Water System Enhancements

[tpenfield]

As I gain experience with my 'new-to-me' boat, I seem to continually come up with ideas on how to make things a bit better.

This weekend was the water system . . . it has a fairly large water tank in the bow and a pressure pump. There is a deck fitting up by the anchor locker. However, as I filled the tank, there was not good way to tell how much water was in there and when it was full. I ended up guessing and occasionally going up and down from the deck to the v-berth to visually check the tank to see if it looked full.

I also wanted to be able to wash the deck off when I was away from the main dock, but the plumbing seemed to route aft from the pressure pump heading towards the head and the wet bar. I figured that if I could tap into the plumbing at the bow, I could install a faucet and hose in the anchor locker and take it out when needed, etc.

So, my plan for the weekend was to install a tank gauge and sender for the water tank and a faucet and hose. Both of these things would be in the anchor locker for easy access.

Here are a few photos from the weekend . . .

Tapping into the plumbing and installing the sender in the tank. I used a regular fuel gauge and sender . . . but I suppose I should re-label the gauge to say "water" at some point. I also got some PEX tubing and fittings at Lowes. That stuff is wicked easy to work with . . .


Then I drilled a couple of holes in the bulkhead/anchor locker for the gauge and the faucet plumbing . . .


I hooked up all the wiring and tapped into the 12Volt outlet circuit. I have a 5 amp CB that I should install at some point, but that part may be next weekend's addendum.


Then I tested the plumbing under pressure and activated the gauge . . . The water tank is about 1/2 full . . . or pehaps it is half empty, not quite sure. . . . Now when I need to check the water level, I can just open the anchor locker, and the deck fill fitting is right next to the locker, so I can see the gauge as I fill the tank.


Here is a view of the faucet and hose. . . . Seems to work OK.


At that point, the Admiral and First Mate were wanting to go out for a cruise around the bay . . . so I put the v-berth back together . . .


Since the hose and the anchor may not get along that well over time, my plan is to make a bow pulpit and keep the anchor on deck. . . then just the rode will be in the locker.

That will next weekend's project . . .

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Water System Enhancements

Nice work.

 

[KnotConnected]

Re: Water System Enhancements

Wow, great ideas and excellent work. The project turned out very clean, and the writeup is very well written! congrats all around!

 

[tpenfield]

Re: Water System Enhancements

Thanks for your kind words, guys . . . It came out pretty good and I did not have to use much of a vocabulary as I was working on it.

I do have a few finishing touches that will have to wait until next weekend.

Meanwhile I am figuring out a design for a bow pulpit.

 

[theBrownskull]

Re: Water System Enhancements

That is a really cool idea and you did a nice job installing it. I enjoy your posts and the links to your website also.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Water System Enhancements

I like it!

When is the gauge powered? Only with the key on?

 

[tpenfield]

Re: Water System Enhancements

That is a really cool idea and you did a nice job installing it. I enjoy your posts and the links to your website also.

Thanks,

I like it!

When is the gauge powered? Only with the key on?

Thanks,

The gauge is powered when the cabin 12 volt outlets are turned on (Circuit breaker) . . . That seemed to be the easiest way to get +12v and ground up at that end of the boat. I plan to split out the gauge circuit so it has its own 5 amp circuit breaker, subordinate to the 12 volt outlet CB, which I believe is 10 amps. . . Not sure if it is totally necessary to split it out, as 5 amps will probably fry the gauge just as easily as 10 amps. The wiring can handle the 10 amps though.

Might just be better from a current draw/battery usage perspective.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Water System Enhancements

Just be aware that the gauge does consume power and will draw down your battery if the circuit is on for a long time. You could just have a push button that powers the gauge when you want to read it.

 

[tpenfield]

Re: Water System Enhancements

Just be aware that the gauge does consume power and will draw down your battery if the circuit is on for a long time. You could just have a push button that powers the gauge when you want to read it.

I like the push button idea :thumb: . . . of course, I would want to drill another hole in the anchor locker to install it near the gauge . . . I usually have the 12 volt outlet CB turned off, since it is infrequently used. I might just go with a subordinate CB off the 12v outlet circuit, since I have one ready and waiting.

This weekend, the Admiral is going to visit her Mom in VT; I did my obligatory trip earlier this summer . . . so I'll be headed to Cape Cod to work on the boat. I'll probably install the CB then.

 

[tpenfield]

Update . . .

My water tank gauge stopped working after 1 season . . . then the automatic water pump gave out as well. So, the last few weeks, I have been fixing things.

I replaced the automatic pressure pump so now the water system works. Today I tackled the water tank gauge. It appeared that the sender had failed, as I was getting about 4K ohms of resistance through it. So, I went to the marine store . . . they had new senders for $46 and a whole new kit of gauge and sender for $54 . . . :noidea: So I got the kit.

I replaced the sender first, hoping tht the gauge still worked. . . . . sure enough the thing now works. Not sure that the use of the sender in water versus gasoline makes a difference . . . they should be sealed regardless right :noidea:

anyway, we will see how long the one lasts . . .

 

[tpenfield]

Another Update . . .

This water system stuff has been a series of headaches . . . After only about 1 month the new sender went kaput (again) it seems like the fuel type senders (which I have been using) do not like water. Maybe those senders are not fully sealed :noidea: . . . but you would think they need to be for fuel tank usage

So, only after a short amount of time the sender goes from reading the standard 33-240 ohm range, to reading 5K ohms, which is basically no reading from the gauge's perspective.

Anyway, I ordered online a sender and gauge that is specifically meant for water tanks. The company is WEMA/USA . . . and the prices were pretty much the same as other aftermarket senders. I did notice the ultra sonic tank sender that is sold here on iBoats, but those types are a bit more pricey that the tube type sender that I ordered.

We shall see how it goes. Probably will do the component swap-out of gauge & sender next weekend.

 

[tpenfield]

I fixed the water system gauge today . . .

Here are the new gauge and sender.



Had to put a big patch on the tank where the old sender was located. The new sender, being a tube type needed to be in a deeper area of the tank.



After connecting all of the new wiring, it was time to test the gauge.



this gauge actually says 'water' on it, so as not to be confusing to anyone else.

:thumb:

Hopefully, this will work over the long term.