Just had my water pump die in the middle of Biscayne Bay

I was anchored near Key Biscayne last Saturday when I heard this awful grinding noise from the bilge. Turned out the water pump had seized up, no warning at all. My partner was ready to call a tow, but I managed to find a spare Jabsco impeller in my tool locker and swapped it out in about 45 minutes. So here's the debate: do you keep a full spare pump onboard, or just carry a rebuild kit and hope for the best? I'm leaning towards buying a whole backup after sweating through that one.

2 comments

2 Comments

uma3061d ago

Hold on, is this really that big of a deal? I mean yeah, losing your water pump in the middle of the bay is annoying, but it's not like you were stuck in the middle of the ocean. You had a spare impeller, you swapped it out, problem solved in under an hour. People act like every breakdown is a life-or-death situation. A full spare pump takes up a lot of room on a boat, and if you're not cruising to some remote island, you can probably get parts fast enough. Plus, half the time those spare pumps sit in a locker for years and never get used. Just seems like overkill for a Saturday afternoon hiccup.

sagesingh1d ago

Actually that sounds more like a raw water pump issue than a water pump, most boats don't have a dedicated water pump in the bilge like that.

-1