Kracker, I allways tell people to go at least 2000 on their primary pumps with teh 1 1/8 smooth wall hose, bilge pumps are rated with no hose, no head pressure, just free flow and at 18 V. WHen you drop it down to 12 v, your cutting flow by about a third, when you hook hose to it with any rise, it probably drops another third, its said that the corrigated hose cuts flow in half. Years ago, one of th boating magazines did some test to confirm this data, it was worse than they thought, I wish I still had that article, I've sure quoted it enough. I run three 2000 GPH pumps on my V, each one with a direct lead to a high amp(20) rated float switch and directly to a battery, I run an indirect on/off switch as well, two of the float switches are in the bottom of the bilge, I have indicator lights on these, the third flaot switch is raised bit off the floor and is hooked to an alarm and light. IF you think youhave enough pump capacity, next time you go to the ramp, leave the pug out when you back it in, see if your pump can over come the water coming in thur a 3/4 hole, imagine what a thru hull broken off, or even some kind of hull breach would allow in. Oh and by the way, I've found the average life span for most pumps is about three years, just after the warranty runs out. Just food for thought
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