One of the biggest safety items is a large-capacity manual bilge pump.
I was doing a routine check on ours, a diaphragm-type Edison and found
that it wasn't working properly.

OK, a big part of cruising is working on your boat in exotic (read:
inconvenient) locations. These things are very simple, and the usual
problem is gunk in the check valves. It should be a relatively short
project to take off the check valves.... complicated by the pump's
location under the aft cabin floor... clear them out, and then check
the pump again.

I was not expecting to see... the whole interior of the pump clogged
with salty chunks & salt slush! It was amazing that the pump had
worked relatively well only a few days before... we haven't been in
salt water for about four months... but we had about twenty years
accumulation of salt in the pump body & check valves.

After working at chipping out pieces of salt with a screwdriver for a
while, I decided it would be quicker & easier to dis-mount the pump,
hang it over the side in the nice fresh water of Lake Huron, and let
the salt dissolve.

After an hour of letting it soak, the pump began working much better,
and started spitting out bisquit sized chunks of salt. After ten
minutes of pumping lake water thru it, the chunks began decreasing to
dime-sized and smaller, then down to small chips.

When we get back to salt water, I am going to put the suction of the
manual bilge pump into a bucket of fresh water every week, and clean
it out. I suggest other people add this to their maintenance routine
(those who aren't already doing it).

Fresh Breezes- Doug King