This seems more a question for rec.boats.building, but if it were me, I wouldn't bother with a manual pump. BTW, I checked your website. Nice boat! Regards, John "Seahorse" John Crowley writes: Is a manual bilge pump a real requirement for a passagemaking vessel, or is it maybe another anachronism to be forgotten? I wanted to throw this question out to the list to possibly hear some varying opinions in order to make a more informed decision in my own circumstance. I'm finalizing my system design and purchasing equipment and questioning the redundancy of having the manual pump. My boat has three bulkheads; lazzerette, midships, and chain locker. The lazerrette, and forward of the midships bulkhead are hardpiped to the sump in the engine room, and with valves NO will drain freely there or can be valved to a 14k gph Pacer hydraulic pump. The chain locker similarly drains freely to the sump. The sump will also have a high capacity (2000 gph+) 12V submersible pump with its own discharge thruhull as the first line pump. There is also a small capacity 12V pump that is situated in its own container in the sump that is plumbed directly to the main and wing stuffing boxes (no dripless). The Pacer pump is also plumbed to the seachest and will double as the fire pump. The discharge for the pump is recessed into the side of the salon a few inches above the deck and is aimed at the freeing port opposite and terminates in a quick connect fitting. I'll keep a 25' flat pvc hose and nozzle and that will get to both ends of the boat. So I originally thought of using a manual pump like a Gulper, but now I'm questioning its usefullness. It would cost about $400, so it's not a deal breaker, but I think to be useful it would have to be accesible from above deck. Then is a question of where to place the deck plate. Any thoughts? Thanks for any input, John Crowley 46' steel trawler under construction