Hunter pex plumbing connections

Jacques C · Oct 21, 2013

pex

I have replaced all of the water pressure plumbing on my Hunter 34 with pex. I used the pex pliers and connector rings although there are also some other fittings that can be taken apart easily. Connections with the pressed on rings are sometimes difficult to take apart. I have a tool that is suppose to do that but it has not always worked for me. I just cut the plastic pipe and connected it back together with the part that joins sections of pipe. All of my fittings were leak free from the very beginning. It was easy. Taking out all of the cabinets and floor to get to the pipe was not easy. Good luck.
Jacques

chuckwayne · Oct 21, 2013

the whale fitting Hunter uses can be opened and reconnected easily. just make sure you fully seat the tube when you re-insert

sailaway_H36 · Oct 21, 2013

info on pex

Here is a link where you can find info and a video on how pex connections work.

http://seatechinc.com/Technical

wufibugs · Oct 21, 2013

My boat had the old style grey pex piping and connectors. This stuff is hard to come by. The newer pex piping and fittings, as illustrated in Sailaway's link, just does not seem as robust as the original.

quadrille38 · Oct 22, 2013

PEX is very easy to work with. Fittings easy to disconnect for winterization.
Biggest thing in working with it is to make sure there are no burrs or debris on the tubing or you won't get a good seal.
Also be careful of the "o" rings inside the fittings. If they move or you distort them you will have a leak.

I purchased and installed a permanent water heater bypass system for winterization purposes. Bought the kit from Defender but SBO may carry the parts too. It was a bit of a challenge to install just because of tight spaces and working upside down in the bilge but now that it is in it eliminates the need to disconnect fittings to winterize the plumbing.

Ivan · Oct 25, 2013

What is the difference...

Can anyone educate me on the difference between Whale fittings and Pex fittings? Superficially they appear the same.

Lost Parent · Oct 25, 2013

I believe the old grey piping was what was called Quest piping

chuckwayne · Oct 25, 2013

Re: What is the difference...

Whale is just one brand that has focused on the marine market and is generally available at chandleries - WM carries them, for example. You do need to be careful when working on an older boat - like our 356s, Ivan. The early - ours is also a 2002 Hunters used metric tube, so you need to get the right fittings

quadrille38 · Oct 26, 2013

chuckwayne said:
Whale is just one brand that has focused on the marine market and is generally available at chandleries - WM carries them, for example. You do need to be careful when working on an older boat - like our 356s, Ivan. The early - ours is also a 2002 Hunters used metric tube, so you need to get the right fittings

Funny you mention this because I was just going to give the same caution.

The pex materials are available in metric and English dimensions. My 2008 is plumbed with metric. The water heater bypass assembly I bought from Defender was in English and came with the needed English / metric conversion fittings.

The local hardware and the big box home stores carry all the tubing and fittings but they are English measurements so you will likely need to go to one of the marine outlets if you need metric. Defender carries both.

Greg Reardon · Oct 28, 2013

I used Fresh Water Systems for fittings when I replaced my manual toilet with an electric fresh water Raritan Marine Elegance this spring. Their tech service guy was awesome. Walked through the re-plumbing challenges and got me just what I needed for the PEX. Quick delivery too.

robertsapp · Oct 31, 2013

Gray or white?

If your boat is plumbed with the gray plastic pipe, it's probably not PEX, it's Polybutylene, and it's put together with Qest fittings. That was what was commonly used for boat and RV plumbing through the late 90's. Qest fittings are very easy to work with and you can get whatever you need here:

http://www.plumbingsupply.com/polyb.html

PEX is polyethylene. Don't try to use PEX fittings on Polybutylene pipe. You won't like the results.

artboas · Oct 31, 2013

Here is my reccomendation

robertsapp said:
If your boat is plumbed with the gray plastic pipe, it's probably not PEX, it's Polybutylene, and it's put together with Qest fittings. That was what was commonly used for boat and RV plumbing through the late 90's. Qest fittings are very easy to work with and you can get whatever you need here:

http://www.plumbingsupply.com/polyb.html

PEX is polyethylene. Don't try to use PEX fittings on Polybutylene pipe. You won't like the results.

