Installing a Washdown Pump - Gemini 105 M

On Kentucky Lake there is alot of clay and mud that we anchor in which holds great but it leaves a mess. Also, there are lots of bugs that seem to like the white surface of a cat. I just had to have a washdown pump. I decided that I didn't want to put in another thru-hull and I didn't want to run the lines very far, so, I bought a washdown pump kit from West Marine and installed the strainer in-line with the thru-hull for the head and tee'd it off. the blue stained hose goes to the head and the straight thru hose goes up to the washdown pump routed past the holding tank.
	This picture shows the routing of the hose coming up from the tee (shown above) thru the shelf that will be reinstalled in the sail locker. I had to use a dremel tool to make a cut in that shelf, unscrew the screws and cut the 5200 before I could get it to come off. I then cut an access hole for the hose you see to the left and got the shelf ready to reinstall. But I didn't reinstall it yet because of a project that you will see below.
I mounted the pump on the bulkhead using screws and washers. The pump mounts with vibration dampers. The wiring I paralleled off of the macerator pump that was up front (not used in Kentucky) and I knew we wouldn't use both at the same time. So, the #12 wire was spliced into and wired to the washdown pumps supply with it's own switch.
	I cut an access hole through the anchor locker and after putting a clamp on the hose on both sides, I used 5200 to seal up the hole and also provide holding power. On the other side, I had clamped a garden hose fitting on to the hose that I attached a 50ft recoiling hose and a great spray end. It has lots of settings but the two we like the best are the jet for washing the anchor chain and deck and the mist which we use on ourselves. This is one of the neatest projects I've done to date and wouldn't have a boat without a washdown pump in the future!

Web Page by Jim Faughn

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