Thinking my bilge pump is going out... Suggestions for replacement?

[trayson]

So, I've been having some very strange behavior from my bilge pump. last Sunday we took the boat out and when we got home I heard a noise that was a motor running. It was the bilge pump and it was going and going and going despite having nothing left to suck up. I didn't have time to mess with it, so I turned off the batteries with the perko switch.

A couple days later I turned the battery back on and.... Nothing. The pump wasn't running anymore.

So we took the boat out and the pump seemed to work fine. I know it was pumping intermittently throughout the evening (I need to replace the packing rope on my rudder, so I take on some water and the bilge runs off and on throughout a trip).

I didn't bother pulling the center plug when we took the boat out (in the dark), but when I got home I decided I would pull the plug. I was surprised to see a few inches of water in the bilge and the pump wasn't doing a damn thing. I flipped the switch to manually turn on the pump and NOTHING. argh!

So today I pull the cover and notice that all the water is gone that had accumulated. The pump at some point came back to life and pumped it out. And I heard it running again when I pulled the cover off and it wouldn't stop running despite it having no water to suck.

I turned off the perko switch again and decided that I probably need to replace the pump.

Currently I have an Attwood Sahara S-500 pump.
http://www.attwoodmarine.com/store/p...0-GPH--12-Volt



So what should I get as a replacement? I certainly wouldn't mind something that pumps a little faster than this one. But I'm open to all advice and suggestions.


EDIT: I'm thinking that the logical replacement would be upgrading to the Attwood S-750. It looks like it has about twice the speed and I'd still be able to use the 3/4" hose and not have to worry about upsizing anything. So, unless someone has a reco for something significantly better, I'll probably go that route.
http://www.attwoodmarine.com/store/p...a-s750-750-gph