Arid bilge/Dry bilge alternative 

Or create a small slit in sponge material to let the washer sit against the scrubby material, so sponge is not deformed but it is securely held in place.

the switch plate is actually a wall plate blank. i drilled a hole just big enough to start the pipe threads and then screwed it in. i cut a dish sponge to size and held it tight to the open end of the plastic fitting with screws and washers. www.lowes.com/pd/SharkBite-1-4-in-Push-to-Connect-x-1-4-in-Mip-dia-90-Degree-Male-Elbow-Push-Fitting/1000192667

The Catalina page suggests teeing in to the emergency bilge pump discharge hose. No I have not installed it.... Yet.

www.lowes.com/pd/SharkBite-1-4-in-Push-to-Connect-x-1-4-in-Mip-dia-90-Degree-Male-Elbow-Push-Fitting/1000192667

It is in the description but here you go anyway. lifeempirically.com/2018/03/12/build-your-own-diy-arid-bilge-or-dry-bilge-system/

Thank you! For whatever reason I could not see the link before. Thank you again!

About the dry bilge? Or in general? Sorry, guess I've just been busy or maybe I didn't think anybody was that interested. I have lots of different interests spread all over. My latest is open source software defined network routers. pfSense to be exact. I'll be putting together a batch of mead shortly. Per your request I'll upload a video of my means of harvesting honey. How's that?

I kept it very simple and just drilled a hole big enough for the fitting to thread. I didn't even cut threads! I just force threaded the fitting. It didn't protrude too much on the back side and the sponge is just pressed tight against the open end of the fitting. If I recall the hose is 3/8ths OD and 1/4 ID so there really isn't much flow. The pump is a positive displacement diaphragm pump and is advertised to have 10 feet of lift. This means it does not need primed and can be mounted up to 10 feet above the water it is pumping. It can also run dry indefinitely without damaging the pump. If you tried to use a typical bilge pump they are centrifugal pumps and require the suction of the pump to be submerged before they pump. Other pumps like the whale gusher have a much capacity and larger suction. I think they might have a more difficult time self-priming since the larger diameter hose may allow air to slip past the water... 🤷‍♂️.

@@muckleyj I used a small diaphragm pump with 3/8" hose to barbs but it wouldn't suck enough to get water and start actually pulling. I think the pump just didn't have much lift. Now I'm going to switch to the pump shown and see if it makes a difference. I suspect it will.

With the timer it just runs for a predetermined amount of time each hour. Technically it DOES run after the bilge pump!

I got it at Ace Hardware. It conveniently had threads and with an appropriately sized hole it threaded in.

Yes it self primes. No I haven't installed yet....in progress.