Should i add a second bilge pump to my 24-foot center console?

[Gregory43]

I’m trying to decide if it’s worth adding a second bilge pump to my 24-foot center console. After a recent scare with a heavy rain and some spray over the transom, the single pump just seemed to struggle to keep up, and it got me thinking about redundancy.

[Camila95]

I actually added a second pump after a storm scare. It felt reassuring, though I still worry about the hoses and the float switch not tripping at the right time.

[Aaron49]

In my case, two pumps helped during a heavy spray, but soon I learned the real bottleneck was the intake path; improving seals and how water could reach the interior mattered more than the extra pump.

[Logan39]

During a squall, the single pump barely kept up; with two pumps it seemed better, but I also noticed the battery bank drained faster than I expected.

[Donald_J]

I spent a weekend testing: one pump on auto, another on manual, and the second died after a short run; maybe investing in a better battery or larger alternator would help.

[WilliamGM]

Do you think the problem is the pump itself, or is water getting in somewhere else like around seals or through spray?

[Eric.S]

I keep weighing the cost and the risk; if you boat in rough weather a lot, maybe two pumps is worth it, but it's not a magic fix.