stern water tank cleaning

[crieders]

I cleaned the center tank nicely by opening the  port and directly putting in a good spray hose and I used a separate pump to pump it out quickly and easily rather than old fashioned drainage.
but as to the stern tank, it there  an easy way to access and drain???

[Ron Hill]

Cliff : The only way to clean the stern tank is to remove it - through the aft cabin!! 
It will take some work, but it's doable. 

If you only want to clean the tank (and not inspect for a leak) there are tank cleaners available online - to clean the tank inplace.

A few thoughts

[crieders]

that is precisely what I was trying to avoid
I was thinking of trying to slip a tube down the fill cap and pump it out, refill, pump etc for a few times

[Jim Hardesty]

Cliff,
Just took mine out as part of installing a rudder position sensor on the steering gear.  MKll so it may not be identical, took me less than an hour.  Empty the tank, remove the cushions, 6(?) screws for the steering cover, 6(?) for the plywood, remove the fill hose, remove the vent hose, cut 2 banding straps, then slide out the tank enough to get to the drain/supply remove the hose and remove the elbow and replace with a 1/2 inch pipe plug (so left over water doesn't spill when taking the tank out) that's it.  Tanks light when empty so it's not hard to carry.
Take a look at the vent and fill hose.  Easier to  change than clean them.  My tank was clean, I rinsed it out a couple of times and called it good.
Jim

[Stu Jackson]

Why bother?

Fresh Water System Recommissioning 101 - Peggie Hall's "Cocktail" http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,5836.0.html

The tank is usually NOT the issue.

Spend the effort replacing the hoses.

[patrice]

Hi,
In the cleaning procedure, do not forget the little water strainer under the kitchen sink.
Well I do have one, unless it was a PO addon.