Hunter 306 New Owner Questions

Arbee

.
May 22, 2019
34
Hunter 306 571 Westernport Vic
Thanks again Jay! I'll keep this next question more generic in case our boat is no longer to original spec.

Today we pressurised the water system for the first time, and as could be expected after the boat has been basically unused for nearly 18 months, there was a problem.

The good news is the water pump sprang into action and the system started to pressurise. The bad news, within 15 minutes we had a couple of litres of water in the bilge (I checked it was dry before we started). Checked the V berth where the water tank is, dry. Checked the starboard berth where the water heater and most of the plumbing is, dry. However, if you reach forward from the bilge underneath the water heater there is a shallow pool of water that trickles into the bilge. There was nothing in the rear bilge sections so we're confident it's coming from underneath the water heater somewhere out of sight from above.

The other frustrating news is that the set up and the manual don't look much alike. The page in the (2004) 306 manual is dated 1999, so I suspect several changes were made in the interim. There is a red "wheel" valve amid the main plumbing behind the water heater that was closed but I haven't yet worked out its purpose.

I'm back there tomorrow to try and figure this out but if Jay or anyone has "been there done that" i'd love to know. The hot water system wasn't activated, just the pressure. I'm thinking a water tank leak underneath where I can't see it, or a relief valve leak (drains through the hole into the bilge), or.....?

Thanks for any insight, photos attached of the area. Edit: I just checked the original sale details, the water heater was apparently new in 2016 and certainly looks new with its white enamel finish.

Cheers, Robert
 

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Jun 25, 2004
475
Hunter 306 Pasadena MD
Thanks again Jay! I'll keep this next question more generic in case our boat is no longer to original spec.

Today we pressurised the water system for the first time, and as could be expected after the boat has been basically unused for nearly 18 months, there was a problem.

The good news is the water pump sprang into action and the system started to pressurise. The bad news, within 15 minutes we had a couple of litres of water in the bilge (I checked it was dry before we started). Checked the V berth where the water tank is, dry. Checked the starboard berth where the water heater and most of the plumbing is, dry. However, if you reach forward from the bilge underneath the water heater there is a shallow pool of water that trickles into the bilge. There was nothing in the rear bilge sections so we're confident it's coming from underneath the water heater somewhere out of sight from above.

The other frustrating news is that the set up and the manual don't look much alike. The page in the (2004) 306 manual is dated 1999, so I suspect several changes were made in the interim. There is a red "wheel" valve amid the main plumbing behind the water heater that was closed but I haven't yet worked out its purpose.

I'm back there tomorrow to try and figure this out but if Jay or anyone has "been there done that" i'd love to know. The hot water system wasn't activated, just the pressure. I'm thinking a water tank leak underneath where I can't see it, or a relief valve leak (drains through the hole into the bilge), or.....?

Thanks for any insight, photos attached of the area. Edit: I just checked the original sale details, the water heater was apparently new in 2016 and certainly looks new with its white enamel finish.

Cheers, Robert
Your setup (near the water heater) looks almost the same as ours, except that your water pump is oriented 90 degrees to ours. Which they may have changed when they put in the new water heater. If you're seeing water coming from that general area (the heater), it should be very easy to figure out. Either it's coming from a leak in the tank on the bottom (very unlikely, since it's new), or it's coming from one of the plastic red/blue water line fittings. Oops: or it's coming from the gate valve (looks like a hose bib) which is (probably) used for draining the hot water tank. (At least ours is.) They may have just left this open when they were winterizing!

With apologies if all of this is obvious and you've already done it:

If it's not the drain, just hold a paper towel under each of the fittings and you'll find out which one it is. Don't forget the pump itself and its fittings and the filter/screen with the clear cover. Each of these fittings can be undone by hand (sometimes not easily) by sliding the little ring on the black plastic fitting towards the main body of the fitting, and then pulling the red or blue tubing out. One of them may not be seated properly. So you probably don't need to undo them: just push them in more firmly to seat them.

BTW: once you get this figured out, there's a really cool way of bypassing the hot water heater when you do winter layup by just unplugging the cold-in and hot-out from the HWH and connecting them together. You almost don't need any tools. This keeps the pink non-toxic antifreeze out of the HWH (which you do need to drain pretty thoroughly with a wet vac). But it allows you to put the antifreeze in the main water tank and then routes it into both cold and hot water tubes.
 

