General plumbing + holding tank

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Capt'n
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Registriert: Freitag 8. Juli 2011, 17:14

General plumbing + holding tank

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PICTURES ARE MISSING


While waiting for Moments of Clarity to dry before being epoxied and anti-fouled, I decided to turn my attention to the plumbing. Phase 1 of the project involved the installation of a holding tank. Rather than going through the expense of having one custom-fabricated, I decided to get a ready-made 40-litre tank from Vetus which came with all the fittings and, fortunately, fit the space above the toilet. Placing the holding tank above the waterline has the advantage that it can be emptied by gravity, rather than with a separate pump.To secure the tank, I made a box out of 15mm plywood, which was epoxied, then given three coats of white bilge paint. The box sits on the original wooden rails, which were further supported by teak blocks. As the next phase would be the reduction (from 5 to 3) and renewal of all seacocks and through-hulls, I bought a 1½ inch and two ¾ inch Marelon structural composite (hence, electrolysis-free) seacocks, which have flanges that allow them to be either through-bolted to the hull or screwed on a backing pad laminated to the hull. As you can see from the photos, I chose an in-between solution, because I didn't want to make any more holes in the hull. The seawater through-hull is under the sink and is teed-off, with one hose going forward to the toilet and the other to the engine water filter. The distance to the engine is now even shorter (good) and to the toilet longer (this has made no difference in the pumping effort). The old holes, including the engine’s through-hull in the bilge, were plugged with epoxy/ colloidal silica mixture and glassed over with epoxied plywood pads. Incidentally, the boat was launched last Friday and was pronounced leak-free. The attached photos should be self-explanatory.

-Nicholas

Moments of Clarity #334

The toilet, toilet base and sink are removed. The toilet discharge seacock in the photo was also cut off with a grinder (much easier than trying to unscrew it).

The inside of the hull had been spot-painted in the past, so was sanded lightly and given three boats of International's bilge paint. The fresh water pump

stayed in place, which I think is ideal, as it services the two extra flexible tanks under the settees and the original in the bow.





Here, the holding tank is temporarily placed on two pieces of plywood to check for dimensions.

Note the hole left from the removal of the discharge seacock.







This a 15mm plywood disc. This side will be laminated to the hull, so the bolt holes are indented (note the special drill bit on the bench).

Bolts with hexagon heads are chosen, since the cured epoxy will make them impossible to turn while tightening the nuts on the other side.







This is the 1 1/2 inch seacock temporarily mounted on the disc to check for the accuracy of the holes. Then, the seacock is removed,

the disc is epoxied to the hull over the old hole, with bolts in place and, when ithe epoxy has cured, the disc is lightly abraded and painted.

With these types of seacocks, the body of the seacock is mounted first, then the through-hull is screwed in from the outside of the boat.





This is the end result with all hoses in place. In the left photo, you will notice the loop in the saltwater intake--essential if the toilet is mounted below

the waterline. The discharge hose from the toilet is routed behind the tank to the top of the tank and is secured to a 90-degree fitting. The tank discharge

hose exits from the bottom of the tank and goes straight to the seacock. The holding tank is secured with webbing straps. (I haven't installed the no-smell

filter and breathing hose yet. ) In the right photo, you can see the mounted seacock onto which the hose is double-clipped.









Now, to the sink. This is the area under the sink before the project started. In the right photo, the wire basket,

the hoses and the fridge compressor have been removed. Again, the old seacocks were cut off.







After five weekends, this is what it looks like (minus the sink). The seacocks were mounted in a manner similar to the toilet's.

The fridge compressor was given a strurdier base and a new, larger accumulator tank was installed to cut down on pump wear.

The foot pump was removed and may be re-installed in the future.









This is another view, through the side opening.
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