Manual Bilge Pump Intake

[mattattama]

When I bought my boat the Manual Bilge Pump didn't work. A Henderson MkV, it hadn't had the back taken off and cleaned for who knows how long so was jammed up with sand and detritus dragged up from the bilge. Someone had tried to force it and had broken the Al casting inside. That's a lot of force!
So I replaced it with a new one. Works very well.
Now I'm re-doing the set up of the electric bilge pumps, starting with clearing out what was in the bilge. So pulled the Manual Pump Intake.
Mine is a solid bronze casting, It's lost some metal but still usable, not bad for 30 years in that evironment. The SS mesh filter was shot to bits as you can see. The casting cleaned up well under a wire brush and I made a new SS filter, a 100mm+ interference fit, that turned out quiet nicely
The concern is that the broken off bits of corroded SS can do serious damage to your pump, so if you haven't looked at either the inside of your pump, or the condition of your intake, you might put it on the schedule.
(If you want a mesh made, I might consider it, had to buy a piece much bigger than I needed, xxxy too.)
ManualPumpIntake2.jpeg