"I've had a lot of local i
"I've had a lot of local interest in my modification to give salt water wash down pumps longer life. I got annoyed that they always seemed to crap out during the busy season and it was hard to find the time to replace. My off season fix as follows.. in my case I first moved the pump up to a place that was not only fairly dry but more accessible. I installed a bronze ball valve inline between the thru hull valve and the pump. It allows 2 choices of water intake. On the second inlet I have a 4 to 5 foot chunk of hose attached. (same as the main hose to pump) On the end of that hose is a male hose end (threaded) and a removable (threaded) female end cap to close it off. I use the pump all day, new valve positioned to draw sea water. When I'm done for the day and hosing down the boat, I switch the valve to the 4ft chunk of hose...I fill up a bucket of fresh water, drop the hose into it, turn on the pump and flush it with fresh water...and leave it overnight or longer with the fresh water in the pump, not salt. Switch it back to sea water the next trip. In an emergency this hose will reach down into my bilge area and the wash down pump could be used as an additional bilge pump."
"I've had a lot of local interest in my modification to give salt water wash down pumps longer life. I got annoyed that they always seemed to crap out during the busy season and it was hard to find the time to replace. My off season fix as follows.. in my case I first moved the pump up to a place that was not only fairly dry but more accessible. I installed a bronze ball valve inline between the thru hull valve and the pump. It allows 2 choices of water intake. On the second inlet I have a 4 to 5 foot chunk of hose attached. (same as the main hose to pump) On the end of that hose is a male hose end (threaded) and a removable (threaded) female end cap to close it off. I use the pump all day, new valve positioned to draw sea water. When I'm done for the day and hosing down the boat, I switch the valve to the 4ft chunk of hose...I fill up a bucket of fresh water, drop the hose into it, turn on the pump and flush it with fresh water...and leave it overnight or longer with the fresh water in the pump, not salt. Switch it back to sea water the next trip. In an emergency this hose will reach down into my bilge area and the wash down pump could be used as an additional bilge pump."