More Plumbing Upgrades and Fixes.

When around boats you can always find something to fix.  There are many things that we want to replace, repair, upgrade, etc.  But often we have things that take priority, as you've read in this blog previously.  This time it's the water.  As we wrote in our "Power Hungry and All Wet" post we had a leak at a T fitting that runs the fresh water throughout the boat.  We applied more and more epoxy to fix the leak since we couldn't reach it in the tiny space it was located.  We fixed the problem, or so we thought, until about 45 days ago.

Colette is the thin one, so she gets this task.

We noticed lately the fresh water pump running a bit more than it should so we investigated.  We're unsure if it's due to the pipes getting colder and shrinking or just due to age or pressure but our leak has reappeared.  Kevin tried to epoxy it again, but to no avail.  The T itself is about the size of two Sharpie markers intersecting (and the same color) but with the wad of epoxy the T is looking more like a grapefruit.  we just kept adding until the leak stopped, we really had no other option.  So now we need to fix it for real, a Band-aid fix isn't going to cut it, and we don't like that approach anyway.

One of the things that make this project difficult is the lack of part availability.  Boats and RVs and some houses from this era were made with polybutylene tubing and connectors.  They are a medium gray colored pipe that uses screw-on and clamp-on connections.  They are a lot easier, lighter, and safer than sweating copper throughout the boat.  Unfortunately one of the fittings has failed and it's not easy to get to. It took a little digging but we found the parts we needed, ordered them online, and had them ready to go. We couldn't get the right polybutylene parts so we decided to get adapters and make the fix with PEX, a modern plastic hose that is suitable for potable water.

Kevin was able to cut along either side of the T fitting that leaked and fit recycled parts from another location on the boat (more about that further in this post). We had a more ambitious plan to run new lines and make a bunch of new fittings but after looking at the problem again we decided the best course of action was to bypass the leak. This means the line that Ts off the main pipe would no longer have a feed but we are 99% sure it just feeds the Wash-out connection so we decided to delete this. The Wash-out is a hose connection that you can hook up to and hose off the back deck, something we never do, so it won't be missed. We don't fish on the boat and the back deck gets cleaned at the dock, so there is city water to hook up to when needed. It took a trip to Menards, lots of head scratching, and some back and forth as to what would work best but here is what we came up with.

Look closely at the blue hose

Here's a Close Up

It's not pretty, but it works. We have stopped the leak and can now leave the fresh water pump switch in the on position all the time, not just when we use water. It's luxurious to have hot and cold running water on demand again!

While we were at it, we decided to finally fix the water filter. Cygnet has a "Whole House" water filter that came from the factory. The filter body is no longer made and filter elements are no longer available. The element that was in there when we got Cygnet was not pretty so we took it out and lived without an element since June. We ordered a new 3M filter system but couldn't find the parts to make it fit. Well we finally got the parts needed, and in fact needed some of the parts from the old filter to make the fix on the leaking T. Yes, we scavenge from our own boat!

Sorry, this is the best "Before" picture we have.

On the picture above you can see the nasty filter element, and also notice the gray fittings on either side. They are hard to see, but you get the idea. Those are the pieces we needed to fix the leak. Now we have a nice shiny new filter and a cleaner installation.

After!

So water we thinking about our continued issues? Well, it's easy to get frustrated about our living situation at this time of year . It's very cold this week and Cygnet is struggling to keep warm at night. Sunny days, like Saturday, heat her up very well. We saw 80 degrees inside while we were doing all this work. But at night she gets pretty cold again, into the upper 50s on a couple nights. We are still working to fix the problems we inherited when we bought her and some of them are consistently recurring. That is annoying and something nobody ever likes, but we had problems like this in our house too. I can't tell you how many times we had to open the sewer pipe below our first floor bathroom and clean it out, they just didn't do plumbing very well in 1893 and there were constant problems with that, power, insulation, ants, etc. Cygnet just needs to get through another month and the weather is going to improve dramatically and so will our outlook on living aboard. So we hope!