can easily allow WAAAAAYYYYY too much water in the boat before it kicks on. Open your cleanout tray hatch. Look at the bottom of the backside of the engine compartment that you can see through that hatch. Now notice how much room there is between that and the actual bottom of your boat. That's also STILL not the lowest point in your boat, it'll be slightly forward of that, maybe around the captain's chair, if I were to try to pinpoint an exact spot for the lowest point in the boat.

Just a wild guess off the top of my head, but I would guess my bilge will kick on when my boat has 15-30 gallons of water in it when it would finally reach the pickup in the engine compartment. Could be more, but I highly doubt it'll be less than 15 gallons. When sitting at the pier in the water, with my bilge pump NOT running, there's enough water in my boat that when standing or bouncing right at the ski locker, water would come up through the drain fitting - again, NEVER tripping the bilge pump to pump it out. Once underway, everything would shift backwards, and the bilge pump would kick in, so I can absolutely verify that the OEM pump allows quite a bit of water before being tripped. Enough that it causes me concern that should some problem arise, I'm already 2 steps behind in trying to get the water out of my boat.

Love my boat, in spite of the horrendous choices Yamaha made with several problematic areas. I simply choose to address them myself rather than be without my boat during the short season, and I trust my desire to make it better more than the guy who has 20 boats stacking up behind mine that need service, and someone is calling him every day wondering why his isn't done yet. If I could have worked on the assembly line to build my own boat, or at least supervise the steps....

 

[Dfred]

…..

…… So my question is.... are these 2nd bilge pumps purely for backup, and hard wired just in case? Or is there something more sinister afoot that I'm not aware of? Thanks. These friggen boats are awesome... but much weirder than my last boats.

I had to answer because I had the same thought “so much weirder”, when learning this new-to-me jetboat: not a shaft drive (well, sort of?), not I/O, not a transom mounted outboard….

Answer: Redundancy in critical equipment. “One is none, and two is one.” Bilge pumps can fail just at the moment when they absolutely must work. (Float switch jam, electric sensor fail after living in a marine environment, line clog, wiring, etc.).

When our crappy OEM plastic scupper catastrophically failed (on our maiden family fun voyage, and with only one bilge pump)…. All I could do was thank God the bilge pump worked and we had power to get underway safely back to the dock. If it had been any other moment, we would have had a rescue and/or recovery operation.

 

[SandfleaDDH]

Thanks to both. I wonder if anyone has tied a 2nd pump line into the existing output hose with a one-way valve so's ya don't have to cut another hole in the hull. If the 2nd pump is lower you'd really never have them both pumping at once. My sea ray had these kinds of valves on the bilge lines. Just brainstorming.

 

[Julian]

I know there are a few of these threads, but figured I would post my adventure of putting a 2nd bilge pump in my 242. Made it off the wait list and got a wet slip so this was priority #1 to get it installed before my boat is in the water. Did most of the work last weekend and drilled my first hole today and finished it up.

Here’s where the existing bilge is.
View attachment 93259


I bought an Attwood 800gph pump and a Rule float switch on Amazon. Debated on different pumps and switches and based on prices and some reviews I read, I went this way.
View attachment 93260


For the rest, I went to West Marine. Black, ¾” thru hull fittings had long ship times on Amazon so I figured I'd go there to get that, hose, wiring, fuse, etc…. Of course, they had everything except a black thru-hull. Sales guy was great. Checked around and had it in stock in California and got it shipped for free but it took over a week which sucked.
View attachment 93261


Debated on where and how to mount the pump and switch. Mounted the pump close to the existing one. Used a couple short screws to attached the holder for the pump. Dug through my stash of brackets and stuff. Found an L bracket and used it for the switch. Probably not the best way, but it’s sturdy and does what I need it to do.
View attachment 93262

View attachment 93263

Curious why you used the L bracket vs just screwing it to the floor in the engine compartment? As your photos show, the white engine compartment "floor" sit above the boats lower hull, so no issues with drilling holes through the bottom of the boat. The stock pump is even screwed into the lower hull (with short screws).

 

[Dfred]

Thanks to both. I wonder if anyone has tied a 2nd pump line into the existing output hose with a one-way valve so's ya don't have to cut another hole in the hull…..

You can, but just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. Actually, it just becomes a risk-tolerance/acceptance - the check & Y-valve setup could cause flow volume problems if in an emergency bilge bailing situation. I don’t have the code off the top of my head - but there is a marine inspector somewhere that can definitively tell you “no-no”.
Bilge pump #2 gets mounted in the rear under the clean out hatch …. And the hose gets its own discharge port. I’m bummed also with drilling holes.

 

[Shookie]

Curious why you used the L bracket vs just screwing it to the floor in the engine compartment? As your photos show, the white engine compartment "floor" sit above the boats lower hull, so no issues with drilling holes through the bottom of the boat. The stock pump is even screwed into the lower hull (with short screws).

When I did this, I wasn't aware I could so I went the "safe" route. I didn't want to press my luck and screw up something so I did it like this. It's still well below the engines and in the end, that's what I'm most concerned about.

 

[Shookie]

You can, but just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. Actually, it just becomes a risk-tolerance/acceptance - the check & Y-valve setup could cause flow volume problems if in an emergency bilge bailing situation. I don’t have the code off the top of my head - but there is a marine inspector somewhere that can definitively tell you “no-no”.
Bilge pump #2 gets mounted in the rear under the clean out hatch …. And the hose gets its own discharge port. I’m bummed also with drilling holes.

Yeah, I recall reading a couple things about guys doing a check valve and not drilling a new hole. IMO, if you are going to the trouble of adding another pump, why not do it right and have a separate, dedicated discharge hose. If you do have a major leak or something, you want to make sure both pumps can pump the max amount of water and if 2 pumps connect to 1 hose, you will limit the amount of water you can pump out. Drilling the hole in the hull was honestly the easiest part of the project.....

 

[David Martin]

Nice install I like it. I will be adding a second pump in the near future.