what is everyone using for a washdown pump?

shur-flo master blaster i think its called. seems to do the job well.

bill.. i use a rule 1000 gph as a livewell/washdown with a fast water pick up pump mounted off the transom. it works great.u can buy it or make it .mine is mounted to a plexieglass L bracket w/ pump an a 3/4 pvc elbow below facing forward, @ 1" below transom bottom for fast water airation while u r under way. i have a 45to25gal ovel removable livewell . u can look at my set up if u want. dave

When my shur flo died, I replaced it with a Johnson Aquasomething that my brother had bought for me at WestMarine. It is designed as a washdown pump but has 1 1/2 years on it and does the job. My Grady was plumbed with a Y valve that I switch from baitwell to washdown when needed. The Shu Flo was original to the boat, which is a 1993, but I don't know how much use the original owner had on it. I used it hard for 4 years beore it died.

Shure flo blaster, I find they last 4-5 years.

Also use a shurflo.

Using the first one for the live well and wash down killed it, so now I have a separate pump for live well. Regular ole' cartridge pump.

This is only my second shurflo pump in 15+ years. I always drain it at the end of the day. Maybe that has helped.
They run on demand so its always ready.

I'm similar to Van: 1 pump for live well and separate shurflo for washdown. I added a filter/screen strainer (sureflo available @West Marine) before the washdown pump to keep the plant matter from hitting the pump diaphragm. Plant matter is a pain for the bait well pump also but easier to reach and clean out while on the water.

shur flow blaster...mounted under the console... pick up is a (filtered)clamshell through hull...

Bait tank uses sepeprate pump.. same feed...

Bait pump is sureflo bait sentry 1100 wash down is sureflow
Both are suplimented by 1.5" PVC elbow scoop with a ball valve any speed above 10kts give me about 3000 gph out of the 1.5" hose which I can either use as wash down or jam it on a nipple in the livewell barrel. It's redicilously high volume
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The problem with with all these cheap wash down pumps (ie shurflo, et al.) is they they run on a pressure sensitive switch. And they can cycle like hell because they have no volume to work off of, you call for demand and the pressure drops instantly.... This is what kills them. I use my wash down a lot and would burn them out every couple years. Last year I put an accumulator in the line and it really seems to help a lot. Nice smooth high pressure and the pump is either on or off, when it charges the accumulator, not onoffonoffonooffonoff... I like it so much I bought a second one for the FW side, the wife likes the house like pressure at the sink and shower head now without the cycling.

A bait well pump is a different kind of pump. You don't want the pressure sensitive feature and you want more of a continuous duty higher volume low pressure type pump. If you get a cheap one of these they will burn out just when you need it. (Hard core live bait guys have a second back up pump already plumbed and when the primary pump burns out you can valve in the backup) You really don't need to hang a pipe over the side, if you have a thru hull fitting the pressure thru that underway is plenty to fill your well but the problem comes when you stop and anchor up for a few hours.

Freak...how did you attach the pipe to the boat...via the trim tab or screw into the hull with a bracket of some kind?

The pipe is hose clamped to the exhaust pipe flapper hose clamp, sort of in a figure 8 of clamps, no holes.
Nothing sucks like pounding 80 miles with a livewell full of bait only to realize too late your pump became air locked on one of those rough waves and all the bait is dead. A little Added redundancy
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