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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

General Sailing Forum

Well, the bilge pump is mounted...

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delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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USA
4479 Posts

Initially Posted - 06/20/2008 : 22:14:35

After [url="http://www.catalina-capri-25s.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=17901"]Paul's bilge pump thread[/url] got us thinking about bilge pumps, I started thinking about how to go about mounting the pump. I was pretty sure I could mount the pump & switch on top of one of the keel bolts. You can see the second nut on the aft-most bolt in this picture (bottom):

The Rule 2000 GPH pump will fit with about 1/2 an inch to spare above the keel bolt. I figured I could tighten it up against the bottom of the screwed down inspection plate. As it turned out, while I could probably do this, it didn't seem necessary.

Here's my concept drawing:

I calculated that I'd need about a foot of 1/8" x 2" aluminum bar. About 4" or so for the pump's strainer plate, and another 3" or so to mount the switch on. The switch has to be mounted fore & aft, and within 1/4" of the bottom of the pump. They provide a cheapo plastic attachment with the pump for mounting the switch, but I wanted something more substantial.

After cutting 12" of the bar in my shop, I laid the switch holder on the end & marked a line with a grease pencil, then butted the strainer plate against that line and marked another line. I'd calculated about an inch for the bend, but decided to make the bend 1-1/2" instead so I'd have some adjustment. This turned out to be unnecessary, but c'est la vie. I marked the 1-1/2" bends and clamped them in my vise at the first line. I bent the plate to 90 degrees, then did it again at the second bend and made sure the whole thing was reasonable square. Then I drilled the 5/8" mounting hole, and the six mount holes for the switch & pump. I attached the various mounts and took it out to the boat for a fitting.

Here's what it looked like at that point:

The 5/8" hole needed a bit of persuasion, but I finally got it to fit down over the bolt. I had to remove the pump & switch to do so (and yes, that's a broken screw, stupid thing sheared just before it snugged down, I figure three ought to hold it in place). There was a lot of fumbling to get the top 5/8 nut onto the bolt, there's not a lot of room under there and I don't have the smallest hands, plus it was sweltering inside the boat:

A bit of fiddling with the height of the lower nut on the keel bolt was necessary till the pump would fit down inside:

You can't see the float switch, but it clears the next keel bolt nicely, as well as the next rib in the bilge by around an inch.

With a bit of help from Tom, I've located the limber holes from the galley to the bilge so now I know where to run the wires. I still need to figure out how I'm going to run the hose. I tried taking pictures back towards where the manual pump's hose runs, but they weren't very helpful. I'm still not sure I'm going to finish this project this spring, but it was a beautiful day to work on the boat today & I didn't want to waste it. Plus I really don't want to pull the back partition back out that I just put back in last weekend. It would have been like an oven back there today.

David
C-250 Mainsheet Editor

Sirius Lepak
1997 C-250 WK TR #271 --Seattle area Port Captain --

Edited by - delliottg on 06/21/2008 15:14:24

piseas
Former Treasurer

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USA
2017 Posts

Response Posted - 06/20/2008 : 22:49:14

David, nice job in deed. Congrats. After all the post, I am doing same. But I wanted to install Rule 1100 and was thinking about installing in between keel bolts, then placing strip of wood with two holes to line up with keel bolts to hold down pump. I would use nuts to tighten down. Keep you posted.
Steve A

Edited by - on

delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

Members Avatar

USA
4479 Posts

Response Posted - 06/21/2008 : 15:16:37

While cleaning the boat today, Rita discovered where the manual bilge hose is routed (through the aft-berth storage area). I thought it ran under the head somewhere. I tried taking pictures under there but couldn't see anything that seemed helpful. Now that I know where the hoses need to go and how to run the wires, I can proceed.