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I just bought my first Whaler, a 13' 1972 Sport with a 40 HP Tohatsu. I love it!! I plan to keep it at my freshwater dock this summer, then haul it to Florida this winter and keep it in saltwater dock for a month or two. I'm adding bottom paint now. I'm still concerned about leaving this boat in the water even with a new cover. Do you use small bilge pumps? I have shore power available. I've seen reference to leaving the drain plug out and the excess water runs out?? What are my options?? Thanks.
PatSea,
On my last 13 foot sport I mounted a small automatic bilge pump in the small, "well" in the rear center of the boat and wired it directly to the battery, and it always kept the boat dry. I also have shore power available but never needed to charge the battery as long as the boat was used at least every other weekend. If you are shopping for a pump the one piece of advise I can give is to purchase one that actually has a built in float switch like the Attwood Sahara. Many other bilge pump manufacturers like Rule have gone to a new water sensing technology which alleviates the float switch and instead turns the pump on every few minutes for a second or 2 and then shuts off if it senses no water. This type will kill your battery in short order no matter what the manufacturer says. It also only reacts every few minutes rather than when the water enters the boat which is a pain when washing the boat down or taking a wave over the bow.
