Association Forum - Hull 922 - Bilge Pump Install

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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

Catalina 250 Specific Forum

Hull 922 - Bilge Pump Install

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Carl in LA
Captain

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USA
284 Posts

Initially Posted - 05/22/2018 : 07:52:05

Greetings:

Adding an electric bilge pump to the wing keel Catalina 250 is an odd exercise... the boat came to me with the Whale manual pump with the pumping station back at the aft port side of the cockpit... so the boat had a bilge pump before starting this endeavour.

And the bilge is so small on the 250 that more than 10-20 gallons of water in there and it would be over the floorboards... a real crisis in the making should you ever spring a leak. It's not like you're not going to know you have a problem pretty quickly in the little 250.

But - I had a small Rule pump left over from another boat and decided to go ahead and install.

The space under the floorboard is pretty small so the little 360 ghp pump would barely fit. The stainless keel bolts fully occupy the base of the bilge so no room to bottom mount the float switch or pump.

The solution was to use a small piece of HDPE as a base for both the pump and the float switch. The HDPE is glued to a small block of wood which itself is glued to the hull... no penetrating screws into the structure.

The 3/4-inch outlet hose goes up into the hanging locker behind the head and then outside the hull up near the shear. I'll post a pic of that outlet soon after another trip to the vessel.

The pump is wired through a Rule Auto/Manual fused switch - photo forthcoming on that too.

No worries - I just did not have the proper sized hose clamps on install day - subsequently installed.

So - was it necessary to make this modification? I don't know... I did it anyway but I hope to never have a need to pump the bilge on this small boat.

Catalina 250 - Pretty Good Boat

wm36
1st Mate

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USA
69 Posts

Response Posted - 05/25/2018 : 08:30:32

Did you add a new outlet for this or did you T into the existing outlet for the manual pump?

Wayne & Lynn
Hillsboro OR
1995 C250 WB #151

Carl in LA
Captain

Members Avatar

USA
284 Posts

Response Posted - 05/25/2018 : 08:41:11

Hello WM...

Yes. There is a new outlet drilled through the upper hull (close to the shear) with a through-hull glued in place as the outlet point. Existing outlet for manual pump was untouched for the electric pump installation.

While thinking about this topic overnight it dawned on me that a better install would have used clear plexi to allow you to see the bolts under the mounting plate. Guess I can re-do it...

Best