A freind of mine had his boat sink in his slip earlier this year and he discovered the cause was an oil diaper left under the engine. He had just done his yearly haul-out and had forgotten to remove the diaper after changeing the oil etc. The diaper got stuck on the float switch and prevented the pump from activating. He has since added water senseing switches to the system so that possibility has been eliminated. They are cheap and I highly reccomend you add a second switch.

I noticed that you put a pigtail in the drain hose by the thru-hull. I imagine this is to keep outside water from coming in. How important is it? Does it serve any other purpose?

Finally got around to replacing the stock pump. Here's what it was:


With the height difference between the pump and the top of the loop near the thru hull in addition to the restriction at the thru hull, it became clear to me that this setup would have difficulty in keeping up with any but the smallest of leaks. No way would it keep up with a missing drain plug, for example, and perhaps not even an on water impeller change.

The Rule website showed that the stock float switch is compatible with the 1500, so all I needed to do was replace the pump, the hose, and the thru hull using 1 1/8" tubing and fittings. Access to the pump required that I remove the Sunsport seating rear bench. Even then access to the pump, the hose, and the thru hull was an exercise in contortion.

I replaced the stock SS capped plastic thru hull fitting with a solid SS Attwood 1 1/8" thru hull, cementing it with 3M 4200, as FW did at the factory.



Ok, so the picture is sideways. It's a round fitting, ok? Anyway, I do think that the stock fitting looked nicer with the rounded SS cap:



Still, I'm happy knowing that there is a wider bore with no additional flow restriction, and that the solid SS fitting will last as long as the boat.

With only a few scratches, cuts, and abrasions, and of course a few choice swear words, I was able to run and affix the bilge hose,



...and install the new pump.



The Rule 500 sure looks like a toy compared to the 1500. End result, I'm using the stock float switch, wiring harness, and manual pump switch at the helm. A change from the stock 5 amp fuse to an 8 amp fuse was required. With my current setup this pump runs off of the existing dual purpose 120AH battery.

I plan to add an Automatic Rule 1500 as back up pump, this coupled with another project to add a second battery will I believe even meet Pascoe's recommendations. One part of the Four Winns stock setup I liked was the hose they used. Much beefier than the Teleflex polyethylene hose I used. The stock hose wasn't marked, but I believe it was series 148 multipurpose reinforced vinyl hose. I'll probably swap out the poly hose I used when I do the second pump.

Glad your going to test it. I was going to suggest it after all that work. Hopefully that is the only time the second pump will ever need to work.


All this talk is making me happy I bought a boat lift with cover and have a place to park it.

JimR - You never tested your b/u pump?