Correct way to hook up Waste tank Hunter 31 1984?

woodster · Apr 3, 2016

captain john24377 said:
I have 1984 Hunter 31 - it has a factory installed waste holding tank. The boat has been sitting in the boat yard for over 5 years- I would like to hook up the waste tank so I can pump it out at the marina. Presently it is hook up in a "u" -it does not go overboard or to the tank. I have looked for a diagram how to hook it but have not found any.

My questions:
*There is a deck fitting on starboard to put the pump out hose in
*Do I need a "y" valve if I am not going to discharge overboard no you don't
*Can I just put the Toilet discharge hose directly to the tank (seems to on bottom of tank) yes you can but i would rather see it on the high side of the tank and the pump out hose on the bottom of the side
Any suggestions or ideas would be appreciated. Thanks

if you are on a freshwater lake that is the way to do it but if you think you will venture out past the three mile limit you may want to set it up for overboard discharge as well

woodster · Apr 3, 2016

click your quote to see the other answers in my post

Steve Dion · Apr 3, 2016

Check out the West Marine Catalogue. They had a diagram on how to configure it properly. You would probably want everything to go into the tank and then have a "Y" so you can either pump overboard or discharge through the deck fitting.

This is exactly what we did with our 1985 H'31

kloudie1 · Apr 3, 2016

Original set up from the owner's manual is post #5 in this thread.
http://forums.sailboatowners.com/in...iring-lights-on-1983-h31.177951/#post-1281738

Stu Jackson · Apr 3, 2016

Steve Dion said:
Check out the West Marine Catalogue. They had a diagram on how to configure it properly. You would probably want everything to go into the tank and then have a "Y" so you can either pump overboard or discharge through the deck fitting.

Steve's right.

But, and I post this regularly, the ONE option they DON'T show is the simplest: Y valve BEFORE the tank.

Why push all the shite through the tank if it CAN go overboard?

The link to WM's stuff:

http://www.westmarine.com/WestAdvisor/Selecting-a-Sanitation-System

"They had a diagram..."

They always have it. EVERYBODY should bookmark the WM Advisors. Before the internet they were (and remain) a fabulous technical resource.

kloudie1 · Apr 3, 2016

Original was set up so the head always go to tank and there was no Y valve. The same line that went to the deck fitting for pump out has a tee that also goes to a hand diaphragm pump which discharges through a high vented loop to an overboard thru hull. With that thru hull valve secured, you are always legal.. With the valve open, you can hand pump the tank overboard. When I bought my boat back in '91, I bought a Y valve to bypass the tank, but I never did install it since the original system works very well. The cap on the pump out fitting must be sealed or the hand pump can lose suction, but that is not a problem.
As another member says, "your boat your choice."

Peggie Hall HeadMistress · Apr 3, 2016

I admit that I'm a bit prejudiced, but I think you'll find some pretty good information about how to install and maintain a holding tank here too: http://shop.sailboatowners.com/prod.php?53615

Peggie Hall HeadMistress · Apr 3, 2016

Btw...If your holding was factory installed when the boat was new, it's most likely aluminum 'cuz that's what Hunter was using in 1984. By the early '90s, they--along with just about every other boat builder--had realized that any metal, even 316 stainless but especially aluminum, is a bad choice for sewage holding because urine is so corrosive that it turns a metal tank into a colander in a few years, and had switched to rotomolded seamless polyethelene. So if your tank is plastic, it's likely to be ok, but I'd pressure test it before installing it. But if it is aluminum you'd be wise to replace it now instead of waiting till you have to deal with cleaning up after a leak in addition to replacing it. Unfortunately, that's not all the bad news. The rubber parts in any toilet that's been sitting unused for several years will have dried out and started to crumble. So at least the toilet will need a rebuild (if it's a Jabsco, a service kit is about 85% the cost of a new pump, so you'd be better off replacing the pump). If it's Wilcox-Crittenden Headmate, they're no longer made, so you'll have no choice but to replace the whole toilet. Hoses also dry out, become hard and brittle and start to crack, so you'll need new hoses too. Trying to salvage any of it will result in a system that will only give you multiple problems that won't be any fun at all to solve and you'll end up replacing everything, one thing at a time anyway. Replacing it all at once may be a bigger expense than you've planned for, but it's always cheaper and easier to do anything right the first time than it is to do any of it over.