When's The Worst Time to Have a Broken Bilge Pump?

[Jeff T]

Today started off a GREAT day. The weather was perfect and the water was even better. I had a boat full of friends, cold drinks, good tunes, and water perfect for a day of boarding.

I fill up the tanks and I jump in to make the first pass of the day. Then, my next rider jumps in. I immediately notice that my bilge light was on (switch), but the switch was turned off. I fliped it on and off to try to get the light off. Then it dawned on me. WATER! My bilge was had come on automatically. I asked another passenger open the engine hatch to look for water. Sure enough...there was plenty. The odd thing was that no water was being pumped out of the boat. I could hear the pump running, but no water was being pumped out. In my mind...this spelled disaster. I got everyone in and we headed for the lift/slip.

After some investigative work, this what I found. Below you can see the culprit of the water and also the reason there was no water being pumped out. We pulled the plug and let the water drain out. The day ended up salvaged because we jumped in Bobby D's Tige and headed out to enjoy the rest of the day...but now I get to clean up the mess.

[larryueckert]

good thing you got it back to the dock it could have been worse

[Jeff T]

PS. I have to give big thanks to Bobby and his crew for all the help. I owe you guys big.

[da.bell]

Dang, I haven't seen that much water come out of a Tige for a long time. Glad to hear that the lights were working and you were able to make it back to the dock.

[xpjim1]

I know that feeling well. Had 2 pumps break just like that.

[TeamAllen]

How is there that much water in the bilge anyway?

[xpjim1]

In my boat it was coming in the bilge thru hull when surfing. Since the pump could not pump it out.

[dogbert]

Wow, how did two things break at once?

[chadster2]

bass pro has that same pump, mine went out last week. Save the Cartridge.
or don't use the new cartridge just replace the housing
500 - 750
$29-$32
I'm going to glue a hose on the old housing and use it for fat sac pump and bilge back up

[jwanck11]

Wow... must have been a real scary moment!

[chadster2]

When your taking on water and don't know.

[Jeff T]

It makes me wonder if it was cracked earlier in the year and I have been slowly taking water for a few weeks and just didn't know it.

More shockingly, I'm quite surprised that nobody knew the bilge pump was broken...especially with the de-winterization, fluid changes, and impellar change performed just a month ago as a part of the 75 hour service.

[xpjim1]

As I said my bilge pump broke twice. 1st time replaced under warranty. The hose from the thru hull to the pump was too short putting strain on the outlet. I have since ran very a longer very flexible hose from the pump to the thru hull . Have not had a problem yet, Seasons still young though.

[talltigeguy]

I had a ballast pump break the same way. It of course was the emptying pump on the bottom of the bag, so water was flowing out of the bag as fast as it was being pumped in. LUckily my bilge was working fine, so I could not figure out why the water was coming out of what I thought was the overflow, even after I shut off the pumping in. Of course it was coming out of the hole next to the overflow. It was one of those Oh SHIITE moments for sure.

I have to think there was someone or something that broke the bilge pump a long time ago and it was never detected until the bilge was full of water.

[dogbert]

I had a ballast pump break the same way. It of course was the emptying pump on the bottom of the bag, so water was flowing out of the bag as fast as it was being pumped in. LUckily my bilge was working fine, so I could not figure out why the water was coming out of what I thought was the overflow, even after I shut off the pumping in. Of course it was coming out of the hole next to the overflow. It was one of those Oh SHIITE moments for sure.

I have to think there was someone or something that broke the bilge pump a long time ago and it was never detected until the bilge was full of water.

Now there's a reason to use Ballast Puppies. If you break them, you have much bigger problems (brass is more resilient than plastic). I've had a couple of the LaunchPad Uber pumps break like that. It really doesn't take much.