Fitting an electric pump short narrative, see long narrative

[Douglas Wilcox]

Douglas :o)

[Helen M]

That second piccie looks very suspicious! Am thinking of forwarding it to MI5. Unless, that is, you can provide a suitable explanation!

H - x

[Guest]

Helen M "that 2nd piccie looks very suspicious"


Your mission, should you choose to accept it.......

....this kayak will self destruct in 30 seconds.

[seismicscot]

Remarkable! The third photo is actually a picture of the elusive Dr. Wilcox himself!

Cheers,

Clark

[tpage]

Remarkable! The third photo is actually a picture of the elusive Dr. Wilcox himself!

Cheers,

Clark

Aha! Photographic evidence at last - still never met the man- was beginning to think he was actually the dolphin :-)
Douglas, that looks like a brand new shiney
Quest.. Tony

[Douglas Wilcox]

Yes Jim and I do exist! Now you have seen the photos it must be true. We not only share an athletic build but an interest in electric pumps! We also both overload our boats. I had two sacks of logs in mine and I was loaded to the cockpit coaming. Some of it was stuff I was testing for Paddles but I really should not have put a sack of logs up in front of the footrests as the boat handled terribly in the following sea up the side of Oronsay.




I was in Duncan's chandlers on the Thursday just before Jim because I got the last of the fuse holders!

In the end I took my old boat (now my wife's) to Loch Bracadale as my pump fitting skills are slower than Jim's.

Unlike Jim, I chose a 2.4amphour lead acid gel battery, it's not much heavier than a box of AAs and unlike 8-10 AA's in series it can deliver a large current in a short time. Also unlike rechargable AAs it can deliver at winter temeratures.

I chose to stick the battery in the day hatch to keep it out of the way of sea water.

Douglas :o)

[Douglas Wilcox]

Here's one I made earlier and no sticky backed plastic was used in the making of this item.







Douglas :o)

[Douglas Wilcox]

Fitted this design of installation to a friend's boat yesterday, it took 4 hours including soldering all joints and sealing them in silicone. In this design all exposed electrical connections are in the day hatch. The Rule pump which is the only bit in the cockpit is submersible. The water proof swith projects from a hole drilled in the deck of the day hatch.

The Attwood waterbuster pump fitted to my last boat still functions perfectly after 2.5 years. Recently when practicing scoop rescued, I had my boat emptied by the Attwood in a fraction of the time it took others to faff around with foot and hand pumps.

I am a definite convert to electricity..

"Remeber when proper lights were gas mantles?"

Douglas :o)

[Douglas Wilcox]

Mark R in long narrative>

but all ultimately futile. Jim's pump, Douglas' pump...they'll all fail due to damp, probably sooner rather than later.

Well the electric bilge pump I fitted to my uncle's 38 foot yacht was still working when he recently sold it, 17 years after I fitted it. I have done a fair bit of electrics on yachts over the years and I have found the trick is to have as few exposed connections as possible, to solder then seal the joint with silicone sealant and have the connections in as dry a location as possible. That's why I chose a sealed lead acid gel battery, only 2 connections to wory about. I also chose to put the battery and all my connections in the day hatch rather than the cockpit.

Rule pumps are fully submersible and use special corrosion resistant wires. The black wire goes from the pump to the -ve battery terminal. The gel acid battery has six sealed internal cells so the next exposed connection is the positive battery terminal. this goes to a waterproof fuse holder. Then from the fuse holder to a switch then from the switch to the pump brown wire. This involves making 6 connections.




I like to use proper wire strppers to get as clean an end to the wire as possible., I do not need to twist the wire with my sweaty fingers (solder inhibitor) using a tool like this.



Let your soldering iron get nice and hit then melt a blob of solder wire to cover the end of the iron.




Heat the exposed wire by touching the shaft of the soldering iron, then dip it in the blob of molten solder at the end to soak up the solder or "tin" the end of the wire.

Hold the terminal in a vice stick the tinned wire into the hole, heat the connector with the soldering iron until the tinning starts to melt then apply the solder wire to the top of the hole and let it melt into the hole and wire till it comes out the bottom. Remove heat and blow on it to cool it.





Once cool, smear all the exposed wire with silicone sealant.

Reliable electrics!

Lastly I challenge anyone with a manual or foot pump to try and empty their boat faster than me or Jim!


Douglas :o)

[Jim]

That's pretty much my procedure for the connections as well, except I don't have a wire stripper or vice but have years of practice getting good joints without either :)

I added connectors so I could remove the whole lot from my boat for storage, these are vulnerable but in the long term I can clean and dry them and store them inside, well except the one on my button.

I did run some fresh water through the pump before drying it out, probably not necessary, as Douglas says these things are designed to be installed in the bilge of a yacht with a float switch adjacent for automatic operation, and then be forgotten about for many years of reliable service!

JIM

[Mark R]

I challenge anyone with a manual or foot pump to try and empty their boat faster than me or Jim!

Well...I'd have the job finished before Jim even got through the till at Maplins.


Mark 'Technophobe' Rainsley
---------------

[Dave Thomas]

Has anyone 'had a look inside' an Attwood 'Waterbuster' pump to see how well 'waterproofed' and 'saltproofed' the electrics are? I have always steered away from the electric option until now, but have lately been tempted by one of these. But Jim's and Douglas's accounts tempt me down the 'separate components' route as well - one advantage being a much more compact installation (albeit not easily removable for storage or transferrable to empty another boat)

The other advantage of the 'separates' option is the ability to put a larger capacity pump in.

Dave Thomas

[sub5rider]

Has anyone 'had a look inside' an Attwood .......

Several times! I used to dis-assemble mine after use, but now no longer bother, for two reasons:
1)There was never ever any trace of dampness inside*. All the metalwork is still bright and shiny.
2)The plastic locking lugs on the twist off lid were beginning to wear.

So I just change the batteries annually (it doesn't get a lot of use) and re-lubricate the "O" ring with silicone grease.

*It's spent a few hours at the bottom of a 4'deep water butt, as a test...

[Douglas Wilcox]

Thought I had better report back on how effective this intallation has been in action.

At Franco Ferrero's really excellent section on self rescues at the Skye Symposium, I did 12 re entry rolls. The pump handled it all with no evidence of the 12 volt gel lead acid battery flagging.

While others were wobbling about struggling with hand or foot pumps or heading to the shore to bale out, the electric pump just got on with it.

Observing one chap with a foot pump, reinforced my own previous experience of these things: worse than useless! Hardly any water was coming out and he snuck into the shore each time to bale out....

Douglas


Douglas