Galley Sink Drain Replacement - Late to the Party

Dave Spencer · May 23, 2018, 06:06:17 PM

Others have discussed options for galley sink drain replacements but I'm a little late to the party. Our galley sink drains were starting to look a little worse for wear along with the common complaints about the originals being slow to drain and backing up in one sink while draining the other. After searching the forum, I really liked Fred's solution on his former boat Dolphina using home ABS pipe complete with a cleanout port shown here http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,7597.msg57236.html#msg57236 and here. https://blog.koehlmann.ca/marine-maintenance/replace-sinks-drains-in-galley/ But, I have a drawer where others have a microwave cutout so I was limited to 4 1/2" clearance as shown in the picture.

So, Ambassador low profile drains seemed like the best choice. However, I couldn't find a source for Ambassador drains in Canada. I could ship them from the United States but unpredictable shipping, duty and tax costs can make that quite expensive. The Ambassadors were $23.99 USD at Defender. Fortunately, I found a substitute at Marine Outfitters in Kingston, Ontario. They had a Barka PF2535 low profile drain made in Italy for only $12.99 CDN, far less than half the price with minimal costs to ship it down the 401 to me in London. https://www.marineoutfitters.ca/index.cfm?category=10036|10692|10831&product=45780478&code=8029490094520 https://www.barka.it/en/products-barka/drains-fittings/single/drains-fittings-single/pf-2535.html

Thanks to Stu's Mainsheet article, I knew it would be a bear to remove the old drains and that I had to slightly expand the hole in the sink to make the new drain fit. http://www.c34.org/mainsheet/html/2014/Galley%20sink%20drain%20replacement.htm Brute force did the trick to remove the old drains and Cdn Tire Rotary Tool and Dremel Stainless cutting bit to the rescue to easily enlarge the drain hole by about 2mm. Fortunately, precision is not required here as I wasn't very even with my cutting around the circumference of each hole. The flange hides it all. I bedded the flanges with plumber's putty and pre-assembled the new drains onto the hoses to make installation easier. I ran each individual drain about 250-300 mm before joining them similar to Steve's routing shown here. (I didn't take a picture of the completed installation

) http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,7597.msg52939.html#msg52939 I reused the T fitting except, to improve drainage from the outboard sink which we use the most, I connected its hose in line with the "master" drain hose along the top of the T. The inboard sink joins to the 90 deg barb.

I'm also a little nervous about the temperature rating of the common reinforced PVC hose made by Trident and others. Defender shows it as rated to 150F which isn't great when draining a boiling pot of spaghetti down the drain as I did last night. It also seems like a weak link below the waterline. I've replaced most of my below the waterline hoses with Trident 102 1" sanitation hose. Temperature rating is not stated but it is far more robust than the reinforced PVC and I have had it as my main galley drain hose subject to many boiling pots of spaghetti for about 4 years with no problems.

Results are very good. It's an attractive installation that drains quickly and doesn't back up into the other sink unless the water is filled to about 50mm from the lip which almost never happens.
This job was relatively easy mainly because I knew what to expect from Stu's Mainsheet writeup.

5 pics attached... a couple more in the next post

Dave Spencer · May 23, 2018, 06:12:49 PM

Two more pics.

Enlarging the drain hole by about 2mm and tools for enlarging the hole. The stainless cutting Dremel bit is particularly important. The sink material won't yield to a standard Dremel grinder or lesser cutting tools easily.

KWKloeber · May 23, 2018, 08:38:49 PM

Dave

That looks great. If you get heartburn over hot spaghetti water, how about a pc of water/exhaust hose? 200 F (maybe 250 F) rated.

It wouldn't work in your situation, but one thing sometimes I where I'll need to remove pipe sometime later for cleaning or whatnot, is to use PVC or CPVC, and clamp (not glue) a fitting connection or two at a key locations so I can unscrew another fitting/elbow/whatever. Obviously, that's for non pressure applications.
An ABA pr AWAB worm drive clamp usually works fine, although on 1" Schedule 80 suction PVC I use T-bolt clamps. Nary an air leak and I'm drawing 20" mercury (about 20' of water head) vacuum on the lines.

Oh, a minor point of information but just for accuracy - the black stuff is (typically) ABS pipe for drain-waste-vent.