Arbee

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May 22, 2019
34
Hunter 306 571 Westernport Vic
Thanks Jay - with a dry boat, a clear head and everything exposed when I pressurised the water today, the red gate valve controlling the drain output is indeed the issue. Whether it's open or closed, as soon as pressure is applied water starts coming out of the drain hose (attached). That silver hose obviously linked to the other piece of gear that is just sitting next to the tank (connects to the black hose) but I haven't got my head around the OPs original intention with it. At that particular spot, the water runs forward to the bow slowly before trickling under the tank, therefore giving the appearance of it originating from under the tank.

So, I just need to decide whether to try and clean/fix the valve, replace it, or just simply plug the drain (given we don't need to winterise here in Melbourne). There was no obvious leakage apparent at the time of the surveyors report with a very brief pressure test (from last May, how time flies!) so I'm hoping it might just have picked up some scale, dirt etc. in its travels to Australia.

Thanks again, Robert (PS if I read the code correctly we are hull no 571, HUN30571D405)
 

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Arbee

.
May 22, 2019
34
Hunter 306 571 Westernport Vic
Is there any prebend in the furling mast?
Not that I'm aware. I believe a little bend is possible with the furling mast but not sure it achieves much and may make the furling more problematic. Don't quote me on that though, only anecdotal - I'm no expert.

Cheers, Robert
 

Arbee

.
May 22, 2019
34
Hunter 306 571 Westernport Vic
Just checking back in to see what folk here recommend re the stuffing box. Given the boat was dry for 18 months before we got her, the stuffing box seems stubbornly leaky (at rest). It was leaking heavily when we re-launched, seemed to tighten fine, now leaking again at rest but less heavy. I'm assuming the packing needs to be replaced. Some seem to recommend hang the expense and go straight to PSS, though I'm tempted to try something like GFO packing first. What say you?

Thanks, Robert
 
Oct 22, 2014
20,993
CAL 35 Cruiser #21 moored EVERETT WA
Robert. As always a question like this, depends. It is your boat and your sailing kitty - this is your decision.

The stuffing box is a tried and true system to run a boat with an auxiliary motor. The drip from the box is minimal when properly maintained. Will not sink your boat. Will put a little water in your bilge. Manageable by a bilge pump.

Maintenance requires inspection, tightening, and replacement when drip exceeds normal. No drops when sitting, a single drop every 1-3 minutes when shaft is turning. No heat on shaft and stuffing box. (I monitor with an infrared temp gauge).

Sounds like you may be ready for stuffing replacement. I have found traditional waxed flax to be cheap and reliable.

If money is no challenge then a drip less PSS gives you a dry bilge (at least no water from the stuffing box) at a fair cost. Note it is not a no maintenance solution. You still need to regularly inspect the PSS and replace the rubber shaft log every 5-7years depending on wear. Also the unit is a drip less solution. Not a drip free solution. Wear on the mated collar surface can drip. It will tell you it wants help when it begins to drip.Usually this means a resurfacing or replacement.

That said owners swear by them more than at them.

Good luck, mate.
 
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Jun 25, 2004
475
Hunter 306 Pasadena MD
Just checking back in to see what folk here recommend re the stuffing box. Given the boat was dry for 18 months before we got her, the stuffing box seems stubbornly leaky (at rest). It was leaking heavily when we re-launched, seemed to tighten fine, now leaking again at rest but less heavy. I'm assuming the packing needs to be replaced. Some seem to recommend hang the expense and go straight to PSS, though I'm tempted to try something like GFO packing first. What say you?

Thanks, Robert
I would assume that the packing has never been replaced. As I just posted elsewhere, I've done ours twice since 2004 with the teflon-impregnated packing material (don't recall which brand: I think it was 3/16" though). The stuffing box on our boat has never once gotten even warm to the touch (yes, I've checked it after motoring for long periods), and frankly the drips are very minimal. Usually, it doesn't drip at all when we're at the slip, after things have settled in from changing the packing. (We launched yesterday, and it did have a very slow drip for a while after we got to the slip. By today, this had stopped.) I tend to leave a big chunk of sponge under it, and it never even gets saturated, so I almost never get any appreciable water in the bilge from the stuffing box.

Anyway, my conclusion would be that the standard stuffing box on the 306 works just fine, provided the packing is changed every 5-6 years. Since you're already in the water, it's my understanding that it can be rather exciting to change with water coming into the boat, but I've never done it. Out of the water, it's just tedious. I made a couple of picks: one out of a cheap very thin awl that I bent, and one out of a drywall screw, to use in removing the packing. It helps to have a bright light, a mirror, a ton of patience, and a young back. I had a light and a mirror...

Jay
 
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Jun 25, 2004
475
Hunter 306 Pasadena MD
Oh: also, I just bought this way cool new wrench for the stuffing box, since it can be a bear to get the packing nut free from the lock nut:

Ares 53mm Stubby Adjustable Wrench

I think just about any really big wrench will work on the packing nut (the big one: I use water-pump pliers), but the lock nut gives me fits, since it's very thin.
 
