Squeaky sleep & poor Sink Pump

[TFlight]

I spent 7 nights on my 26M on lake Champlain. If you get the chance check out this lake it was made for a Mac.

Two things that I would like to fix:
1) Squeaky aft berth. Every time I would move in my sleep the panels would squeak. Does anyone have a fix for this besides strapping me down or a fith of whisky.

2) The stock 2009 26M sink pump is a joke. It feel stripped and when it finally pumps water it leaks around the base. If you try to pump water 30sec later you have to prime it all over again 20 pumps.

Tony

[Russ]

1) I hear ya. Those covers are terrible. I'm thinking of plywood to replace them.

2) I replace the pump with a faucet and pressure pump. Soooo much easier to use. I turn it on low to wash things. Don't open it full or you'll waste water. Others have rebuilt the thing. I can't wash my hands and pump at the same time. Pressure and faucet for me.

[Phil M]

I put support underneath the aft berth on each side to stop that. A long board with 5200 bonding to the sub floor.
My 12 volt water pump/faucet replaced the hand pump.

[MAC-A-TAC]

Hello TFlight,

The factory faucet on MAC-A-TAC has "worked" , but leaves much to be desired. I will be purchasing a 3-way attwood faucet (first link) and an attwood water pump (second link). Right now I am trying to decide if I want a stern shower nozzle which will necessitate buying a larger water pump. The only other unknowns are what kind (rigid of bladder), size, and placement of the water container.

If I want to install an external fresh water fill port then I will probable use a bladder system, otherwise a rigid container will be my choice.

http://www.attwoodmarine.com/userfiles/ ... p-6142.pdf
http://www.walmart.com/ip/14150763?adid ... la&veh=sem

MAC Out.

[TFlight]

Hello TFlight,

3-way attwood faucet (first link) and an attwood water pump (second link). Right now I am trying to decide if I want a stern shower nozzle which will necessitate buying a larger water pump. The only other unknowns are what kind (rigid of bladder), size, and placement of the water container.

If I want to install an external fresh water fill port then I will probable use a bladder system, otherwise a rigid container will be my choice.

http://www.attwoodmarine.com/userfiles/ ... p-6142.pdf
http://www.walmart.com/ip/14150763?adid ... la&veh=sem

MAC Out.

I like the 3-way pump idea. I was also thinking about a shower nozzle. You don't think the smaller pump would work for that? I don't need a lot of volume, I'm getting by with a solar bag shower now.

As for the Aft berth covers I was thinking of putting rubber backed tape on the edges to see if that would stop the squeaking.

Thanks for the input guys

[Boblee]

For the covers put supports under them and as they break replace them with 5 ply plywood, end of problem.
Galley faucet left it there as emergency and hooked up to unfiltered line, installed new faucet which is supplied through .5 micron carbon filter 45 psi pump and 200 litres of tanks in all, this also supplies shower at stern under seat and doubles as inlet for water too.

[K9Kampers]

Does anyone have a fix for this besides strapping me down or a fith of whisky.

TFlight- Go for the whiskey and move to the V-berth!

[Retcoastie]

I had a similar, prime issue on our X. I fought it for two seasons. It was intermittent. What a hassle. When I switched to a pressure system I found that one of the five gallon jugs had a teenie tiny crack in it. It was allowing air into the jug. killing the vacuum I had pumped about fifty strokes to build up. Before you get drastic, put it suction line in a bottle of water and try it. You may see the pump hold its prime or you may see water flowing back into the bottle. If it works okay, check your jugs. If water flow back into the bottle check the hose and connection at the pump. If they are good, get drastic.

Ken

[Hardcrab]

Another great fix to the berth panels is some 1 " wide sticky back velcro installed on the edges.
No need for 100% coverage, just several 3" pieces on each perimeter.
Hook or pile stuck on either side, no difference in this application.
Works good and lasts a long time.

