Questions about putting water tank under cooler liner

[Volador]

I have purchased a flexible tank. I have heard that several people have put the tanks under the cooler liner under the dinette seat. That seems like a very good use of the space.
I have a few questions for those who have gone that route:
How did you install the tank? Is it ok to just lay it on the surface or should I put something under it?
How and where do you install the deck fill and fill hose?
How hard is it to run a hose from the tank over to the galley sink?
If you had it to do over would you put the tank someplace else?
Thanks for any help you can offer.
Volador

[mike]

I have purchased a flexible tank. I have heard that several people have put the tanks under the cooler liner under the dinette seat. That seems like a very good use of the space.
I have a few questions for those who have gone that route:

I just installed one of these, but mine went under the front dinette seat... I can still try to answer some of your questions though.

First of all, my boat did not come with a cooler liner (that compartment was taken up by a manual waste pump and some big hoses, which I have since replaced with an electric pump system that frees up almost all of that space). However, I have noticed, as others have mentioned, that the Plastimo 26gal tanks, when installed under the forward dinette seat, swell up pretty high when full, to the point of touching the bottom of the hatch cover. So, you should probably check to see how much clearance you have under the cooler liner to see if this might be a problem.

How did you install the tank? Is it ok to just lay it on the surface or should I put something under it?

I just placed mine directly into the compartment, though I did make sure there were no fiberglass spikes or other things that might damage the tank.

How and where do you install the deck fill and fill hose?

My deck fill is on the starboard side, directly above the head compartment forward bulkhead. The fill hose is exposed in the head compartment... it goes straight down from the deck fill to a pair of elbows connected together (to form a U) that passes through the head compartment to under the aft dinette seat (in other words, one elbow is in the head compartment, the other is under the dinette seat... this was done to facilitate making a sharp turn to keep the intrusion on both compartments to a minimum). From there, it goes forward under the dinette to the tank's location.

How hard is it to run a hose from the tank over to the galley sink?

Not hard at all. The Plastimo tanks come with a 1/2" barb fitting, but since my faucets were 3/8", I decided to use the smaller hose. I used large Ancor rubber-lined cable clamps to suspend the hose (and some wiring running to the same vicinity) along the route around the V-berth and back to the galley. The clamps are positioned so that the hose and cables are not readily visible when opening the storage hatches, and are held in place with small bolts from the top, so they are hidden when the seat cushions are in place (though I put white plastic caps on the bolts anyway).

If you had it to do over would you put the tank someplace else?
Thanks for any help you can offer.

I think under the front dinette is a good spot... puts the weight forward, and fully utilizes the space. But if you can fit the tank under the cooler (space that is probably not as valuable as under the front dinette seat), that might be better.

--Mike

[Don T]

Hello:
I just finished installing a Nauta 23.5 gallon flexible tank under the cooler liner. I lined the space with carpet (including the bottom of the liner) so nothing can chafe the tank. I installed the deck fill in the aft port corner of the aft dinette seat. I'm running cleansing routines now but so far everthing seems jake. I have a Whale inline water pump and faucet (w/switch) and it works great. The vinyl hose adds that plastic taste but the tank does not (so far).
Do they make 1/2" hose that doesn't flavor the water?
I ran the hose forward from the tank, around the centerboard trunk and down the port side to the sink. The wires for the pump run the same way. It looks like I'll get maybe 16 - 17 gallons in before the liner begins to "float" up. I guess it will depend on how much the cooler weighs.
I'm also hoping that the extra water will offset the additional weight of the batteries and my galley mods. The boat was listing port, sans ballast, last time out (empty cooler and no water - porta potty was charged).

[Dimitri-2000X-Tampa]

Is the hose rated for potable water? I used both the hose that WM sells and Home Depot. Both had strand reinforcement (required for pressure applications) and the WM hose has a red strand in there as well. Can't say I drink the water though. I guess if I were using it up faster, it might be feasible, but as the water can sit in the tank for months, I usually figure its too stagnant to drink and so bring along bottled drinking water instead.

[Don T]

Hello:
OK, so now I've gone back and retrofit my water system with low density poly tubing. It's the stuff they use to plumb ice makers and water filters in refridgerators. I let the system sit for 2 hours then tasted the water. So far, no plastic taste. The flexible vinyl hose tainted the water that fast. I am very hopeful that I will have good water from the faucet now. I suppose I'll be bugged by it buzzing and rattling when motoring but I'm working on a non invasive way of securing the tubing. In my next update I'll measure the volume of water it carries (approximately 6 sink fulls).

[dclark]

I have purchased a flexible tank. I have heard that several people have put the tanks under the cooler liner under the dinette seat. That seems like a very good use of the space.
I have a few questions for those who have gone that route:
How did you install the tank? Is it ok to just lay it on the surface or should I put something under it?
How and where do you install the deck fill and fill hose?
How hard is it to run a hose from the tank over to the galley sink?
If you had it to do over would you put the tank someplace else?
Thanks for any help you can offer.
Volador

What size bag do you have? I can't see fitting anything very big under the cooler liner. I have 26 gallons under the forward dinette seat and it takes all the space when it's full. It wouldn't even come close to fitting under the cooler liner..

