Bilge Pump Bracket

While we were still disassembling the boat, we noticed the bilge pump was mounted with wood screws directly in the center board at the bottom of the hull. This is a great location for the bilge pump to pump the bilge out. However, I could not screw through the fiberglass encapsulating the wood from water and such. So after some discussion with guys like Dan Polk and some tinkering around in the shop we came up with this gizmo.

Bilge Pump Bracket shown in the R&D shop mounted to the side panel of the engine compartment.

Here is a shot of the mount point. Since we anticipate having to remove this bracket from time to time when replacing or doing any work to the bilge pump we had to use machined screws rather than wood screws. Using wood screws would bore a hole in the wood overtime and wear out after removing the bracket a few times. Check out the next slide to see our long lasting solution.

This shot of the flip side of the board shows the t-nuts that we placed to allow easy removing of the bracket. This hardware is stainless steel, we were able to get it from a Lowes nearby. This is the same hardware that we used for the battery mounts and blower motor mounts as well. This will allow us to remove the bolts as many times as we need and will undoubtedly last a very long time. Just a recommendation to ensure you use stainless steel, if these things rust it will decrease the life span dramatically -- but you knew that.

At this point, we are pretty much done with the restoration. The story continues though. I plan on placing some project completed photos on this page so that you can see the results all on a single page. Perhaps we should setup a before and after collection -- hmm...

You may want to check out the before and after photos here.

OR

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