-k

Dave Spencer · May 24, 2018, 03:46:26 AM

Ken,
I had PVC on the brain as I was checking specs for the reinforced PCV drinking water hose. Of course the home stuff that Fred used on Dolphina is ABS. I updated my post.

I was thinking of using higher temp rated hose (exhaust hose??) but quickly discarded the idea since it isn't very flexible and is very expensive. Plus I had about 3 m of the Trident waste hose lying around after I redid my holding tank vent.

I'm likely overthinking this and the reinforced PVC is likely OK below the waterline with near boiling water flowing through it. I haven't heard of any stories where a cruiser was innocently pouring hot water down the drain, the hose failed and the boat sank, but I don't want to be the first!

Ron Hill · May 24, 2018, 02:38:50 PM

Dave : Anything is better than what the factory installed for the galley sink drain!! There must be at least 20-30 different sink drain ideas in WiKi, this Message Board and Mainsheet Tech Notes!! (pictures and articles) Your choice

BTW, I installed a 6 inch deep drawer to replace the 2 inch factory drawer.

A few thoughts

KWKloeber · May 24, 2018, 08:27:13 PM

Dave

I'm totally not familiar with the 34 galley drain. It correct that the drain hose wants to be 1" but there's the limitation of the barb @ the sea cock.

-k

Paulus · May 25, 2018, 01:50:45 AM

There must be at least 20-30 different sink drain ideas in WiKi, this Message Board and Mainsheet Tech Notes!! (pictures and articles)
Dave, check out Ron's suggestions. Lots of ideas. I did our boat back then but changed it to 1"1/4. Replaced thru hull and had to find baskets for the sink to take the larger hoses. RV places are a great source. The problem with the 1" hose is the shut off valve. It has only 3/4" inside measurement.(I think that is on a good day). My previous boat had the 1" 1/4 drain hose.
Paul
PS: Got rid of the plunger.

Jon W · May 25, 2018, 09:41:24 AM

When my galley sink drains literally fell apart a few years ago, I used the Ambassador style fitting on the sinks and replaced the tee combining the two sinks with a "y" fitting. The "y" combines the drain flow instead of opposing with the tee.

Ron Hill · May 25, 2018, 04:56:18 PM

Guys : FYI, a 1 inch hose will fit on to the galley sink thru hull. I used the white hose and heated it to slide onto the fitting.

A thought

Jim Hardesty · May 26, 2018, 05:06:39 AM

Somewhat off the subject, excuse me. One thing that bugs the Admiral is that the sink bottoms are a little raised or at least flat and the last 1/8 inch of water needs to be pushed to the drain. I've thought when the sink drain needs reworked I'd try to bend the bottom so it totally drained. Possibly a jig pushing the center hole down. Has anyone done this? Or maybe it's just my boat.
Jim

Ron Hill · May 26, 2018, 08:44:52 AM

Jim : Sounds as though the middle of your galley sink got pushed up. Never heard of that before.

A thought

KWKloeber · May 26, 2018, 09:48:38 AM

Jim

Have something similar on my 30. I tried a block between the sink and headliner and a bar but it just popped back. Next, blocking and a jack w/ more ooomph factor. Of course the list adds to the problem (I'd move the WH from the sail locker to under the Qb, but that would loose my excellent battery space there.)

-k

Stu Jackson · May 26, 2018, 11:33:31 AM

Quote from: Jim Hardesty on May 26, 2018, 05:06:39 AM>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
One thing that bugs the Admiral is that the sink bottoms are a little raised or at least flat and the last 1/8 inch of water needs to be pushed to the drain. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Not just your sink(s), mine leave just a tad of water on the bottom. I just got used to it, and have the starboard sink as our "dry" sink (mostly

). It's just the nature of a ss flat bottomed sink. If I forget to do a last wipe of the sink before I leave the boat, I can see where it dried out.

I'd be careful about doing anything. When I replaced my sink drains and had to gouge the holes out to make them bigger, the work kinda warped the whole assembly and pushed the overlapping edge up some, requiring sealant under the lip! That metal is very thin. I recommend you learn to live with it. Unintended consequences and all that...

Jim Hardesty · May 27, 2018, 04:53:53 AM

Thanks to Ken and Stu. It was just something at the back of my mind to fix when/if I had to redo the drains. Now I won't bother with that small thing. I can say that it's the way it's suppose to be. I just can't think of a good reason why.

Jim