Fresh Water Pump

[jackryan]

I did an over night trip to the deep water floating platforms in the Gulf this past weekend and had an issue with my fresh water pump. It's a small belt driven demand pump that sits on the wall behind and below the galley sink.

When I got back to the dock and shut the engines down, I heard the pump running, and my fresh water tank was empty. There was some water under the pump so I'm guessing that there was a leak somewhere in the pump or the plumbing near the pump.(not quite sure where all of the water went) Do you guys know if this pump is original to the boat, or if everyone pretty much uses the same pump for the fresh water system? Does anyone know the model # of the fresh water pumps in the 31?

I would like to buy a new one, but I didn't take a picture of the pump or get a part # off of it--my boats an hour and a half from home so I can't just drive down and take a look at it. It would be nice to be able to buy the same pump so I can just plug and play.

On a side note, we had a great trip with wahoo, yellowfin tuna, dorado and my 13 year old son caught and released his first marlin!!

[Marshall Mahoney]

No help with the pump, but what rig did you go to? We went on a day trip to Elf. Not much action other than chicken dolphin.

[Tony Meola]

Jack

I am not sure they came through with a pressure Pump. I would think that it was aftermarket.

[jackryan]

Marshall,

Did you get your engine repaired? I saw that blue water was in close over to the east near Elf, and looked even closer off of South Pass. What route did you take to get to Elf? Did you go out of Baptiste Collette, or Northeast Pass? I hear that there are plans to dredge South Pass in the future, which would really increase our fishing options and decease the distance to the fishing grounds. We ended up spending the night at Who Dat, along with a bunch of boats out of Destin that were fishing the Blue Marlin Classic.

JR

[Amberjack]

Jack--Amberjack came with a Jabsco-Par 36950 when I bought it 25 years ago. Don't know if it was original to the boat. The original pump lasted 10 more years and the replacement lasted about 15 years with a couple rebuilds. The third, purchased last year, has an issue with the pressure switch 14 months after installation.

Re: your overnight fishing trip to the rigs. You guys on the East Coast and Gulf have fish coming out of your ears! By the time salmon migrate 60 miles through the Straits of Juan de Fuca (and all those fishermen), then turn right for 40 miles down Admiralty Inlet (and all those fishermen), and dodge the sea lions camped out around
Seattle they are pretty well picked over and lure shy. We might find one 6 lb fish for every $50 in fuel. Still, its kind of like baseball--an expensive, pleasant way to pass time during the summer.

[jackryan]

Amberjack,

Yes!! I'm pretty sure thats the pump. Thanks. The pump still runs, just has a leak somewhere. I noticed that there are several rebuild kits available for that pump. Maybe I'll try that first before springing for a new one.

It's a long run, but we are so lucky to have such good fishing here. I'm headed out this Saturday for some more offshore fishing with my kids and siblings. Your area out there is a beautiful place to boat and much more physically beautiful than here. I spent a week on Orcas Island years ago, what a beautiful place. I didn't even care that we weren't catching fish, it was just nice to be out on the water.

Thanks for the heads up on the pump!

JR

[Tony Meola]

Doug

Not all us guys on the East Coast have short runs. If you want Tuna, it becomes at least a 60 mile run for some of us. For others maybe more. Except for the East Coast Florida crew. We are lucky enough to have enough inshore fishing with Blue Fish, Stripe Bass, Fluke and Sea Bass when the season is open to keep us busy when we don't want to spend 4 hour getting to the Tuna grounds.

[Marshall Mahoney]

Boat still DFM. Ran out of South pass in a Contender with a guy that had marked the route (which keeps changing). Hard right here, slow left there, wrong side of the green buoy... would not run it in an inboard. Heard they were not going to dredge S pass -- I like your rumor better. There is a route down NE pass, but I need to run it in my flat boat first to get a trail. S.Pass being silted in is a bummer. Even though the blue water is in, the charter boats are going long to catch tuna -- Who Dat or further. Keep posting your reports so I can fish thru you.

[jackryan]

Marshall,

Yea, it's impressive to see all of those tuna and swordfish on the dock. They're running wayyy long for the tuna. They're also using their sounders outside of the passes to fill the wells with live pogie. They have so much live bait, they're chumming with it.

IT is sad that we cannot safely run South Pass. I've been hearing that the corps is changing their mind on dredging the passes. There's so much water backing up, it's causing huge flooding issues hundreds of miles up river. I have a friend that bought some beautiful hunting property near Vicksburg and it's underwater for 4-5 months of the year now. I hope that they do dredge at least South Pass.

JR

[Amberjack]

Doug

We are lucky enough to have enough inshore fishing with Blue Fish, Stripe Bass, Fluke and Sea Bass when the season is open to keep us busy when we don't want to spend 4 hour getting to the Tuna grounds.

Tony, you broke loose some 50 year old memories. This kid grew up in Portsmouth RI and summered on a farm in Damariscotta ME. I have memories of hooking up a striper from a bridge--A BRIDGE!!--in Damariscotta, and going out on Narragansett Bay with my older brother in our 12' skiff with 7 1/2 hp outboard to catch a dozen bluefish at a time on sandworms and a rubber eel. Sure, things have changed everywhere including back there but I hear the stripers are healthy and compare that with our anemic salmon season so over laid with restrictions, slot times, clipped fin restrictions, treaty fishermen set asides and general guilt over taking fish away from the Orcas who are starving that its easier to just drift, have a beer and enjoy as you say the beautiful scenery.