Fitting a bilge pump to the sump of an E26.
Dear friend, Our previous boat was a 1979 E25+ powered with a 10HP outboard, essentially the same boat as yours but for the fact that yours might be an inboard diesel. Our boat did not come from the factory with a bilge pump and as time passed and I didn't install one, I came to see that there really wasn't any need for one. The mast is stepped on the deck, so no water ingress there, all the seacocks and hose fittings were sound and there was virtually no other way for water to get into the bilge, thus I never installed one. That said, there would be miniscule amounts of water in the shallow bilge that I'd simply wick out with one of those largish, brick-sided sponges from time to time. The chap who bought her from us immediately fitted a pump, probably one of the most annoying ones I could ever imagine. It had some sort of solid state timer as a part of it that would cycle the pump on every 3 minutes(??) and when not sensing the presence of water, shut down after five seconds or so. Well, as there was never any water in there enough to do more than coat the bottom of the bilge with dampness, one was left with listening to this stupid thing going on and off all the time during meals, conversations and the like, it made me crazy to visit on his boat. My advise would be to staunch any leaks from rain or sea water like a prop shaft, and don't fit one at all. Believe me, the limited space of 4" to 5" tall if that in your bilge dictates that only a small capacity pump would fit in there anyway. Besides, any bilge pump is not designed to prevent a boat from sinking in the event of a catastrophic calamity, it's just there to be able to keep the bilge more or less dry. Hope this helps in your decision making. Glyn Judson, E31 hull #55, Marina del Rey, CA