I have to say that of all the equipment I added to my boat the wash down pump is the one item I use more than any of the others. Fish slime on the deck is not a good thing in any kind of sloppy sea. Nor is it a good thing if stepped in and transferred to the cabin of the boat. I have to strongly disagree with Rockfish and John here. I use my pump after each fish is stowed after having been on the deck. I immediately hose off any blood, slime and scales before anyone steps in it or before it has a chance to bake on in the sun. The marina water is always there for the days end rinse with fresh water. The only thing in the of my boat that suffers from salt spray from the wash down are the spin on water seperating filters mounted to the transom. They get a little crusty looking around the the end of their life. They get changed each spring so I don't worry about it. Almost everything on my boat is either stainless or painted aluminum and made for the marine environment. Anything that might be effected (hydraulic steering line joints, fuel tank shut off valves, bus bars, battery connections etc) get sprayed with LPS 3 each spring which prevents corrosion and keeps them as new. My boat is 28 years old this year and i'm on my 3rd wash down pump...(it came with one when new) I missed it each of the two times it failed and I was without one until I installed a replacement.
X2 I wouldn’t own a boat without a wash downI have to say that of all the equipment I added to my boat the wash down pump is the one item I use more than any of the others. Fish slime on the deck is not a good thing in any kind of sloppy sea. Nor is it a good thing if stepped in and transferred to the cabin of the boat. I have to strongly disagree with Rockfish and John here. I use my pump after each fish is stowed after having been on the deck. I immediately hose off any blood, slime and scales before anyone steps in it or before it has a chance to bake on in the sun. The marina water is always there for the days end rinse with fresh water. The only thing in the of my boat that suffers from salt spray from the wash down are the spin on water seperating filters mounted to the transom. They get a little crusty looking around the the end of their life. They get changed each spring so I don't worry about it. Almost everything on my boat is either stainless or painted aluminum and made for the marine environment. Anything that might be effected (hydraulic steering line joints, fuel tank shut off valves, bus bars, battery connections etc) get sprayed with LPS 3 each spring which prevents corrosion and keeps them as new. My boat is 28 years old this year and i'm on my 3rd wash down pump...(it came with one when new) I missed it each of the two times it failed and I was without one until I installed a replacement.
If I didn’t have a self bailing deck I’d add an extra macerating pump on a switch also helps as an extra bilge if you need itThe consensus seems to be they are great, perhaps I should reconsider. My boat does not have raised self bailing decks or ball valve scuppers which I suspect some of you have which I assume would allow some of you to wash the blood, slime, mud and small stinky stuff off the deck into the ocean with the wash down pump. So if your boat is not designed that way how do you keep all that stuff from ending up in the bilge? That is what use to happen when I would blast salt water at it inside the boat with the wash down jet. It seemed like that was just moving the smelly problem compared to cleaning it up and had the potential to mess up the bilge pumps?
I will add that the 2nd most common use for the wash down on my boat is rinsing off the pee drips from people going over the side and getting it on the gunnels., especially on windy days.
I laughed a bit when I read that. I have a similar problem, but with my low gunnels, it sometimes doesn't make it over the side. I now have an eighteen inch piece of 2 inch ABS plumbing pipe that extends "your reach" over the side of the boat. Although in all frankness I would rather have someone use the bilge and then dilute it with sea water then risk them falling overboard. Bilge pumps are not finicky, as long as it is liquid