I laid mine on the surface, but sanded a few of the rough spots first.

I installed the deck fill just forward of the star board genoa track. It takes a 3" hose. When you drill the hole, there is about a 6" (maybe more) space filled with flotation. You'll need to break some of that out of your way. With a lot of consideration, you can drill the second hole from the inside of the boat and have them line up. Be careful, perspectives can be very deceiving. So basically when you are done, you have one hole topside forward of the startboard genoa track, a fill space with flotation, and a second hole into the boat. The second hole should be close to the liner and just aft of the head bulkhead (aft). From there you can drill a hole thru the aft head bulkhead and fead the hose into the bilge under the head sink. Then it's just a matter of feeding it thru the bilge to the water bag.

From the bag to the sink, you have two ways to go. I ran mine forward thru the bilge to the v-berth and back down to the galley (actually a pump near the galley). That's easy. The hose is only 1/2" so it tucks along the edge real well and stays out of the way.

If I had it to do over again, I'd do it esactly the same. Wish I could say that about everything.

[Volador]

[quote="Don T"]Hello:
OK, so now I've gone back and retrofit my water system with low density poly tubing. It's the stuff they use to plumb ice makers and water filters in refridgerators. quote]

Don- Where did you buy the poly tubing? Is it more expensive than the other tubing? What diameter is it?
I appreciate the direction. This is a great site.

[dclark]

Hello:
OK, so now I've gone back and retrofit my water system with low density poly tubing. It's the stuff they use to plumb ice makers and water filters in refridgerators. quote]

Don- Where did you buy the poly tubing? Is it more expensive than the other tubing? What diameter is it?
I appreciate the direction. This is a great site.

You are only going to need 1/2" tubing to run from the water bag to the faucet (or pump) and that isn't very expensive. Just buy it from the boat store and make sure it says for potable water.

On the other hand the tube from the deck fill to the bag gets expensive. I said it's 3" tube earlier, but thinking about it that sounds too big so I think I'm wrong. Whatever it is (1.5" maybe), it's a lot bigger, more expensive and hard to bend.

[Rich Plumb]

I have a 2000 26X. I'm using two 13 1/2 gallon Plastimo flexable water bags. One is under the cooler on the starboard side (providing water to the head) and one under the forward part of the settee on the port side (providing water to the galley). The fill tubes are not secured to the boat. They are about 2 feet long with screw-in caps. I can get about 10 gallons in the bag under the cooler before it starts to lift, which is fine. This 13 1/2 gallon bag fits fine between the centerboard trunk and the hull frame running lengthwise. I have not found it necessary to secure these bags to the boat.

Rich Plumb, "Plumb Crazy"
Covington, WA

[Don T]

Hello:
The poly(something I forget) tubing was purchased at home depot in the flexible tubing / hose area. It is white semi-ridged plastic and came in a 25' roll for $5.99. I went down the line of tubings sniffing each one. When I found one that had no smell I read the label and it said "imparts no odor or taste." I figured that was the one to try. No other tubing made that claim. I picked up the 1/2" which fit perfectly over the Whale pump fittings. I'm still at work, so tomorrow I will taste the water again.

[Don T]

Hello:
OK, the tubing is low density polyethylene (cutting boards are made of high density polyethylene). I taste tested the water this morning (sitting 2 days) and there was just a hint of plastic taste. Different than the vinyl tubing. I put some chloro-treatment in the water to see if running that through would flush and cleanse the lines. If I let the water run until water from the tank has cleared the lines, the plastic taste goes away. So, it is definitely the tubing that is flavoring the water. I'm going to post it in the mods section as soon as I complete the volume test.

I posted pics in the mods section:
http://www.macgregorsailors.com/cgi-bin ... record=230

[Harry van der Meer]

When you drain the tank, do you actually get 16 gallons out? IAW, how many gallons until the pump starts to "suck air"?

[Don T]

Harry:
My volume test consisted of measuring how many gallons (16) would pump out. The tank is very flat when empty. It will hold more once I have a fully loaded cooler in place. At least 1 more gallon. The space measures out to 19 gallons but the tank doesn't fill the entire area and is curved instead of squared off edges like a hard tank. At least it won't slosh like a hard tank.

[Harry van der Meer]

Thanks Don.

I am about to install a 26 gal plastimo with fill on the deck (just forward of the genoa track). Initially I would like to try to put it in the space under the cooler liner as I don't want to give up the space under the forward dinette bunk. I am considering fixing the liner with screws so the tank won't push it up. I hope that when the hose is filled with water (should be a gallon or more) the watertank will fill out quite a bit.

If I can get in 15 or so gallons, I will be quite happy.

I realize the the 26 gallon tank is too big for this space, but if it does not work I will put it under the forward dinette bunk.

Thanks for your reply.

[Don T]

I don't know if I would screw my liner down. My pump will cavitate and stop working if there is too much air in the line. Positive displacement pumps are usually self priming. I vent all the air out (cap you can see dead center of the tank). It depends on how fast I fill it. Too fast and lots-o-air follows the water. Who knows, when this pump fails I may install a PD pump.