hot water tank change on MKII

[Jim Hardesty]

Advice, please, from some one who has changed the hot water tank on a MKII.  The tank is a rectangle, just starbord of the batteries.   What do I need to do to change the tank?  Looks to me that the galley drawer unit needs to come out to get to the heater hose, a piece of wood just over the the water heater, the cedar plywood starbord of the water heater. Will that do it?  Or do I need to remove the batteries? 
I'm still recovering from a knee replacment.  So I don't want to get into a PITA problem.
Thanks,
Jim

[SPembleton]

Just a note. I have a Mk1, and the PO relocated the heater to a location in the aft wall of the aft cabin, next to the hanging locker. I don't know what was there before.  I am not sure why, but it does free up a lot of space under the galley sink.

[Fred Koehlmann]

Jim,

To get the galley draws out, you will also need to remove the shelf under the sink and its support that is screwed into the side of the drawer cabinet. Yes the top spacer piece and the cosmetic cedar ply piece also needs to come out. I did not have to remove the batteries, thank god, since they were 2 4Ds at that time. You will however have to rotate the tank up towards starboard to get it out, since the seat opening is too narrow to get it out in the fore/aft position. It feels like you scrapping the heck out of the hull as, the hull slops up at that point. If you have a bum knee, you might want someone that can get into the corner to help.

Cheers, Fred.

[Jim Hardesty]

Fred,
Thanks, that's just the information I was looking for.  Think that I'll buy a tank and put it in when we get a couple of days of poor weather, been lots of them this year.
Jim

[anaisdog]

what tank did you buy?  where?  cost?  i need one too

[Stu Jackson]

Seaward S600 from Sure Marine in Seattle was the best price I found last August, $281 including s/h.  I also "found" many a LOT more expensive.

What I did was comparative internet shopping, using a search engine to find "Seaward water heaters, 6 gallon".  I got a handful of hits and looked for the best price.  Easy to do.

[Jim Hardesty]

FYI    Just ordered from Defender $254.99 and $15 shipping.  I order often from Defender.  Standard delivery for me is 3-4 days and never had a problem.
Jim

[Jim Hardesty]

Changed the hot water tank today.  Had to take the batteries and the battery tray out.  There was no way, on my boat, to get the old tank out.  And the new one was 1/32 to 1/16 bigger.  Once the batteries and the battery trays were out, every thing went well.
Jim