When I was a kid, some of my favorite times were when I got to help Grandpa with a project out in his garage. He was the head of equipment maintenance for our local utility company, and could fix just about anything. He taught me some of that. He also taught me something else. Having raised three kids through the end of the Great Depression and all of WWII, he knew the value of making do with what you had. He also knew the value of a quality bit of kit, and when you have something that works well, the value of keeping it running.Our stuffing box is due for new packing, or maybe a whole new unit. It drips a bit more than it should while motoring, and for a good while after, it continues to drip near that same rate. And over the last several months, the bilge pump runs just a bit more often than it used to to relieve our bilge of that extra drippage. Our bilge pump is relatively loud so you know when it's running.
We're hauling out next month for bottom paint so I'll address it then, but in the meantime I've kept an eye on it. Thing is on an E31, the way you keep an eye on it is to remove the hatch in the middle of the cockpit and lower yourself down, trying to avoid kicking the cockpit drain hoses. Wedge yourself into the V of the hull and peer over the end of the muffler to see the stuffing box. Count the drips. Fortunately, the frequency of drips was consistent with what it has recently been so no new worries. Until I looked to my left and saw a little water running down the side of the hull. Just above that water is a small shelf where resides our main bilge pump. There was water on the shelf and on the top of the pump at the diaphragm. The pump had just run a few minutes earlier, which is what led me to check the stuffing box.
I wiped up the water and had Amy hit the "Manual" switch to activate the pump while I watched it. As it ran, water seeped from around the edges of the diaphragm. Well, that's not good. I looked all over, as much as I could see at least, for any indication of brand or model to start searching for info. No brand visible. I shot a couple of photos and posted them here asking if anyone recognized it. I didn't remember seeing any documentation on it with the product manuals we got when we bought the boat. While I was waiting to see if anyone here recognized it, I looked at the survey document and found the mention of a Jabsco pump but no model number. Meanwhile Loren, thanks Loren, replied that it looked to him like a Jabsco, and sent a link. So, okay, well known brand, maybe there's still parts available. Time for removal and parts searching.
Did I mention that I'm wedged into the V shape of the hull, under the cockpit, just aft of the engine, over the muffler and cockpit drain hoses? Yeah, not the most room to work. Or the best position for 65 year old knees. Fortunately removal was not too bad. Unscrew the hose fitting from the elbows and then the four mounting screws holding it to the shelf. Unplug the wiring and it was free.
Out in the cockpit, I was able to do a more thorough inspection, and after draining a bit of remaining water, I flipped it over and found the manufacturer's plate. Peters & Russell C-5623, Springfield Ohio. Hmmm, that doesn't say Jabsco. A little on-line research turned up the public library website of Springfield, with a history of the company.
Starting in the late 1920s, P and R (you'll see where this is going in a moment) produced automobile parts and accessories later expanding into the marine and RV segments. In the 1970s, after being bought by ITT and becoming part of its fluid handling division, its name was changed to ITT Jabsco. It seems this particular line of pumps was essentially unchanged from the Peters & Russell days. Jabsco at some point introduced the, wait for it... PAR line - Peters & Russell pumps, with Jabsco labeling slapped on, and this is one of them. More on that later.
Disassembly was mostly easy enough. Four bolts hold the top plate on, but accessing the one under the motor was best done by removing the motor. With that out of the way, the diaphragm and the spacer that holds it above the valves can be removed. Now you can get at the valves, and access the nut that holds the diaphragm in place. Flipping the lower half over, the lower access plates can be removed and the pulsation dampers can be replaced. All the new parts are (at time of writing) still available from Jabsco and install easily and fit perfectly. Reassembly was straightforward, and soon it was ready to be reinstalled.
Back to the boat, open the cockpit hatch, arrange tools for easy reach while wedged into the bottom of the hull, and I'm ready to reinstall. That is until one of the old (original?) hoses snapped as I was trying to line it back up on the fitting. Sigh. Boat projects. Fortunately, I had a spare length of 3/4" reinforced hose on board. So wrestle the old one out and feed the new one back in.
Kotona doesn't have the TAFG that the newer Ericsons have, and today I didn't mind that at all. Hose easily slid alongside the engine pan and into the bilge sump. Installed strainer fitting on the bilge end, then back under the cockpit to finish hooking up the pump. Tightened everything down and plugged the wiring back in. Pump immediately came on and quickly removed the remaining water in the bilge. No leaks. And it's quieter than it was before. Yay!!
As I put my tools back into the cockpit and was about to extricate myself, something caught my eye. Something white, just peering out from underneath the muffler. Reached down to pick it up and I almost said out loud "well there you are!" The labels that I accused Jabsco of just slapping on, yeah, mine had come off. No idea how long ago it had come off, but here it was.
Nice to be able to put a name to a face, I mean pump. And nice to have what appears to be a quality piece of kit, functioning as designed once again. Grandpa woulda just smiled.
