Do you ever use your manual water pump?

[Woodsong]

We are tearing out the galley today. *Or rather, I should say,we tore out the galley today! *Sink, faucet, stove, and microwave are out! *Granite countertop folks are coming out later today to template the galley for the granite slabs I have for the boat. *Our galley had a conventional sink/faucet but also had an old manual style "faucet" next to the sink. *This is one of those old trawler features where if your 12V water pump went out then you could pump the handle on the manual "faucet" next to it some undetermined # of times and still get cold water to the sink. *I've never touched it in the 3 months we've had the boat. never had one on a previous boat, and just bout can't imagine when I'd really need it. *For me to need it the 12V pump would have to die and I'd have to be far away from anywhere I could get a replacement. *I just put a new 12V pump in this weekend as well.So- I am thinking I may eliminate this little manual faucet....what say ye? *Have you ever actually used yours? *Heck- I can't even seem to find a similar replacement online anywhere as the old one looks, well, OLD, and I am not going to put nice new granite and nice new sink/faucet and install the old hand pump thing.


Here is a pic of our galley as of a few minutes ago...I think I am fairly committed to following through on my galley remodel project! *Next week we should have new granite, new undermount sink w/ nice faucet, new cooktop, and convection microwave mounted under the cooktop. *Yes...I am deciding to go that route instead of another propane stove. *

 

[Pineapple Girl]

My last sailboat had a manual faucet at the galley sink except you pumped it with your foot.* I LOVED it--it was especially*great for hand washing when you didn't want to touch the faucet with whatever was on your hands.* I can't see that one you have to pump with your hand would be anywhere near as useful.*

Please post photos of your completed project.* It sounds fantastic!*

 

[ralphyost]

My boat had one when I bought it. I disabled it.
I use the hose to it, that comes off the second water tank, to help drain the water tank for winterization instead.

Better idea is to keep a spare domestic water pump on board and store it right next to the existing one in use. That way when and if the present elect water pump fails, you can easily replace it. You are also not looking for it in the back of some locker in the rain. Mine died on my this summer about 30 min before we had to leave for dinner. Had the new pump installed in 10 minutes. Turned out that it was only the pressure switch on the pump that failed. Bought a replacement for $17 on Ebay. So now have another spare pump. Batta Boom Batta Bing.
R,

 

[skipperdude]

People sure rely on electric everything.
Say you are out for a long weekend and the pump takes a dive on you .
*How are you gonna make coffee?

Or you have your brother in law along who lets the faucet run while brushing teeth your tank will be dry in no time.

Always good to have a backup.

If you are just day trippin that is another matter.

SD

 

[RT Firefly]

Woodsong,
** You could always leave the manual pump in and for a resovoir, use a 5 gal. pail of Vodka and no need to winterise THAT part of the system or maybe not...

 

[Phil Fill]

That is the reason I like our loud fresh water pump and macerator toilet as I can hear them.* Also our pump is only 30 psi so not as much water is wasted.*Dirt People?*(-;

 

[koliver]

measure the flow rate on your electric pump and you will stop worrying about excessive use. As the systems on our boats get more reliable we can remove the manual backups, as they are no longer necessary.
I had manual pumps only on my first sailboat, electric with backup manual on my next, and on this boat, no manual backups. In 16 yrs, no regrets.

 

[healhustler]

It's true. *Replacing a water pump is simple, and unless you're in a dire storage situation, easy enough to carry an extra. *But I have to go with Pineapple Girl Jennifer. *I have the old standard foot pump in addition to electr., but I find it great for washing hands or dampening a wiping cloth for no hands use. *If something happened to it, I'd probably replace it.

 

[Woodsong]

a manual foot pump I could see being useful....a hand operated pump like the one i took out today- can't see how it'd be useful. If my 12v pump goes out, I can just lift up the aft stateroom bed and open the large inspection port on the 190 gallon poly water tanks under the bed and dip a cup in to get me some water.

Jennifer, I'll post pics of the new galley when I'm done- hopefully all put back together before end of next week though I have some electrical that needs to be run in addition to the countertops.


-- Edited by Woodsong on Tuesday 30th of November 2010 12:13:45 AM

 

[FF]

Sounds like the setup you are creating will be near shore almost 100% of the time.

Manual systems , redundancy and all the rest that an offshore cruiser must have would hardly be needed with stores within walking distance , and O'nite on the hook an "adventure".

 

[Woodsong]

A monk 36, as sturdy as it is, really isn't designed for offshore passages crossing the oceans so yes....will be a coastal and near coastal cruiser for us.

 

[healhustler]

Actually, my Admiral reminded me of something else. *When we had our old Bayliner, we also had a foot pump and a very limited supply of water on board. *Somehow, we got in the habit of counting the amount of pumps for specific jobs....you know, like a dish rinse, a hand wash, etc. etc.. *For us, it was a necessarily conscious way of knowing how much water we were using, or should I say "conserving". *We could go a long way on that little tank, but when we switched to an electric pump, we lost a bit of our consciousness about it, and our 45 gallon tank didn't go as far as our 22 gallon tank. *Now, we've got a 300 gallon water tank, for God's sake. *We probably don't need the foot pump anymore, but we could still use the consciousness.

 

[FF]

WE do as Phill does and prefer to HEAR the FW pump when it cycles.

Leftover I guess from offshore sailing.

But when someone just needs a drink ay o' dark 30, its not great to hear the clatter for a glass of water.

A foot pump is prefered as you can wash/rinse both hands at once!

 

[rwidman]

I say do away with the manual pump. What are the chances of the electric pump failing? Pretty slim indeed. I don't have a manual potable water pump on my boat and to be honest, I have never seen a boat with both a manual and electric water pump.

