A few years ago I read somewhere about why it’s a good idea to have a manual bilge pump in the cockpit. I haven’t thought about it in a while, but it’s been on our to-do list since I read about it. It makes sense really. First, redundancy is key on a sailboat. Since we have a large manual bilge pump in the salon, a redundant manual bilge pump is necessary.
Second, say something bad happens and water is leaking into the boat. You’re on a passage and all the electrical systems are down. Yes, you have an electric bilge pump, but no electricity for it to operate. You have a large manual bilge pump that must be operated from the main salon. But someone has to be at the helm and your crew is already operating the large manual bilge pump in the salon and barely making a dent in reducing the amount of water flooding the boat. A good logical place for the redundant bilge pump would be in the cockpit and close enough to the helm so it can be operated while steering or or on watch.
So that’s what we did. We bought a manual Whale Titan Gusher bilge pump and installed it right next to the helm. The installation was pretty easy, but did require cutting yet another hole in the side of the boat, which no one likes to do. These pumps are pretty bulletproof and relatively easy to install. Watch the short video below to see our installation.
