Rear bilge pump replacement. UNDER GENERATOR

desperado

desperado

Member
Mar 4, 2008
235
Cartersville, GA
Boat Info
2011 Sundancer 350, raymarine a98 chart plotter, radar, autopilot, bow thruster
Engines
T 8.2 Mercruiser V-drives
FDC8FDC9-9657-4553-8603-BD1FFAB1E48F.jpeg
I’ve got a 350 sundancer with v-drives. My mid high water bilge works fine. My primary rear bilge has been problematic. Believe it needs to be replaced. Looks like they put the bilge in, dropped in the engines, covered rear bilge with platform and then put the generator on the platform.

anyone know a good way to get to it for replacement other than training a Chihuahua as a marine mechanic ?
 
It looks like you just need to remove some of the exhaust to make more room. Why do you think the pump is bad? Usually the float fails and the pumps are good. Especially if it is a Rule float, they were having a lot of issues. I have gone through at least 5 of them on our boat.
 
mquiet said:
It looks like you just need to remove some of the exhaust to make more room. Why do you think the pump is bad? Usually the float fails and the pumps are good. Especially if it is a Rule float, they were having a lot of issues. I have gone through at least 5 of them on our boat.
Click to expand...
 
Float switch is fine. When I had some water in bilge and start to plane off the water going to the back would trigger the pump to come on. When everything is quiet at dock and I hit the pump switch it comes on but won’t pump any water. Oddly enough it will pump on occasion. So I don’t know if it needs a good cleaning or what. Just wish it was easier to access
 
desperado said:
Float switch is fine. When I had some water in bilge and start to plane off the water going to the back would trigger the pump to come on. When everything is quiet at dock and I hit the pump switch it comes on but won’t pump any water. Oddly enough it will pump on occasion. So I don’t know if it needs a good cleaning or what. Just wish it was easier to access
Click to expand...
Curious if you have verified the 12 volt is leaving the dash switch all the time. those can be intermittent and work sometimes, and not all the time....
 
Agreed, I didn't want to be the one to say it, this is one I'd give to the marina / service shop assuming it's truly not functioning. Not one I want to get wrong either with a bad wiring connection, not sealing the connection properly, etc. Given the criticality of the system.
 
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desperado said:
Float switch is fine. When I had some water in bilge and start to plane off the water going to the back would trigger the pump to come on. When everything is quiet at dock and I hit the pump switch it comes on but won’t pump any water. Oddly enough it will pump on occasion. So I don’t know if it needs a good cleaning or what. Just wish it was easier to access
Click to expand...
Before the effort involved in getting to it:
Try a garden hose, turn pump on, start hose see if it pumps after a few seconds.
It may just be mounted to high to get all the water out.
You can also feed the hose under there gently and try to flush any debris forward, suck out with a wet vac.
 
The next obvious thing is where is the water coming from and how often?

Vdrives should have dripless seals but they wear out. And they usually have cooling water hoses that can be loose.

After rain or wash down? Check the skuppers for mud wasp or other critters.
Be sure they flow freely.

And of course any of the engine hoses or pump seals
 
hughespat57 said:
The next obvious thing is where is the water coming from and how often?

Vdrives should have dripless seals but they wear out. And they usually have cooling water hoses that can be loose.

After rain or wash down? Check the skuppers for mud wasp or other critters.
Be sure they flow freely.

And of course any of the engine hoses or pump seals
Click to expand...

yes I was sloshing water around with bilge cleaner intentionally. My bilge is normally bone dry. Just like all systems working. Especially this one LOL
 
Mine functions the same ... only pumps sometimes, because it leaves some water behind. It doesn't pump everything.
 
Woof, how do you work on anything back in there - the Sea Ray designers should do maintenance on the boats as a component of their careers.
As Phil S says the pumps won't remove all of the water - there will be at least 1/2" remaining.
Is the pump moving any water out of the boat? Or is it only moving most of the water?
Also once Rule pumps go dry they do not seem pump again until the weep hole is covered and air is out of the pump impeller; that is well over an inch of water around the pump.
And if you are trying to move "sudsy" water forget it,
 
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