> 1. I am thinking of mounting it flush on the hatch side of the bulkhead
> with the intake hose and foot cylinder coming through holes in the
> bulkhead.

It might be feasible to sandwich the bulkhead between the pump body halves, i.e., making a 4 or 5" hole in the bulkhead and mounting the foot button in the cockpit and the pump body on the hold side. This would probably require at least one additional gasket as well as longer screws holding the body together. As long as you are installing a new bulkhead anyway, maybe it'd be easier to move its location forward enough to allow cockpit-side mounting.

> 2. If I step down the outlet to 1"
> diameter or smaller will I reduce the effective capacity of the pump or
> just make it harder to pump.

Yes, basically you will lose some capacity at the same stroke rate and make it harder to pump at the original capacity. I don't think the loss is significant, however. In my boat with front and rear bulkheads, when it is unladen, I can't get much more than 3 or 4" of water in the cockpit, even when it's on its side and I try to push the boat into the water. The bulkheads do two things: They provide vast amounts of bouancy and limit the amount of water allowed into the boat. For my outlet I used a short nipple of 3/4" I.D. pvc pipe trimmed pretty flush with the deck. It's not an eye magnet.

> 3. The pump has a check valve where the water exits the pump. Do I need
> another check valve in the deck to keep water out.

I haven't felt the need for one yet. Other responses suggest an exterior flapper, but unless it's for aesthetic reasons, I don't think it's required.

> 4. Any thought about the best location on the deck for the exit hole. I
> thought about running a hose to the rear deck so the water won't be
> blowing back in my face as it exits. The logistics of running the hose
> back there seems like it won't be worth it. I remember some discussion a
> while back on placing an exit hole at chine level so water squirts out to
> the side.

My exit hole is about 1" above the sheer line, right at the front bulkhead so it's normally well out of the water. The tubing leading to it slopes down from the top of the pump, so small amounts of water don't present a problem; it just drains back out. Running a long hose to the rear would also slightly reduce pumping capacity. I'm advising against exiting below the waterline: Valves will leak or fail altogether, and you could end up siphoning water back into the boat.

> 5. What kind of tubing is best for this. I have seen Clear flexable PVC
> Tubing and the corrugated VAC tubing used on pumps. I assume the
> corrugation helps the tubing bend around corners without crimping.

I used clear tubing with a 90 degree fitting at the top of the pump. I'm thinking the clear will allow me to see if there's any crap building up in the line or if it's filled with water. If I'd had the corrugated stuff around, I'd probably have used it. Rather than trust jam-fitting the tubing, I also used SS hose clamps wherever it might be stressed.

> 6. I currently have a minicell bulkhead temporally mounted in the front. I
> will need to replace it with a plywood version. Should this bulkhead be
> made of 1/4" , 1/2" or 3/4" plywood. I would guess that the
> forces produced by your leg on the bulkhead are large. Particularly when
> you have capsized and the adrenaline is pumping as fast as you are. Should
> I put a layer of glass on it before filleting it in place or just coat
> with epoxy.

My bulkhead is 4mm marine ply, both sides are glassed (weave unfilled) and taped all along the edges. Seems plenty strong.

> Thoughts or ideas around any of these issues would be appreciated.

> Jack

To gain some vertical clearance, I replaced the inlet fitting with a piece of plastic, which basically serves to hold the flapper valve. Actually, what I used was a spray paint can top, and I cut little jack-o-lantern teeth in the edge where it turns down, as a sort of debris strainer.The pump is mounted so that there's about a 1/4" clearance off the "floor". What the pump does not get, my sponge will.

While I'm pretty happy with this setup, other configurations might work as well or even better. One consideration to keep in mind is that, from time to time, you'll need/want to do maintenance on the pump. Install it in such a way as to make it removable without too much effort, while also keeping the boat seaworthy whenever the pump is out. That is, don't epoxy anything in place that you may want to remove for repair/maintenance. This may argue against the through-the-bulkhead option: With my pump out, a piece of duct tape or a cork at the outlet will suffice, while a big hole or two in your bulkhead would be more difficult to make secure, though not impossibly so.

Stick with it; the confidence/security boost from having an onboard, ready-to-go pump is well worth the effort.

Pete