[smokeonthewater]

anything is possible... to be honest you absolutely HAVE to go through all of it to have a reliable system... there is no telling what king of foxtrot bravo sierra the previous owners may have put into her.... Example on my Monte-Carlo I found no less than 12 butt connectors 20 feet of electrical tape and 6 bundles of wiring in the bilge hooked to the pump.


You need to locate the pump or pumps and start tracing the wiring all the way to the batts and to the dash.... be prepared to remove any and all substandard repairs and replace.... OR even rewire the system from scratch.

It SHOULD be wired with a 2 position switch, on/auto, and a float switch... Avoid automatic bilge pumps and combination units with built in float.... make sure you have a cage on the float switch so it can't get fouled..... I have been boating for my whole life.... on my own boats for 25 years.... I learned EARLY on that the bilge pump is NOT the place to cut corners.... buy a pump about 4 times bigger than you think you need (2500 gph is no where near being too much in an emergency) and a tiny one.. (350 gph or so)... the tiny pump will handle rain water, spray, dripping swimmers and spilled cocktails, with a smaller hose and pump it will keep the bilge drier with less power and the big one will buy you a few more minutes in an emergency.

Each pump needs it's own hose and wiring... They should exit the boat about 6" above water level and looping the hose a few more inches higher will reduce water coming in the hoses from wave action.... Also from the high point in the hose routing it needs to run ONLY down to the pump and outlet... multiple high points causes an airlock and could prevent the pump from priming.. IE ALL water should fully drain out of the hose as soon as the pump shuts off...

The hose should be as short and straight as possible and while it IS more costly smooth bore wire reenforced hose flows substantially more water than corrugated host and will last decades...

The pump's rated GPH is at 14V without a hose and without lifting the water up out of a boat... running on batt voltage, lifting a couple feet and going through hose all takes a toll on what it can do.... It's not uncommon to lose 40% or more capacity.

put the small pump and it's float switch as close as you can to the lowest point in the bilge and put the switch for the big pump a couple inches higher...... the location of the bigger pump should still be low but the smaller one gets priority here.... Also consider accessibility... You MIGHT need to reach the big pump in an emergency to unclog it's inlet etc.... WAY deep in the bowels under 18" of water in not where you want to be working on it.... Better would be a quick twist to release it from it's bracket and lift up 2 feet to work on it if you have too.


Disclaimer... I'm not paranoid... why did someone say I was..... Oh man they're after me aren't they..................




EDIT: I see MJ posted while my long winded arse was typing..... YEP be prepared to toss a LOT of stuff in the garbage BUT LEARN what you have and understand it fully before you start cutting..... Makes the puzzle pieces much easier to assemble.

Also Lay out a plan and acquire your new stuff first Many of us could wire a boat from scratch better than the manufacturer but being a newbie you could do more harm than good by jumping too fast.

From your earlier posts I suspect that you are all over this and we'll do our best to help you every step of the way....

BTW.... last time I had to do a major rewire I bought a 2500' roll of twine and a box of sharpies in a dozen colors.... I pre"wired" with the twine leaving every piece 10' too long and color coding both ends for each circuit.... I then perfected my routing and wire lengths without buying a single inch of wire.... Once I was in love I bundled my "harness, and tied loops to shorten "wires" n cut the loops out keeping my color coded ends.... I then removed my "harness" in one piece and copied it with copper.... I ended up with a much better finished product with far less wasted material and thus less money spent.... honestly it took a lot less time too.