: Practically every seakayaker down here in Tasmania uses electric
: bilge pumps (everyone uses sails as well but that's another
: story). They are fast, enable you to keep your deck on when in
: operation, thus preventing another dumping wave filling your
: boat up again and you can keep using your paddle thus making you
: much more stable.

: The downside is not the weight of the battery as you can source
: some pretty light weight units that will keep your pump running
: for a couple of hours or the reliability of the pump which seem
: pretty bomb proof, the weak point is the switch which even if
: marine grade always fails eventually. Some people just carry a
: spare switch and set up the wiring so that it can be "hot
: swapped" out when it fails. Gnarly dog, who someone else
: has linked to, has some pretty good ideas about how to get
: around the switch problem and I'm going to try out his magnetic
: switch idea on my current build.

: The other weak point is the battery terminal, if these are not
: protected they will eventually corrode. In my group the standard
: practice is to solder solid core copper wire to the terminal and
: cover the terminals in epoxy.

: I did consider a foot operated bilge pump for a while but the slow
: pump out rate and the amount of modification required turned me
: off.

: Oh and if your going to rely on a mechanical device to empty your
: boat always carry another method of bailing your boat, such as a
: large sponge or bailing cup as anything made by man will fail
: eventually.

: My 2 cents

Heck I just had my hand pump fail, the disk fell off the shaft. Of course it's a sealed pump so no practical way to fix it. Like you said, mechanical stuff can fail.

Luckily it happened when I borrowed the pump to bail a sailboat in my driveway :)

Bill H.