Febuary 21, 1998-Pumps Are Us

Pumps are us.

When one looks at a sailboat they see a hull, mast, and sails. They can easily imagine that there is an engine, radios, a stove, toilet, and beds. But what some people don't know is that a sailboat is really a collection of pumps.

On Wings we have our share.

We of course have bilge pumps: A big Whale Pump, a small Rule Pump for incidental water, a Whale Gusher Pump with a long hose for sucking little bits of water out of little places, and a Shower Sump Pump, plus a Portable Manual Pump.(5)

For our household water usage, we have a Groco Fresh Water Pump, a Manual Fresh Water Pump, Groco Salt Water Pump, and a PUR Water Maker Pump.(4)

For engine cooling water we have a Raw Water Pump, a Fresh Water Circulation Pump, and two Outboard Cooling Water Pumps.(4)

For fuel, we have a Diesel Lift Pump, a High Pressure (injector) Pump, two small Dingy Tank Pumps, two Outboard Motor Gasoline Pumps, and two Diesel Heater Pumps. (8)

There is a Toilet Pump and a Holding Tank Evacuation Pump.(2)

We have, for inflating the dingy, two Low Pressure Air Pumps.(2)

And we have one Tank Tender Air Pump.(1)

For repair materials, we have two Epoxy Measurement Pumps.(2)

For rig tension we have one Navtec Hydralic Pump.(1)

For removing used engine oil, we have one Hand Oil Pump.(1)

Total: 30, but I may have forgotten some.

We also have some spare pumps, some spare impellers, o-rings and gasgets and other assorted pumping stuff, plus almost all of these pumps have hoses or pipes, and hoseclamps attached to them. We probably have a small fortune in hose clamps, (some people keep jewlery).

You may think it is a case of "pump envy" but some of our friends have pumps which we don't have:

Baitwell pump,
Fuel Transfer Pump,
Macerator Pump,
Watermaker Boost Pump,
or Refrigerator Coolant Pump.

Sometime I'll talk about how many switches and wires we have.

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Mexico