Of course, sailors would also like to have the water comfort they are used to at home on their boat. This means in particular: When the tap is opened, water should flow evenly. On smaller boats in particular, there are still some mechanical foot pumps or the electric version with a switch contact on the tap. The disadvantage of both systems is that they can only supply one tap at a time. Cockpit showers, showers in the wet room, washbasins plus sinks cannot be operated with them.
The solution with several taps on board: the so-called pressurised water pump, which, like a domestic waterworks, always maintains a certain pressure, ensures the necessary flow at all taps and, above all, switches off again automatically when not in use. For the test, we ordered a total of eight pumps from the suppliers AWN, Gründl and SVB as well as from the online-only retailer Amazon. The latter supplied the rather unknown brands Seaflo and TTulpe, while the other candidates came from Flojet, Jabsco, Johnson, Shurflo and Whale.
All pumps are multi-chamber diaphragm pumps and are driven by 12 V electric motors. According to the manufacturers, they should deliver a flow rate of between around ten and 13 litres per minute. This is sufficient for a boat with a shower and taps at the washbasin and sink.
How the pumps perform in practice and which models are recommended for on-board operation can be found in YACHT, issue 12/2022. DK-Shop available, or you can download the test directly via this link (click here!) down.
Hauke Schmidt
Test & Technology editor
