[omc-boats] Bilge blower project

I finished up Project BB (bilge blower).

I'll try to snap some fotos and put them up on my web by early next week.

I'm pleased with the way the muffin fans run, very quietly and with minimal
current drain (1-2 amps). They each pull fresh air into engine bay at 50
CFM, so times 4X -- that's roughly 200 CFM. With the engine stopped and the
cowl lid closed you can barely hear them running in the quiet of my
driveway.

My OEM EJO combo blower/pump was replaced two seasons ago with an Attwood
3000 Turbo axial bilge blower, commonly available for around $20 to $30.00.
Lately it's been sounding like a sick cow (I think the bearings were going
out). The Attwood was all plastic (save for the motor) and basically a
throw-away.

I replaced it with a Jabsco 3-inch Flexmount blower, which has a
squirrel-cage fan, much like the OEM EJO did. If you put your hand near the
exhaust vent at the transom, you really feel the airflow pumping out. The
unit uses a metal flex brace so mounting it is easy. It takes up a little
more room than the Attwood, but that isn't a problem in my boat.

The 3-inch Jabsco is very quiet and pulls suprisingly little current (about
2 amps). Jabsco makes two CFM versions of the 3-inch, the one I got is like
125 CFM for $55.00 and they make a high output 3-incher for like $110.00. I
could actually see using a pair of these Jabsco's in our boats, but with the
top-mounted muffins, I don't think I'll go that route. The 4-inch Jabsco
Flexmount would be overkill in my opinion. Jabsco also do a Flangemount, for
direct bulkmead mounting, but the Flexmount is the way to go in our boats.

The little Mayfair Cartridge Bilge Pump is doing a fine job after two
seasons. It's nice to hacve it on a water level sensing switch, so it pumps
whenever it needs to in Auto or I can put it in Off on ON as well. Now I'm
itching to get back on the water to put them to the real test. :)

Lee Shuster
Salt Lake City

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Received on Friday, 29 September 2006