Midships Water Tank Vent

[Ron Hill]

Paul : When you overfilled your STBD tank you should have seen a stream of water coming/shooting out that hole in the stanchion!! 

[britinusa]

Agreed, but as the vent is definitely blocked, that would prevent it.

[Noah]

My 1990 has the same vented stanchion for waste and for starboard water.  Attached is a photo of starboard water vent stanchion. BTW—many boat (even of the same year) are configured differently.  My boat can't cross or gravity feed between the water tanks as the tanks are not connected. There is a Y-value to select source. I wouldn't recommend venting to inside the boat, even fresh water. One way I know my tanks are good and topped off is when water comes out the vent.

[KWKloeber]

Speaking of using the filler with the larger opening......

The '84 C-30 had a deck fill that I used in an interesting way - C34 may or may not be the same.

I use a cheap, plastic, plain jane hose nozzle with a garden hose thread end (cheap enough so no one wants to "acquire it" for their one use, and if they do it's only 2-1/2 bucks down the drain.)



I warmed the end of a 6" length of poly tubing and forced it onto a GH female barb (no hose clamp needed)


The poly tubing is a skinch smaller than the ID of the deck fill so the whole shebang slips into the deck fill hole -- the head (GH barb) also fits into the 'indent' below the deck cap.  So, I don't need to stand there holding the hose -- just pop this onto my nozzle, slide it into the deck fill and let 'er rip.  And go about whatever business is at hand until I hear the stanchion peeing.  And it's all right there when I need it -- no "Dammit where did I put that last time?"

-kk

[britinusa]

Good one Ken,

I have a Filter Cartridge with a piece of Nylon hose. I connect the Cartridge to the local hose (I have several different fittings) then shove the nylon tube down the fill hole.

The Filter Cartridge has a 3 position control - Filter - Off - ByPass which I use to control the flow.

The only issue we have experienced is with the Nylon hose being forced out of the hole when the pressure is turned up. Your concept might just avoid that one!

(But of course, it's vital that the tank vent works!)

Paul

[Ron Hill]

Paul : I reread your post again. 
If you only have 3 nuts holding that stanchion then it must have been replaced.  The factory vented stanchion has 4 nuts/bolts that hold it in place.

A thought

[Stu Jackson]

I never fill the starboard tank from its own filler.  I open both valves (which Noah can't do) and fill the aft tank, gravity fills the starboard tank.

Paul, venting to the aft vent is a great idea, or just drill a vent hole in the hull below the rub rail right there.

[Lance Jones]

Stu, I have to disagree with drilling outboard below the rub rail. The reason is that it isn't unusual to put a rub rail in the water when on a good run or a storm. Imagine salt water being forced in the lower vent hole.....

[Indian Falls]

Take your stanchion off, if the po replaced it or messed with it you may want to insure its bedded correctly and not leaking into your deck.  I took all my stantions off last winter and rebedded... it is a headache and you need another person for some of it but wet decks are bad news.  I also found the welding to be inadequate on both of my vented stanchions allowing water to leak into the deck.  I welded them shut myself and hope that I got it fixed in time.  A leak on the tube or at the base will put water right in the core. 
Another thing I did was to add backer plates to all the stanchions, I make them at my shop and have about two dozen extra ...with and without the vent hole for vented stanchions.  Need any?

[britinusa]

Unable to get to the boat till this weekend to inspect the existing stanchion.

Paul

[Noah]

I agree on your advice that backing plates (I'd say stainless or thick aluminum) are the way to go. I don't have them on my boat so caution "guests" about pushing off on stanchions. Good luck with that!  I hear Garhauer has them, but yours machined with a personal touch, would be welcome too. Meanwhile, you have a standing invite to come out to San Diego and install them on MY boat! The weather is great in the winter!  Unfortunately, my knees aren't, so I am delaying that deck-kneeling job until "a future date".  It IS on my to-do list and luckily no signs of leaks (yet) that I know of.  Backing plates on my through-hulls are also on my list, scheduled for my next haulout (Oct. 2017) as I have Catalina OEM forespar 1990 valves. Sailing is my main priority for now! For awhile I lost site of that goal--spending many hours and $ rehabbing for that "future cruise" which is still a couple of years off. It's all about balance, they tell me...

[Jon W]

Catalina Direct sells the stanchion backing plates as well.

[Roger Rathbun]

Hi Paul
This situation I had in 2013 may be relevant.

http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,8262.msg57969.html#msg57969

The soft plugs that were pushed up in the stanchion tube were spun cotton or more likely synthetic (nylon/poly something). Don't know it they were to keep insects out or dust/dirt. They did restrict escaping air so much that water often bubbled up while filling, long before the tank was full. On reinstalling, I did NOT put in any filter material.
By the way, just look at the stanchion base on deck to see if you have three bolts or four. Very unlikely that it's three.
For inspecting from below, using a mirror is mandatory although figuring where is outboard and inboard takes a bit of getting used to. When I did mine (both sides in 2013) I removed the galley shelf in which the small white doors slide. A bit of a job, but the only way to get real access to the underside of the deck. That allowed me to sand the underside to take off any gobs of resin etc, then bed in a backing plate and get the four washers and nuts on, then the vent tube and hose clamp. The tube and clamp can actually be put on 'by feel' later if you wish after the shelf is back in place.
I would NOT run the vent tube to another place such as the stern of the boat, nor would I put an additional vent fitting in the side of the hull.

[britinusa]

Thanks Roger et.al.

Went down to the boat, confirmed the stbd stanchion vent is as shown above (2 small holes, the higher one slightly larger)

Disconnected the vent hose from below, started to fill center tank, water dripped out of the hose, not a lot! And tank is humped!

poked around the inside of the stanchion tube, found a blockage of dry powdery material, dug that out. Ran a wire up the tube, went up about 1' reconnected hose and tried again, humping right away.

Could be that the actual hose is blocked and that the water was just a build up. So going to replace the hose.

The stanchion does have 4 bolts but only three of them are in view aft of the galley bulkhead.

Paul

[KWKloeber]

Paul,  ditto as I said before about running it aft:

No dips, no kinks = no errors. 

CTY trained precision technicians were notorious for leaving too much vent hose on the C30s, and they form dips that collect water.

-kk