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Emergency bilge pump recommendations wanted

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Lucky Chucky

5/22/2026 6:13 AM

Mark,

Can you please tell us the brand of your collapsible plastic hose--like the fire hose that collapses to a flat shape, and paste a photo?

~Lucky

Lucky Chucky

5/22/2026 6:11 AM

PS is your Rule 3700 GPM, or GPH?

Lucky Chucky

5/22/2026 6:01 AM

Dear Richard,

Superior Submeregable Pump model 91197.

It's 120 volt AC

1 horsepower

11.4 amps

60 HZ, stainless steel construction, impeller and motor shaft

Discharge is 1.5" NPT

It's supposedly rated for 5-98 gallons per minute depending on the discharge height, but I tested it and the my numbers were half of the ratings.

God forbid we should ever get 2" hole 3" below the water line at a 136 GPM flood rate!!!

~Lucky

Matthew Thompson

5/19/2026 5:03 PM

On the small CRVs We carry the Honda WB30 gasoline powered pumps (or similar pumps in that series) for dewatering and firefighting. rate is around 300 gallons per minute. Needs storage space and takes time to set up but completely independent of the vessel's other systems.

Mark Tilden

5/19/2026 11:16 AM

Geary:

From what I can tell, you've done a phenomenal job with a "user's manual" for your boat. Did you do al the work--writing, labeling, etc..--yourself? I've aspired to do the same thing and I have fragments of a manual for specific systems, but nothing as complete as what you've done.

Would you mind if we made it available in the document library as an example and/or a starting point for others?

Mark Tilden

Selene 60 "Koinonia"

Geary L

5/19/2026 7:07 AM

Hi Richard

After a close call with water leaking in through our shaft seal and flooding our engine room, we decided to get a "dewatering pump".

It is a Pacer Series S self priming pump. I opted for an electric coupled version as I did not want to be carrying gasoline around for the engine driven version and risk an additional hazard. My thought is I have two generators along with the engine and batteries - so I have plenty of ways to power it and it is portable - I can move it anywhere in the boat where water may be flooding. Also, I have a long (20') cord on it so I could possibly help out another boat in distress using power from my boat.

According to the USCG a 2" hole that is 3' below the water line will flood at the rate of 136 gpm. I judged that with my dewatering pump, which will pump 110 gpm, along with bilge pumps, hand pumps and other options (e.g. A/C pumps) I have taken reasonable precautions for an emergency.

Attached is a spec sheet for your reference along with a graphic of my particular set-up.

Geary Long

M/Y Raven

Phil Davies

5/18/2026 7:11 PM

As Russ, we carry a 110v high capacity submersible pump and 50’ discharge hose, also useful for emptying fresh water tanks etc.

Phil Davies

Asante 5334

Russ Dykstra

5/18/2026 7:00 PM

We carry a high capacity submersible pump that is 110v and has a 2” 50’ fire hose that I can route overboard. That in addition to the engine driven pump.

Mark Tilden

5/18/2026 4:05 PM

Hi Richard:

I have two "emergency bilge pumps":

1. The first one is for major flooding on board. I call it my "oh sh** pump". It's a hydraulically driven VERY high capacity (I would have to look up the specs). When I test run it, it shoots a 2" stream of water about 2 feet behind the boat!. I have it plumbed so that it can use one of the engine sea strainers as an input for test operation. This pump is permanently installed with a separate thru-hull discharge and has intakes in the engine room bilge as well as a my commissary bilge (which is just forward of the engine room on the 60). I can operate it electrically from the pilothouse, or manually using a lever on the hydraulic manifold down in the engine room. It can be powered by either the main engine's hydraulic pump or the PTO pump on the generator.

2. I also carry a large (it might be a Rule 3700, but I'd have to look to be sure) pump with 25 foot wires attached with alligator clips on the end. I also have about 25 feet of that collapsible plastic hose--like the fire hose that collapses to a flat shape--rolled up and stored in the same bin with the emergency bilge pump. This is more for rescuing other boats that are taking on water. I've already used it once to rescue a boat that was sinking at a marina we were visiting.

Mark Tilden

Selene 60 "Koinonia"

Richard Nye

5/18/2026 3:46 PM

My Rule 3700 GPM engine room bilge pump just failed and I don't have a spare. I'm in the southern Bahamas and have a replacement coming to Inagua by boat to be delivered on May 25 (that's another adventure).

It got me thinking that maybe instead of spare bilge pumps (I have 2 sizes on board), I could have an emergency bilge pump that I could use for many different applications, including helping other boaters.

Do any of you carry emergency bilge pumps? Are they normal centrifugal bilge pumps (Rule, Attwood, etc) with say, a fire hose and alligator clips attached? What do you recommend?

Thanks,

Richard Nye

Untethered, 57-22

https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/MV_Untethered/

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