Jonny and I completely dismantled the two manual bilge pumps, cleaned and inspected every part, and put them back together. They were in pretty good shape and probably didn’t need to be given the full treatment, but now we have more confidence in them.
Upon removing the pump that was in the bilge, I discovered that it had been mounted to an untreated piece of lumber, and that the board had been screwed into the fiberglass with low-grade steel, which at some point just rusted in half, so when I grabbed the pump the whole board came right up with it.
So I remounted it on a piece of marine grade plywood, painted with a few coats of penetrating epoxy, mounted mounting strips in the bilge, and put it back down there with through-bolts on everything.
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