Whale Gusher Urchin ND9017B Manual Bilge Pump

The Whale Gusher Urchin ND9017B is a compact manual diaphragm pump that earns a spot on just about any boat. It's lever operated, so it works with zero power. When the battery's flat or the electric bilge pump packs it in, this is the pump you'll be glad you rigged in. Whale's been building these for decades, and the Urchin is the small-footprint member of the Gusher line.

The body is glass-filled polypropylene with a nitrile diaphragm inside. That combination handles bilge water, rainwater, and general dewatering duty. It's a diaphragm design that moves water on the stroke and self-primes once you've worked the handle a few times. The 1 inch ports take standard reinforced marine hose, and it ships with a 90 degree elbow so you can turn the run tight against a bulkhead without kinking the line.

You can mount it two ways. Thru-deck gives you a flush lever up top for cockpit or anchor-locker duty. Bulkhead mount puts it on a vertical surface down below where you can reach it from the companionway. Either way, budget for the full 9-3/4 inches of width so the lever arc clears seats, coamings, and engine-box corners. On narrow-cockpit sailboats, folks sometimes flip the pump 180 degrees so the handle swings clear of the seating.

If you're going through a cored deck, do it right. Bed the base in butyl tape and add a backing plate under the deck so the mounting screws don't weep into the core after a season. Don't overtighten the bolts on a curved bulkhead either. The polypropylene mounting ears can crack if you crank them down onto an uneven surface. Snug and even is the goal, and a dab of sealant under each ear never hurts.

Clamp both sides of every hose connection. A manual pump pulls a real vacuum, and thin-wall hose can collapse without a clamp holding it open. As a backup bilge pump on a 25 to 35 foot boat, it does the job. It's a manual pump, though, so it's slower than a big electric unit. Think of it as your insurance, not your primary. Pair it with a powered pump and you've got real redundancy in the bilge. The stroke is smooth and the long handle does the hard work for you, so you're not fighting it even after a long session bailing out a swamped cockpit or a flooded compartment.

The nitrile diaphragm is a wear part. On clean bilge water it'll last years. Run it hard on nasty stuff and you'll be into it sooner. Keep a service kit aboard and you can rebuild it at the dock in an afternoon. That serviceability is a big part of why these Whale pumps stay in boats for so long. Nothing about this pump is throwaway.

Who's it for? Anyone who wants a dead-simple backup that doesn't rely on a battery. Sailors running offshore, trailer-boat owners who want a manual option, cruisers adding a second layer to the bilge. It works in a shower sump or a small drainage compartment too. Just know the nitrile diaphragm doesn't love diesel or holding-tank effluent. If you're pumping either of those regularly, plan on a shorter diaphragm life and check it more often. For straight bilge and freshwater duty, though, it's right at home and will run for a very long time between rebuilds.

One last tip. The elbow fitting swivels, which makes routing easy, but give the joint a wrap of thread-sealing tape when you assemble it so it doesn't seep. Small detail, saves you a drip in the bilge later. That's the whole idea here, a simple pump you can live with, service, and count on when it matters.