I have never seen this done by a boatbuilder, and as cheap as they sometimes are, I am sure they would do it if they could. Therefore, I bet there is either a USCG regulation or ABYC standard not recommending this. You should thoroughly investigate all of the safety aspects before attempting this.

For instance, what if one bilge pump fails, are you assured the other pump will pump water overboard, recirculate water back into the bilge via the failed pump, or a combination of the two?

When boat builders get cheap, they only do one pump.

I remember a guy that had one of those self contained battery powered units that he would stick in his bilge if he were going to be away from the boat for more than a few days. His comment on it was you can't always trust your main power source. He just ran a hose over the side. I don't know if it ever worked.

Whew! I've been selling pumping equipment for the last 9 years, I was hoping I got it right.

Found the SS ones, didn't see them at first. :DUH:

On the Y to the thru hull, I was just curious as Pascoe talked about it being ok. Clearly a second thru hull equal to the recommended hose size of the second pump is the way to go.

Found this thread this morning while looking for something else.

This past week-end when we arrived at our marina our daughter and her family were alredy there and had the boat ready to go. My son-in-law mentioned that the bilge had a lot of water in it. We checked it and the water was high but below the level for the automatic to kick on. Hit the manual switch and it was dead. Worked with the switch and it did eventualy work. Cleared as much water as it could. Had not had this problem previously but attribute it to a new not the best fitting bow and cockpit cover, that's another story.

So yesturday I when back to the marina armed with parts. Installed a second bilge pump and placed it further back in the bilge as the original pump is about 3 foot forward of the transom and about an inch higher that the area further back. This allowed for more water to remain after pumping. This was just a quick install as I did not want to bother with a new/second thru hull right now. I just routed the hose through a gap in the sun pad and over the side. The cover holds the hose in place. For now it's wire for auto only. Will clean all of this up at the end of the season. The over side hose looks like he!! but it works for now.

Had never really thought about a second bilge pump before this last week-end but I think it is a good idea.

You're way ahead of me. I got the parts, and have mapped everything out, but man is it going to be a pain of a project. On my boat the existing Rule 500 is absolutely centered beneath the engine in the bilge. Had to use a digital camera to get a good look at it. Then the existing 3/4" hose needs to be upgraded to 1 1/8", and FW provided access via a 12" x 14" accessway, guess they did not have my bulk in mind when they did so. Next I find out that they used 3M 5200 to seal the existing 3/4" thru hull. Fun, fun.

I'm curious Jim, what are you planning on using to increase the size of that hole?

You're asking about the hole for the thru hull, right? I'm going to use a hole saw - I know, hard to use a 1 1/2" hole saw when there's already a 7/8" hole there. I'm planning on making a wooden 'cork', then pre-drilling and stuffing it into the 3/4" hole from the inside so the hole saw guide drill bit can 'grab into' something as I drill the larger hole in the hull from the outside.

I've already got a couple 1 1/8 Attwood SS thru hulls ordered up. At this point, I'm just short some wire, a bunch of SS worm clamps, and a tool savvy midget.

Maybe take a hole saw that fits the existing hole, cut a hole in a board with that, and use the slug as your cork?

Not a bad idea, I was thinking of setting up the lathe, but maybe going with a hole saw one or two sizes up, and then tapering the plug into a cork with a sander might do it. Hmmm...

Might have to experiment a little to figure out which is better, cork shoved in from the inside, or from the outside.

FYI - I don't need a plug. Take a look at the Factory 3/4" thru hull.



Kind of deceiving, that beautiful 316 SS cover has an appeture with an ID of over 1 1/8", but the hose barb at the other end has an OD of 3/4". My Attwood solid 316 SS thru hull will fit in the same hole in the hull, and in comparison appears to have a smaller (1") ID, but that ID stays constant all the way through the fitting. Crazy stock fitting, unlike FW, guess I'm going for function, not form.

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.

So have you tried it on the water yet? (without the drain plug, for example?). I've got the same type of project on my 'to do' list; I'm at least trying to get something that can stay ahead of a missing plug.

If the weather clears up, I'll pull the plug and check it out. Intentionally leaving the plug off will be a first for me.

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.