Calculate the odds, then make your decision.

 

[skipperdude]

rwidman wrote:

*I have never seen a boat with both a manual and electric water pump.

You need to get out more. *I see them on sail boats all the time.**

Sort of like paper charts.*
*
Can't go wrong with a back up system.

SD*

*

 

[HeadMistress]

Manual water pumps in addition to electric fresh water pumps are fairly common on sailboats...but they're almost always sea water pumps, used to conserve fresh water for jobs like rinsing food off dishes before washing 'em. I've never seen one that was a back up for the electric fresh water pump.


-- Edited by HeadMistress on Thursday 2nd of December 2010 05:27:21 PM

 

[Pineapple Girl]

HeadMistress wrote:

Manual water pumps in addition to electric fresh water pumps are fairly common on sailboats...but they're almost always sea water pumps, used to conserve fresh water for jobs like rinsing food off dishes before washing 'em. I've never seen one that was a back up for the electric fresh water pump.

The J-42 sailboat I sailed on from SF to Hawaii this summer had five spigots at the galley sink.* They were:

1) Filtered pressurized*fresh water (all the water was filtered as it came out of the tanks but this went through an additional seagull filter).
2) vent for main water tank
3) pressure freshwater*from a*kitchen style*faucet*(with*pull out sprayer integrated)*
4) pull out sprayer with pressurized salt water from the same pump that supplied the anchor wash down
5) fresh water from foot pump

* I guess the original owner was a boy scout?

*

 

[Woodsong]

HeadMistress wrote:

Manual water pumps in addition to electric fresh water pumps are fairly common on sailboats...but they're almost always sea water pumps, used to conserve fresh water for jobs like rinsing food off dishes before washing 'em. I've never seen one that was a back up for the electric fresh water pump.


-- Edited by HeadMistress on Thursday 2nd of December 2010 05:27:21 PM

Hmmm...now THAT is an interesting thing I didn't ponder. *Seller had told me it was just a pump from the tanks. *However, he told me lots of things, with the best intention, that were not exactly correct. *I never bothered to chase down the water line for it to confirm whether it goes to the tanks....hmmmm.....

 

[Egregious]

Woodsong wrote:


HeadMistress wrote:

Manual water pumps in addition to electric fresh water pumps are fairly common on sailboats...but they're almost always sea water pumps, used to conserve fresh water for jobs like rinsing food off dishes before washing 'em. I've never seen one that was a back up for the electric fresh water pump.


-- Edited by HeadMistress on Thursday 2nd of December 2010 05:27:21 PM

Hmmm...now THAT is an interesting thing I didn't ponder. *Seller had told me it was just a pump from the tanks. *However, he told me lots of things, with the best intention, that were not exactly correct. *I never bothered to chase down the water line for it to confirm whether it goes to the tanks....hmmmm.....

I have the same setup with my Monk 36.* I have pumped it and seen water flow from the faucet.* I wonder though if it is raw water, then which sea-cock it is coming from and where is is located?

*

 

[Woodsong]

Woody- that is the thing- I have not seen any seacocks "hiding" anywhere and none of the ones i have seem to have the old hand pump plumbed to it. However, if there is a seacock hiding then well, it's hiding pretty good! I've crawled all over my boat to trace everything down, get oriented, etc. but I really never traced that line b/c I had no reason to. I am going to trace it to the source next time I am up there and see where it goes. Pretty sure it just goes to the tank but not positive now! I am eliminating it if it just goes to the tank. If it goes to a raw water source then I may give it a stay of execution though I still think it is not going to be included in the new galley plan.

 

[HeadMistress]

Has it occurred to you that a manual water pump may share a thru-hull with a washdown pump or the toilet (before somebody has a spasm, there's no reason why it couldn't share the INTAKE thru-hull!)...it could even share a sink DRAIN thru-hull if that thru-hull is below the waterline as it is on most sailboats..

-- Edited by HeadMistress on Thursday 2nd of December 2010 11:03:15 PM

 

[Egregious]

I'm getting hauled soon so I will get a definitive answer to how many holes I have.*


Seacock for port and starboard engine strainer, genny, and A/C.* Haven't found any for forward and aft head.* Maybe freshwater?

 

[Woodsong]

Woody- I've got separate seacocks for both heads. Forward head seacock is under the hatch in the forward stateroom floor kind of just forward of where the electrical panel is at. The aft head has a seacock is just forward of the aft stateroom floor hatch that is forward of the centerline queen.

 

[HeadMistress]

Egregious wrote:

I'm getting hauled soon so I will get a definitive answer to how many holes I have.* Seacock for port and starboard engine strainer, genny, and A/C.* Haven't found any for forward and aft head.* Maybe freshwater?

Are you saying that you don't know whether your toilet uses raw (sea, lake, river) water or onboard pressurized flush water???*

How long have you owned the boat???

 

[Marin]

Egregious wrote:

I'm getting hauled soon so I will get a definitive answer to how many holes I have.

We have eleven holes below the waterline of our boat, each one with a nice big bronze seacock on it.* All the intake through-hulls have perforated bronze plates over them, the outflow through-hulls do not.

A trick I learned from the captain of a corporate yacht I was associated with a few years ago is to wrap the handle of each seacock in siver reflective tape.* This way you can find or see the position of the handle even if the boat's electrical system is out and your only source of light in the engine room or other spaces is a little flashlight.

*


-- Edited by Marin on Sunday 5th of December 2010 12:51:34 AM

 

[FF]

In my experience sea water is only at a hand pump on offshore sail boats.

A big DC salt water pump is common on inshore cruisers as deck washes or bait box fillers.

The trawlers will usually have a belted or today a Hyd sea water pump 1 1/2 or 2 inch to wash down the work areas and fish gear.