Hey, if the subject line were electric bilge pumps, you would have hit the delete key already! But I do have a question, especially addressed to those electric pump users who have installed and use these widgets; this info may be of some value to others who are considering pump options, too. Having become somewhat disenchanted with the speed at which my stock Henderson foot pump emptied out my Pintail following a reentry and roll at a cold water demo a few weeks ago (three and a half minutes, seemed longer), I've been considering an electric pump as an option. Yesterday, I went beyond "considering" and bought a 12 volt, seven AH battery at the local Battery Warehouse (~$25), put the Pintail in the driveway during a sunny thaw in the local weather, flooded the boat to just above the base of the seat pan --- about the max water I can accumulate in the 'Tail following a reentry, stuck an Atwood 500 pump that I'd bought on a super-sale (~$12) as an experiment under the seat where it fit fine, ran a 3/4" hose overboard, hooked the sucker up and stood back, waiting to see the driveway flood out. Was singularly unimpressed with the results. It took about 11 minutes for the cockpit to empty out. The battery was fresh, the pump brand new, the water was "drinking quality" --- at least before getting into the boat ---, the exhaust hose unkinked, and the rest of the conditions were essentially "lab" level, other than the ambient temps just above freezing. I was expecting performance at least at the foot pump level, and was really surprised at the time it took to purge the boat. Any suggestions? Ideas? Would an 1100 vice a 500 rated pump be twice as fast? A five minute run is still not very competitive with the footpump. Any ideas why it took so long? (This is a highly "foamed" cockpit, and the Pintail is low volume to start with.) Or is this what I should have expected? Jack Martin *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Sun Jan 30 2000 - 06:39:27 PST
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