Wash down pump
- Thread starter John s
- Start date
Shurflo pro blaster...the one on my boat is well over 5 years old...probably closer to 10. I rigged mine with an inline screen filter to keep eel grass and other small debris out of the pump and also a tee valve off the inlet hose to a short piece of hose that allows me to draw fresh water from a bucket sitting on the deck. This allows me to flush it like your outboard at the end of the day.
gungadin
Well-Known Member
I have a small boat so I mounted my wash down pump , a Jabsco water Puppy) under my seat out of the weather and ran some pipe (with a shut off valve) through the transom and down the transom to about 3 inches above the boats bottom. It has been on there for 5 years with no problem. Every year I run some RV anti -freeze through it before parking it for winter. The only disadvantages I see is that it does not shut off automatically once a certain pressure is reached (ie you turn off the valve) and thus requires an on/off switch, and you have to be certain to turn the valve off when finished as under the right conditions it can start to syphon. It will take the scales off a spring though.
It may be worth asking yourself if you really need one. When I bought my boat one was installed but I found that using the high pressure jet, especially around the fishing deck just put salt water in places I try to minimize it and lead to increased general corrosion. So I decommissioned it by removing the bronze seacock and capping the bronze through hull in the bottom of the boat. I left everything else in place so it would be easy to hook it back up if I or some future owner were to want it. That is one less system that I have to worry about failing and sinking the boat out from under us. I am also fortunate in that the boat stays in its marina slip for the summer fishing season and I have access to a fresh water wash down hose right at our slip.
Last edited:
John s
Crew Member
Ya I don’t like spaying salt water everywhere. But the deck gets pretty slippery and gross when you get into a bunch of fish. And buddies spilling beverages or dropping food on the deck. We don’t use it all the time . We try and use the one back at the marina. But it’s nice to have the option to clean up.
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.
All that slime, blood and scales on the deck is just the cost you have to pay for catching so many more salmon than us Rollie. It is not really a big issue on our boat. If we are releasing a fish we try to do it beside the boat, not always possible but do try. If we are keeping it we can often drop it directly into the large fish cooler on the pod and deal with it there. If we get a little blood slime and scales on the deck we just mop them up with rags and a little water if needed. The worst is all the mud, old bait crap and little snails etc that end up on the deck when we pull the large commercial type crab traps and re-bait them. We wipe it up somewhat and it is only a few minutes to the slip at that point to do a major cleaning at the dock. Everyone who fishes on my boat frequently are nice enough to help out with the boat and one of my buddies that fishes a lot with me has no mechanical skills etc at all, so he gets the cleaning duty, Especially the crab trap mess and the bilge cleaning.
That high speed jet just seemed to blast mud, scales and crap all over the place and up the side walls or wash the crap (tiny snails) into the bilge which I try to keep clean to protect the pump intakes. The salt water use to wash down right on top of the large custom Al checker plate hatch hinge (covers where the inboard use to be) right onto the twin racors and completely corroded the Al under the paint of the heads to the point they would not seal gas. Have not really missed having the wash down pump operational.
Last edited:
bryce
Crew Member
X2 I wouldn’t own a boat without a wash down
The 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?
Last edited:
bryce
Crew Member
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 it
Saxe Point
Well-Known Member
Rag in a plastic bag for stuff that you don’t want going into the bilge pump. While fishing, bucket to wash everything else into the bilge where it gets pumped overboard. Freshwater hose at my dock to rinse the whole boat at the end of the day, pumped overboard by the bilge pump. Easy.
To be fair my boat does have scuppers which allows the deck to drain right away. Without them I can see that it would become a bit of a hassle dealing with the water in the bottom of the boat. My boat also came with a macerator pump in the bilge...but as it turned out I never used it and it stopped working, probably seized from lack of use. I removed it and never replaced it. 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. All I can say is that it makes my end of the day clean up easy and quick. Just a quick rinse...no scrubbing.
gungadin
Well-Known Member
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
Interesting solution to the 'Don't **** into the wind problem'. Does one size fit all? Honey, I got the clap from fishing - honest.
I wonder what the guys do that you see with the large dogs on the boat overseeing the fishing. That would take some training.
Last edited:
Cuba Libre
Well-Known Member
I trailer my 20 ft tin boat... I use the wash-down when fishing, but pull the boat into a truck wand wash and clean it properly after fishing
