Thought I'd share a couple of upgrades I made this year to my 2001 Hunter 290. It's been a great sailboat but had one mishap too many. The 290 has a blower from the engine compartment to remove excess heat. It is connected to the outside via a white hose like the one found on clothes dryers. The hose has a circular wire running through it to keep it open. One day while under power, the end of this hose came lose and fell onto the propeller shaft. The wire quickly wrapped itself around the shaft, actually slicing through the stuffing box and letting in gallons of water. Here's a fish story if you ever heard one: as the twenty feet of hose, which contains fifty or more feet of wire, wrapped itself around the shaft, it actually restuffed the stuffing box. The engine shuddered, I shut it down, and went below to ffind out what had happened. I found an enormous mess of wire and plastic, but the water was no longer coming in. The upgrade: we reinstalled the white hose, but put a 4 foot piece of stiffer aluminium hose onto the blower, as can be found in any Home Depot. Its flexible enough to go around corners, but won't (shouldn't) get tangled in the propeller shaft again. A second upgrade: my mechanic noted that you can't readily get to the fuel shutoff valve. In case of an emergency, you may want to install an access panel on the right side of the rear panel in the stern bedroom. I'd be curious if anyone else has ever had problems with the hose or has considered the access panel. Greg Emerson at Hunter had never heard of the hose problem and was extremely helpful providing relief. Thanks for any comments.
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nick maggio
no problems
I did have the hose coming off the blower but thats it,its held on the wood with plastic straps but I will check it out tomorrow. I think the excess to fuel shut off is a good idea also,I will see what to do it would make changeing fuel filter easer.
I did have the hose coming off the blower but thats it,its held on the wood with plastic straps but I will check it out tomorrow. I think the excess to fuel shut off is a good idea also,I will see what to do it would make changeing fuel filter easer.
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Gregg
Fuel Shutoff Valve
It doesn't make sense not to have one, but I didn't realize the 290 did have a fuel shutoff.
It doesn't make sense not to have one, but I didn't realize the 290 did have a fuel shutoff.
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Brian
My smelly 290 spring upgrade
Hi Paul, thanks for the blower pipe tip. I'll be checking mine for loose ends for sure now. What a mess! Speaking of a mess, wondering if any of you had my 290 problem -> nasty waste holding tank backflow! I suppose the head waste line has a check valve that should prevent this, but I noticed it only occurred when the tank was nearing capacity. Any other time and my head behaved perfectly. Closer inspection at the tank revealed that the waste line from the head enters the tank on the side of the tank near the top. So, when the tank was near to full, and the boat heeled on a SB tack or rocked from wave action, the ooze was allowed to slosh around and enter back into the waste line to fester until the next flush. Sometimes, I'd leave the boat with a clean, dry head, come back next time and the head was full of this smelly ooze. Unacc-septic-al!! I guess even the slight back pressure created by having ooze in the pipe higher than the head was too much for the 'check valve' and so over a week's time it slowly seeped thru to fill the bowl. At first I thought the valve was needing replacement or cleaning, and maybe it does, so I haven't ruled out it's part of the problem as well, but I figured a better way to attack the problem first was at the source - the pipe's entrance to the tank. First I had it drained and flushed. Using a hole saw, I cut a 1-1/2" hole into the top of the tank nearest to the center as possible. Loosened the 4 pipe clamps and original section of hose, and unscrewed the original 90 degree threaded pipe fitting from the tank. Cleaned and caulked it and screwed it into the new hole at the top. The old hole was easily plugged with a threaded schedule 40 'cap' and caulk. Home Depot had both the cap and the exact same type of 1-1/2" I.D. hose. I bought a section approx 2' and cut to fit to replace the old hose, except bent the new one over the top of the tank and into the diverted pipe fitting along with some caulk at the fittings. Cranked down on the clamps and tested it out - perfecto, no kinks, no leaks. Now its going to take blatant disregard on my part for tank pumping out before I see ooze in my bowl again. Before the last pumpout, I marked the tank meter to indicate when I get into the real red zone since I was never certain when full meant full before. Mine actually shows about 4/5 full when its actually very near the top. Hope this helps another 290 owner suffering similarly. Not a bad fix for $5 and 2 hours. brian
