Sailfish 272 Pump Issues

Hi all, new owner of a 1995 Sailfish 272. Working on finding some replacement seals for the trim cylinders, fixing the windlass, and a variety of other things, but one thing I can’t find a lot of helpful information on is the electrical issue I’m having.

In the attached picture, I have the aft and forward bilge pumps, and the wash down pump in the on position. But as you can see, only the fwd bilge is getting power. It sputters occasionally, but the motor definitely needs to be replaced.

The main confusion is the aft bilge and wash down. I just had the boat surveyed last Saturday, and the aft bilge worked then according the the surveyor, not the wash down. Now both won’t work, and the switches won’t even light up.

All other switches on the board light up and seem to function their respective mechanisms any ideas about these two?

Long time boater but first time owner so any and all advice overall is welcome. Thanks!

Thanks for all the replies everyone, just getting into electrical work with this stuff, so the information here has been really helpful.

I finally got some time this evening to spend on this issue, and I started with the panel. All connections were secured, and none seemed particularly corroded. I cleaned them to the best of my ability, but nothing changed as a result.

Then, for four of the bottom switches on the panel, two that light and operate their respected pumps and two switches that would not light/turn on the pumps, I checked voltage with the multimeter. The attached image is the result of one good switch (11.66 volts) and one inoperable switch (varying nominal voltage between 0.1-0.6 through testing). These were generally the same for the other operable and inoperable switches tested on that row.

Based on these results, what would be the general consensus? Might there be a faulty connection between the battery and the powered end of these non-working switches, or does this indicate that the pumps simply need to be replaced?

Thanks again for all the help!

To those who guessed corrosion, you were right. I’ll give some context below for anyone who might need it in the future, but after some cleaning of the panel connections, both bilge pumps are now working (swapped the aft one regardless as it was cracked and caked in gunk), and the wash down switch lights but the pump won’t spin, but assuming that’ll need to be replaced anyway from what Fishtales said.

Thanks to everyone who pitched in! Next big job is swapping the tilt/trim seals and a trim tab actuator before dropping her in, but for those in the Cape May area, I’d be happy to meet up sometime in the season. I’m sure there’s plenty I can learn for my first season of ownership. Speaking of, if anyone knows where I might find good tips on how to remove seized up and broken bottom zinc bolts, I could really use it.

As for the pump wiring issue itself, I tested all 4 batteries as Dennis suggested, and I got 12.6 V on 3 and 12.4 V on the port-most battery, so I figured I’m alright there. Then went back to the panel and tried wiggling connections, no luck. After swapping out the aft bulge pump with still no luck, I took the connections from the FWD pump switch off and put them onto the AFT pump switch and boom, we were in business. So, I knew it wasn’t the switch. Had my buddy fill the bilge with water from a hose to check the float switch since even his 6’5” sized arms couldn’t reach it, and thankfully that was working too. From that point, I swapped switch connections to check the wash down, which lit up but wouldn’t run, so I’m assuming it’s the pump, which is fine with me since I already got a new one assuming I’d need it. However, the pleasant surprise came when I put all switches back to their original position - suddenly, the aft bilge pump switch lit up when clicked, and the pump ran, AND the wash down switch lit, though the pump still didn’t run. Despite the connections not having much space to fit a wire brush, just taking them off and on several times cleared enough corrosion to create a proper connective surface. I’m sure there’s a way to more thoroughly clean them, but it’s certainly a big relief for now.