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How to plug up your bilge pump, then fix
DarksideR posted a topic in Centurion Boat Maintenance, Performance, Troubleshooting
Last month we were having a great old time out on the water when I noticed a funny sound. Turned out that the bilge pump wasn't pumping and there was a lot of water in there. Fortunately I had installed an auxiliary line to my ballast system. Used it to suck the water out. The next day it was time to contort my old body into a ridiculous position in order to get at the bilge pump to try to troubleshoot. Newer model Centurions have the bilge pump mounted in THE MOST difficult place to get to. Right behind some angle iron piece that I believe the rudder mechanism mounts to. Anyway, I pulled out the pump and turned it upside down. The float triggers the pump to fire up, but the little plastic impeller ain't spinning. There's one screw holding a guard/body to the rest of the housing. Here's what I find. The metal stud that spins the impeller was completely rusted away... non existent. And all that black junk was crammed in around the impeller. Turns out that black stuff was bits of a serpentine belt. Immediately I checked out my belt... it was perfectly fine. So I guess the previous owner had one shred on her and never cleaned up the bits. Or whoever did her maintenance. So, I cleaned up everything I could see and reach and proceeded to install a new bilge pump. Next time out, the pump worked perfectly. Now, weeks later, I take the boat out again (second time since install) and... bilge pump no worky. FML. So today I pulled the new pump back out and it works perfectly in my hand. So now I'm thinking maybe the hose is plugged. So I disconnect the hose from the pump and shove it into a milk jug. Grab the garden hose and crank it on and put it into the side thru hull for about ten seconds. Seemed to flow, so I checked the jug. Yep, full of water. Pour it out and find a full handful more of the shredded serpentine belt! Put it all back together and now have my fingers crossed that that was the last of it. Thought about parking the boat on a hill and flushing the bilge, but that's easier said than done. Finding a hill is no biggie. Having water supply at said hill is another story. Cheers.
