Pursuit 3070 bilge pump help....

[JoeyM]

hey there,

i recently purchased a 2001 Pursuit 3070 and i've been having problems with the forward bilge pump. it was broken at the survey and they put in a new pump after i bought the boat. it had been working fine but it stopped working again. have a few questions...

1. does the forward bilge area communicate with the aft bilge? it doesnt seem so to me. when the pump first broke, it was during those 9 days of straight rain up here and the area was flooded while the rear bilge was dry.

2. if it does not communicate, how do you completely drain this area. it's not like the aft bilge. there is no drain plug. am i missing something? i seem to get a lot of water in there. but it's freshwater (so no leaking seacock), i cant figure out where it's all coming from. it has been raining alot, but how does the water get in there? they say the forward cooler and shower drain go to the sump, but what drains into the fwd bilge?

3. this is what happened with my pump: at first i could hear the pump working, but no water was coming out the thru hull. so took off the hose and turned on the pump. water was coming out of the pump just fine. i blew into the hose and didnt feel any obstruction. i connected the hose back on and then the pump worked (water came out of the thru hull). after about 5 minutes the pump just quit. we checked the circuit breaker on the TAPS (which is the pursuit battery distributor box thing) and it was tripped. we reset it, but the pump never came back on. even the light on the manual pump switch won't come on anymore. i didnt have my voltmeter handy so i am not sure if power is coming to the pump.

that seems to be the only circuit breaker for the pump. i cant find an inline fuse or anything. the pump is supposed to be brand new. so i hope the pump didnt burn out after only 5 minutes. i can't get back to the boat for a few days because of work. but will try to get a voltage reading at the wires near the pump.

so there are two possibilities:

1. good voltage at the pump, but i doubt this because the light at the manual switch wont turn on. if there is good voltage there, i guess the pump broke? any ideas on why i would break a brand new pump and why it stopped pumping in the first place? it's a lovett 1200 with an internal float switch.

2. no voltage at the pump. if the circuit breaker is reset, what else can i check?

i cant get back to the boat for a few days because of work and i didnt have much time to diagnose the problem. just looking for ideas on what to check when i get back there.

thanks for any help

[chris V]

I am not aware of any communication between pumps
there should be 3 wires to that pump
1 for the auto switch
1 for the manual
1 ground

dont just check the voltage, check for a good ground.
I have a tester, that has 2 alligator clips, one positive 1 negative, hook them to the battery, a little red light comes on when it correct, if polarity is reversed, its green, the clips are attatched by a stretchy cord like a phone cord, to the tester, its like a pointy screw driver. touch it to a ground and a green light comes one, touch it to a positive and a red light comes on.

eliminates any guess work.
http://www.mactools.com/ProductDetai...ItemNum=ET120A

[PSW]

I can not help with the electrical aspect of the forward pump but can tell you that water does accumulate there in small amounts. Of course after a rain storm like that it would be more. If the static trim of the boat is not normal ie slightly bow up then some rear water will accumulate their. We keep our 3070 on a trailer and I have done quite a bit of tinkering with this issue and even spoke with Eric Hess at Pursuit. A small amount is normal apparently. The most comes from rinsing the boat and water entering from washing things down. I have checked before and after. I just jack the tongue up and down to fully pump everything out from both ends. I even get in there and vacuum both the transom bilge area and forward bilge area and wipe down to clean. I am a little over the top I guess.

So I guess what I am attempting to say is some is OK and from what I know is normal. I believe it is from washdown primarily.

[JoeyM]

chris v: good point about the ground. i'll be sure to check that.

psw: didnt think about the washdown water. there is a drain in the bridgedeck area, i wonder where that goes. it doesnt say in the manual, will have to investigate. good to know my boat is 'normal', thanks.

[KevinM]

Check your anchor locker also, some Pursuits drain the anchor locker into the bilge.