Jun 25, 2004
475
Hunter 306 Pasadena MD
Also, also: I just un-bypassed the hot water heater today (you bypass it so it doesn't get antifreeze in it, then you have to drain it with a wet vac for winter) and I happened to take a picture, mostly to remind myself of how the bypass works. It won't be exactly the same for yours, but more or less the same:

hot_water.jpeg

The first and last steps in either bypassing or un-bypassing are always to unscrew the output fitting from the pump: that's the knurled thing at the bottom of the picture. You need this so you can move things around to have enough clearance to attach or detach the tubes. In the picture, the blue-hose-snake-mess is sitting up almost on top of the pump, and I've just removed the 90 degree elbow on the red/hot tube from the black fitting connected to the 2 lengths of blue tubing. To hook it up again, the red/hot fitting goes into the brass fitting with the black plastic ring at the top of the picture ("HOT WATER OUT"), and the blue/black hose mess plugs into a raw brass pipe coming out of the HWH which is barely visible, down near the bottom of the HWH. You just push both fittings on, and screw the knurled fitting back onto the pump, and then sail off into the sunset...

Actually, you wrestle with the whole mess for longer than it should take, redo it a couple of times, clean up lots of water or antifreeze, check why it's leaking, tighten things a bit, clean up again, etc. But it's still relatively easy. Also, you need to undo (or reattach, depending) the 2 cable ties which hold the red and blue water tubes to the bulkhead, again, to get enough clearance to move the tubes around so you can make or break the connections. They may have slightly replumbed your setup to accommodate the new HWH, but it's basically the same thing. I think.
 

Arbee

.
May 22, 2019
34
Hunter 306 571 Westernport Vic
Thanks Jay, very reassuring - I think I'll just stick with the "tried and true" packing for now and see how it goes. I do like a dry boat!
In regard to the hot water service drain leaking, I replaced the gate valve with a ball valve and problem solved. There was a lot of chalky residue that had hardened in the gate over time.

Cheers, Robert
 

Arbee

.
May 22, 2019
34
Hunter 306 571 Westernport Vic
Hi again, I thought I'd keep my thread going here as I work through the remaining puzzles and challenges with our 306.

This query is regarding the 306 assym spinnaker. I have a nice new sail in a sock (looks unused) sitting in the sailbag, and a halyard for it, but no coaming winches or dedicated sheeting gear. The manual shows the extra coaming winches, blocks etc as "optional". There is however a metal loop welded to the forward end of the arch low down on each side, not sure about their purpose. Is there a trick to flying the assym spinnaker without dedicated sheeting gear?

Thanks, otherwise we're just loving this boat despite limited use during recent months with lockdown. Come on Oz summer and post-virus!

Cheers, Robert
 
Jun 25, 2004
475
Hunter 306 Pasadena MD
Hi again, I thought I'd keep my thread going here as I work through the remaining puzzles and challenges with our 306.

This query is regarding the 306 assym spinnaker.
[omitted]

Cheers, Robert
Sorry, Robert. No help here: I'd love to have an asymmetrical, but we don't. Probably cheaper than getting a whisker pole, although... I really want a whisker pole. :)

BTW: we're H306 #570, so probably made the same week as yours. My wife and I visited Sydney and Swansea TAZ in 2018, so I'm pleased to think that our sister ship has made it to the other side of the world. Glad you're enjoying the new boat!

Jay
 

Arbee

.
May 22, 2019
34
Hunter 306 571 Westernport Vic
Great to hear from you Jay, hope you're (and everyone on this forum) is safe and well. We hear a lot of sad news over here in Oz about the US situation with this virus. So, our boats are siblings made one after the other, that's fun news! If you ever make it back here and to Melbourne, make sure you get in touch.

As it turned out, the "white splodge" in our head floor that I thought from photos was silicon is actually a rough DIY fibreglass repair. It must be, as was suggested earlier in this thread, just a weak spot in the moulding in that corner. I've looked under the floor from the aft berth and it looks otherwise completely dry and solid. Just need to decide whether to have it sanded back and colour matched, or do something more creative with the floor and edging. I'm aware of, and have some, of the Hunter gelcoat repair kit for the external white - not sure if there is anything comparable for the interior cream/beige gelcoat.

Anyway, thanks again for being the brains trust for our adventure with this boat. Importing was a big decision and an anxious time given the horror stories you hear, but we couldn't be happier (except to see the end of this virus and the start of summer!).

Best, Robert