[Fr. Frank]

One thing we can all learn here - the single 500 or 800 gph pump just isn't enough under any circumstances.

I have friends who snicker at me because I have three 1200 gph pumps in a 19'8" boat. I later snickered at one of them when he "sank" his V20' Wellcraft while he was grounded on a sandbar. The waves washing over the transom and down through the cable access were more than his little 500 gph West Marine pump could keep up with and he came back to find saltwater had filled his bilge completely and was over the deck - all while his little pump was working as hard as it could. His boat was sitting hard on the motor's lower unit and the hull bottom, and canted over as the tide continued to fall.

Fortunately for him, he had a SeaTow card in his wallet. They could have called it salvage, not assistance, and he would have been out his $1k insurance deductible. As a member, they loaned him a gas-powered 20,000 gph pump, and pumped him out in a few minutes. He was then able to get off at high tide. As it was he had to completely rewire the boat.

More pumps, more gph is better, smooth wall hose is important.