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Messages - Fred Koehlmann

#1
Hi Bob,

This can happen when the gasket between the pump and the pressurized line is not fully sealed. that gasket/valve can slowly leak water back into the pump and then the pressurized side loses pressure. At some point, the pump starts up again. How old is that pump? You might just need a "Valves Kit", to replace the valve. There is also a Diaphragm Kit if it's more serious. It has to leak past the value first, and then back through the diaphragm. So if it's old enough you may need to replace both.
#2
Nice post. Good question, and based on what I see I have some more. With the third wire, that appears to directly go to the switch, I'm wondering if this is a three-way switch? Does the switch on either light turn both lights on or off? Also since the black and blue are hard connected to the circuit board, I'm also wondering what's going on behind the wood panel? I'm guessing that these three wires are part of the fixture and not the boat wiring. Are you able to follow them in behind and see how they are connected to the main run? I'm wondering if the red and blue both connect to the boat's blue.

In any case, none of this should impact your switching to LED lighting, unless the sockets are not compatible. The only gotcha I found with LEDs is that with some of them you need to watch out for the polarity. If it doesn't work one way, switch them around.
#3
Main Message Board / Re: leak on port side
October 27, 2019, 10:09:51 AM
Hmm, on our Mk II that was a pretty dry spot, but perhaps the earlier model is more vulnerable to leaks? The leak issue we had on the port side was at the vented stanchion behind the electrical panel (bad place for a leak). All I might suggest is after cleaning the shelf out nice and dry, place some clean paper towel down and then hose the deck down. However, hose down each deck area separately. Porthole, stanchion(s), handrail...  Basically isolate the through deck fittings, moving outward from the area above the shelf. Then monitor where and if you get a leak. For all you know it might be migrating from some other area.
#4
I agree with Jim, that storage is an "individualized" thing, depending on what you're wanting to store. In our case, we found the existing short lip was adequate to retain the typical "quick access' foodstuffs like loaves of bread, bags of buns, muffin trays, or things like a box of Kleenex, or popular board game.
#5
Agree, C34 -> C355, whereas the C315 is really a C30.
#6
It is a "hanging locker", and in our C34 MkII, it was a "Cedar hanging locker". Cedar plywood of course.
It's not a wet locker, so not there is no drain or anything. We used the conveniently located head as our wet hanging space, and it, of course, does have a drain.

Ditto on the black stuff. Must have oozed out of the hose at some point. Time for a new hose?
#7
On our C34 MkII we also had some mud chunks get in the way of adequate drainage. I had to clear things out and literally get to the bottom of things. We then did put a grate in the bottom to help keep the rode up and prevent it from slowing drainage. When I accessed the space below (from the forward cabin), I found that our hose had a slight dip in it before exiting out through the thru-hull. I couldn't shorten the tubing to get the dip out since the real issue was that the outlet was put in just a bit too high relative to the underside of the locker. So we just made sure to adequately flush the locker after every anchor raising, and check on the starboard side to ensure that we saw the water coming out.

Another thing to watch out for, if your boat had been out of the water for a while is to check all your thru-hull fitting before going into the water for wasp/bee nests or other insect homes.
#8
Looks like a nice little kit, and seems to sail well as a little dinghy, if you have the time to do the building.
Otherwise, you might consider the Walker Bay. We love our 310, which we got with the sailing package. We also added the buoyancy tubes to increase the stability when we had several people, and for when the kids were younger and sailing the dinghy. They wouldn't need them these days.
#9
It's such a pain that they left Canada.

He thinks to himself..."Hmm, wonder what the duty and freight would be on a 100' spool".
#10
Hi Mike,

You mentioned "A common theme is to have the vent line as horizontal as reasonable, no dips, etc. ". I'm going to assume that you meant "vertical"? Right? Definitely no dips in the line. Keep in mind that the line may not be plugged or stopped by water, but also very likely by waste. Us sailboats like to heel and its amazing how the stuff likes to swish about. If it goes up the vent line and later pressure build up forces it further up, it may not come back down via gravity. This was one reason why we implemented a full 1" hose and sent it to a mushroom outlet/inlet by the forward closet. When we pump out we send fresh water down the vent line (important that you don't have line dips here). This flushes the vent line and since we had the vent at the opposite end from the pump out outlet, we also flushed the length of the tank.

Also if you are still using the stanchion vent, check for bugs and spider nests at that tiny outlet. These can also easily block the vent line.
#11
When we replaced the holding tank in our C34 MKII, we also replaced all the hoses and redirected the vent. The hose from the head originally did a strange route going aft from the toilet, then turned under the sink area and looped back forward behind the head and then the nav table down to the tank. I think it was some crazy length like 12 - 14 feet. I cut a new hole behind the toilet and sent the pipe straight back and up towards the port side and then down behind the nav table to the tank under the settee. I think I got the hose length to be like only 8 feet or less. Less hose also means less sh!t potentially sitting in the hose (and less permeating in the future). Definitely, use the Trident Sani hoses. For venting, we redirected forward and up behind the forward berth's port closet (minimum 1" dia. hose).
#12
Here's a picture of it.
#13
On our C34 MkII the ice box and the shower drain went to the same pump. There was a selector switch in the line that allowed you to switch it over to the ice box whenever you wanted to.
#14
Also, with the dripless style, you need to be aware of the rubber's age and flexibility. As it ages the rubber gets harder and less flexible. I don't remember how often they need to be replaced, but you might want to check that out as well.
#15
Water in different areas can come from different sources. under your prop shaft, I'd expect it to come from your stuffing box, which is pretty normal. If that is excessive then gently tightening the nut can reduce the flow. Just make sure there's still adequate stuffing and your not over tightening.

Under the sink and elsewhere could be coming from loose claps or leaking hoses. Engine vibration over the years can cause wear on hoses that are resting or up against rougher fibreglass areas. Check to make sure they're not leaking. Sometimes slipping a sacrificial piece of hose around your other hoses will allow them to last longer.

Water just under the stair, but on top of the flooring, I found came from the behind the engine area when we would heel and the water the accumulated there couldn't go down the narrow centred drain hole/pipe to the bilge. It instead would flow beside the engine and out the front into the cabin.

We had a MkII and that shower drained into a hose and you had to turn on a pump to force it out (same pump for draining the ice-box). No shower sump box. So unless the pump was on it wouldn't drain. Earlier models might be different.

You also mention a "mystery leak that drains from the walls on port side to the shower floor". Have you checked your deck fitting on the port side by the head? This might be a source. Not exactly there, but in behind the electrical panel we had a leak that caused an electrical short. This turned out to be the holding tank vent line that went to a port stanchion vent. We ended up cutting the through deck fitting off, fiberglassing the deck hole shut re-bed the stanchion and re-vent the tank forwards. The electrical was nice and dry after that.

Best of luck on your leak hunt.