[Nautek]

I put a pump with a switch on my X
It uses the existing hand pump as the spout so if the electric pump fails i can still use the hand pump to get water

Allan

[Sumner]

I put a pump with a switch on my X
It uses the existing hand pump as the spout so if the electric pump fails i can still use the hand pump to get water

Allan

If you want instant water sometimes but not all of the time I like Allan's option. We stay out a long time, so water is precious to us so didn't want an elect. pump. I have one on the sink in the teardrop trailer, but find we don't use near as much water if we have to pump.



We replaced our worn pump with one from BWY that holds a prime for a long time if you leave the handle in one position.

With an either/or option if it is a short trip and you have plenty of water use the elect. If it is a long trip and water is precious use the hand pump.

We do use an ...



....electric to move the water from...



...the storage tanks to the one that is connected to the sink,

Sum

===================================
Our MacGregor 26-S

Our Endeavour 37

Our Trips to Utah, Idaho, Canada, Florida

Mac-Venture Links

[Catigale]

I'm still wondering where Sum and Ruth store all those little yellow arrows without holing anything

[Phil M]

Summers post makes me wonder about the advantage of using several storage tanks vs one large storage tank for water. My only five gallon jug does not hold enough, and I need to improve that. Either a bladder, one a solid one piece tank, or several smaller ones like Sumner.

[Sumner]

Summers post makes me wonder about the advantage of using several storage tanks vs one large storage tank for water. My only five gallon jug does not hold enough, and I need to improve that. Either a bladder, one a solid one piece tank, or several smaller ones like Sumner.

I considered a bladder real seriously and they might be fine for someone. We went with the 4 gallon containers for a couple reasons. We also have 2 of the 7 gallon Reliance....



....containers, one for the sink and the other as another storage container. I have a very hard time getting them in and out of the boat, so they stay there unless empty. The 4 gallon are easy to take in and out.

We take them all out at the end of a trip and clean and rinse them. If there was ever a problem with one they are cheap to replace.

On a trip if it is convenient and there is water on a dock we get to....



... like at Everglades City we fill them with a hose on the sea wall. At Marthon, FL that wasn't an option. There they have a water outlet by the dinghy dock. So there we just loaded 4-5 of the 4 gallon into the dinghy and took them to the water. If we would of had a bladder or large tank we would of had a problem.

The Endeavour came with one large 90 gallon water tank. It had a leak and you couldn't really clean it. We replaced it with 4 20 gallon tanks. Now if one springs a leak we only lost 20 gallons. The same with the tanks on the Mac, the most we would loose is 4 or 7 gallons. We will also take 4-5 of the 4 gallon on the Endeavor with us and start with them full. If we are some place like Marathon we will use them to fill the 20 gallon tanks. 4 trips with the dinghy and they would all be full.

We also use the tanks to trim the boat as we use water and other supplies. With the 6 4 gallon and the one 7 gallon we can use them in such a manner to help the boat trim and it just takes a couple minutes to pump from them to the galley 7 gallon tank when it is near empty. If the pump broke we could dump them by hand into the larger tank.

We also store food, cloths, laptop and other items on the sides and tops of the 4 gallon under the V-berth. They are plenty strong enough to store things on top of.

One last thing and that is I've heard people say that you don't get all of the advertised capacity in or out of a bladder.

The multiple tanks don't cost much and have lots of positives to them in our view, but there again we have set the boat up for long isolated cruises so we have some specific needs that others might not have,

Sum

===================================
Our MacGregor 26-S

Our Endeavour 37

Our Trips to Utah, Idaho, Canada, Florida

Mac-Venture Links

[mastreb]

We keep a lot of bottled water onboard in the one liter size, and pack them along the outside edges of the port and starboard storage and under the aft berth. Putting them as far to the edges as possible helps reduce heeling a bit, and if there's ever a list they're easy to move from one side to the other to correct it. You can also pack them in unusual places like behind the head and between the liner under the table and the bulkhead.

We pack everything in the storage areas inside various sizes of those clear plastic bins. Makes it really easy to maximize storage space and find what you're looking for.

We have a five-gallon fixed tank for the 12v water and shower, but typically only use that for showering.