alternate means and materials

[packman]

Hello Madame,
I have a question about alternate means and materials for waste plumbing for my Lancer 27. Must I use the standard soft plumbing or can I run waste lines in stainless steel or ABS? I Teach plumbing as a subject to apprentices in the facility maintenance trades and it seems funny that with good rigid tubing methods and materials available we use permeable plastic hose for waste plumbing. The only reasons I can think of is ease of use or safety considerations should plastics get brittle or stainless corrode.

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

vibration is the major reason for avoiding any rigid material. Boats flex as do their plumbing components which must also be flexible.

 

[Ross]

Its worth a try! if it goes bad you can clean up the mess and redo in some other material.

 

[Peggie Hall HeadMistress]

Hard PVC is ok for long straight runs...but--

Unlike houses and other buildings, boats get tossed around a lot and even occasionally bang against docks, which causes 'em to flex and torque and requires that the plumbing have built in "shock absorbers" If hard pipe is used, it's necessary to "soft couple" it to anything rigid--toilet, tank, y-valve, thru-hull, pump etc--with enough hose to do that. So unless you have a long straight run, too many unions would be required to make hard pipe practical.

If you had a 40' yacht, you might have a straight plumbing run that's long enough to use hard PVC (never stainless or any other metal in a sanitation system!)...but on a 27 ' sailboat, it's best to stick with flexible hose. Trident 101/102 Trident Marine: Sanitation Hose is your best bet...in all the years it's been on the market there has yet to be a single reported odor permeation failure. And the online store here has it for a very good price.

 

[packman]

Thanks for the info Peggy and Don. Thanks for the witty (half) remarks Ross