Black Pearl Project - Pump it up!!

With a low volume boat, there's the need to utilize every possible usable space.  On Thursday night I was taking the boat out in wind and wave yet I had not determined where I was to put my pump - a pretty important piece of equipment should I have to exit/re-enter the boat on my own. On a whim I popped the pump directly behind my seat and by chance it managed to stay there the whole time I was on the water. And, of course, this placed the seed in my brain- why not make this THE place to keep my pump??  The ideas started to formulate.

Anybody's who's been following my blog will remember an entry I did back in April 2010 about  a pump bracket I made out of ABS pipe and suction cups. If not, then here's the link - http://justyakkin2.blogspot.ca/2010/04/pvc-chronicles-chapter-second.html

I've used this bracket for two years with great success, so why not try it again - but with a twist!!

Now that air temps are in the "teens", you might as well work outside!!

The brackets are made of 2" ABS pipe with a section cut out. I decided to go with two brackets - one for each end of the pump. In order to affix them to the aft bulkhead, I used 1/2" Russian birch plywood (already proven to be VERY waterproof) as the baseplate. I simply put a 3/4" stainless steel screw through the pipe and into the plywood. Then I sanded the whole lot and put a coat of spray-on truck bed liner to make it match the interior of the cockpit

ABS attached to the plywood base.

I did not want to permanently attach the brackets to the aft bulkhead yet in the event that the pump placement gets in the way of boat entry/exit. I initially tried some industrial grade velcro but it did not work out well. I knew that hot melt glue can make a relatively strong, yet removable join, so I decided to go that route.

Firing up the glue gun!!

With the brackets all painted up and the glue gun ready to go, it was time to put those babies in there!

Brackets glued in place

After a few tries, I managed to get the two brackets in place. Being a bit OCD about such things, it took me a few tries to get both brackets lined up "perfectly"!

The pump popped into place just perfect in the "dry run", i.e., on the stands, so I figured I'd better give it a more "real" test. I laid the boat on the ground and did an entry. No problems. No hooking on the pump as I pushed my arse into the seat. Likewise, no problems with exiting the boat.

Next test - layback on the deck!! One concern was that, maybe, the pump would be in the way of an layback rolls!!!  All fears were allayed when I put my back right back on the aft deck. Albeit, one temp bracket join let go when I put too much pressure on it (remember the hot glue ins only a temporary fix)  but otherwise there should be no issues!!

Actually, the foam on the pump and its placement make a comfy back rest. Is it possible to kill two birds with one stone when you really only wanted to slaughter the one??? 

Pump in place. Fwd view.

Pump in place. Aft view.

The last step is to try this in the "real world"  but I'm pretty confident that all will work out just fine. And having one more piece of safety equipment on board can't be all that bad.

Thanks for dropping by,

Sean