Hi Paul, thanks for the blower pipe tip. I'll be checking mine for loose ends for sure now. What a mess! Speaking of a mess, wondering if any of you had my 290 problem -> nasty waste holding tank backflow! I suppose the head waste line has a check valve that should prevent this, but I noticed it only occurred when the tank was nearing capacity. Any other time and my head behaved perfectly. Closer inspection at the tank revealed that the waste line from the head enters the tank on the side of the tank near the top. So, when the tank was near to full, and the boat heeled on a SB tack or rocked from wave action, the ooze was allowed to slosh around and enter back into the waste line to fester until the next flush. Sometimes, I'd leave the boat with a clean, dry head, come back next time and the head was full of this smelly ooze. Unacc-septic-al!! I guess even the slight back pressure created by having ooze in the pipe higher than the head was too much for the 'check valve' and so over a week's time it slowly seeped thru to fill the bowl. At first I thought the valve was needing replacement or cleaning, and maybe it does, so I haven't ruled out it's part of the problem as well, but I figured a better way to attack the problem first was at the source - the pipe's entrance to the tank. First I had it drained and flushed. Using a hole saw, I cut a 1-1/2" hole into the top of the tank nearest to the center as possible. Loosened the 4 pipe clamps and original section of hose, and unscrewed the original 90 degree threaded pipe fitting from the tank. Cleaned and caulked it and screwed it into the new hole at the top. The old hole was easily plugged with a threaded schedule 40 'cap' and caulk. Home Depot had both the cap and the exact same type of 1-1/2" I.D. hose. I bought a section approx 2' and cut to fit to replace the old hose, except bent the new one over the top of the tank and into the diverted pipe fitting along with some caulk at the fittings. Cranked down on the clamps and tested it out - perfecto, no kinks, no leaks. Now its going to take blatant disregard on my part for tank pumping out before I see ooze in my bowl again. Before the last pumpout, I marked the tank meter to indicate when I get into the real red zone since I was never certain when full meant full before. Mine actually shows about 4/5 full when its actually very near the top. Hope this helps another 290 owner suffering similarly. Not a bad fix for $5 and 2 hours. brian
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Peggie Hall/HeadMistress
Hoo boy...
I hope your tank isn't plastic...'cuz if it is, it's gonna leak. Caulk doesn't bond to polyethylene...nothing does, at least not for very long. And, I don't think you solved the problem of runback when you're heeled unless you put the new fitting away from the hull and toward the centerline of the boat. All you really needed to do--and the right solution--was put a vented loop, or even just an arch, in the head discharge hose that's at least 8-12" above the waterline at any angle of heel. And replave the joker valve in your toilet. I suspect you'll still have to do both to prevent runback when you're heeled. As far as any water left in the hose that runs uphill from the toilet, a quart of clean fresh water down the toilet when you close up the boat will rinse out the waste...so any runback from the top of the loop will only be clean water. Otoh, if the tank is aluminum, the caulk will hold for a while anyway...at least till urine eats through the tank..and then you can plumb the replacement correctly.
I hope your tank isn't plastic...'cuz if it is, it's gonna leak. Caulk doesn't bond to polyethylene...nothing does, at least not for very long. And, I don't think you solved the problem of runback when you're heeled unless you put the new fitting away from the hull and toward the centerline of the boat. All you really needed to do--and the right solution--was put a vented loop, or even just an arch, in the head discharge hose that's at least 8-12" above the waterline at any angle of heel. And replave the joker valve in your toilet. I suspect you'll still have to do both to prevent runback when you're heeled. As far as any water left in the hose that runs uphill from the toilet, a quart of clean fresh water down the toilet when you close up the boat will rinse out the waste...so any runback from the top of the loop will only be clean water. Otoh, if the tank is aluminum, the caulk will hold for a while anyway...at least till urine eats through the tank..and then you can plumb the replacement correctly.
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Mike
Luz Cruz
I drilled a small screw into the plastic housing of the fan, through the duct wall, behind the first couple of turns of wire to hold the duct on the fan. (Although I don't know why the ducts aren't the metal kind to start with!)
I drilled a small screw into the plastic housing of the fan, through the duct wall, behind the first couple of turns of wire to hold the duct on the fan. (Although I don't know why the ducts aren't the metal kind to start with!)
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Paul Hitchcox
Mike's right
Just an FYI but using a couple of screws is an excellent idea, as Mike points out. As he mentions, hold back a couple of turns of wire to make the most secure connection. That is how the white hose is connected to the exiting port in the stern.
Just an FYI but using a couple of screws is an excellent idea, as Mike points out. As he mentions, hold back a couple of turns of wire to make the most secure connection. That is how the white hose is connected to the exiting port in the stern.
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