My new-to-me old boat, on my first sail across the Sea of Cortez, she began filling the bilge about the 3rd day out of San Carlos enroute to La Paz. The bilge pump hummed but didn't reduce the water in the bilge. I located an emergency bilge pump in the next bilge section and pumped into a bucket a dozen or more times and tossed overboard at anchor. At the suggestion of my crewman, an old sailing buddy and architect and builder, I reattached the main bilge pump to the long hose used by the emergency electric pump, and the main pump worked like a champ and had much more head, so we could pump it into the cockpit drains instead of a bucket a few feet higher than the pump.
Ok, so my bilge pump works like a champ, so either the hose is clogged or one of the 10 or so ball valves on the bilge exhaust plumbing is closed, right?
Anyway, I decided today was bilge pump day. Tried tracing all the hoses once before so had an idea of where they ran but still didn't have the schema straight. One electric pump, another unattached emergency electric pump, one whale gusher and one wall-mounted manual pump.
Cruisers really are very generous folk. Barely know this guy and he was my plumber and teacher in a valuable project. I look forward to knowing enough to pay it forward.

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