I agree that the grey stuff is Quest.
It is an old system, and a little dated. Fittings aren't easy to come by, and connect- disconnect can give you leaks if the mandrels get over- compressed.
My suggestion is to bite the bullet and change over to 15mm Whale.
It is a wonderful system, and everyone uses it.
As such, it's not that expensive, and parts are easy to come by.
A great stocking distributor with low prices is Defender.
I highly reccomend buying everything from them.
Basically, use a bunch of string to measure out your pipe runs.
If you don't want to replace the piping, what you could do is leave the Quest in place, and then adapt at junctions (where you have NPt fittings), adapt to Whale.
What you will find with Whale is that connect / disconnect (for winterizing) is a real breeze.
Overall, you will be very happy once this job is done.
Good luck!!

rgtet · Nov 1, 2013

I'm planning to completely replumb my 380 this coming spring. Is it better to go with PEX/Seatech fittings or Whale? What are pro/con of one vs. the other? I'm a liveaboard, so I'm leaning towards PEX with a manifold system, rather than a lot of T's with the whale fittings (T's have a pretty detrimental effect upon flow rates and pressure as opposed to a manifold with outputs going direct to each point of use for the fresh water). I'll be removing all old plumbing and running all new lines (will also be replacing the sanitary lines and plumb in a fresh water flush to my marine head-- through a backflow preventer-- to get me out of the raw water flushing).

Also, any recommendations on pumps? My current pump is a Jabsco PAR Max3; I'm thinking of moving up to something that is a higher pressure and flow rate (5-6 GPM). My flow and pressure is pretty low, even with a single faucet running and the pump running. I'm wondering if an accumulator tank would help to mitigate the pressure fluctuations. Again, thoughts and advice is welcome.

artboas · Nov 1, 2013

Go with Whale

rgtet said:
I'm planning to completely replumb my 380 this coming spring. Is it better to go with PEX/Seatech fittings or Whale? What are pro/con of one vs. the other? I'm a liveaboard, so I'm leaning towards PEX with a manifold system, rather than a lot of T's with the whale fittings (T's have a pretty detrimental effect upon flow rates and pressure as opposed to a manifold with outputs going direct to each point of use for the fresh water). I'll be removing all old plumbing and running all new lines (will also be replacing the sanitary lines and plumb in a fresh water flush to my marine head-- through a backflow preventer-- to get me out of the raw water flushing).

Also, any recommendations on pumps? My current pump is a Jabsco PAR Max3; I'm thinking of moving up to something that is a higher pressure and flow rate (5-6 GPM). My flow and pressure is pretty low, even with a single faucet running and the pump running. I'm wondering if an accumulator tank would help to mitigate the pressure fluctuations. Again, thoughts and advice is welcome.

I highly Reccommend the Whale system.
You are right... A manifold is better than stacking up T fittings. In fact, it's exactly how my 49 is built.
There are manifolds built exactly for the 15 mm Whale by Sea Tech.
These are great, but not cheap.
If you scout around on ebay, you can pick one up cheap if you're patient.

Re: accumulator, you shouldn't need one.
It used to be with the older pumps that the pressure switches weren't all that accurate, and you would get abrupt cycling, etc.
The newer pumps are microprocessor controlled, variable speed, etc. they can sense & control water flow very well.
Good luck with this refit.

Ivan · Nov 2, 2013

Hi rgtet,

I put in an accumulator several years ago and am very pleased with it. No change to the existing pump needed. Now the pump does not wake us up when someone wants a small glass of water. An easy and inexpensive fix, and the life of the pump is greatly increased.

robertsapp · Nov 4, 2013

rgtet said:
...and plumb in a fresh water flush to my marine head-- through a backflow preventer-- to get me out of the raw water flushing).

This is what is commonly known as a really bad idea. You shouldn't under any circumstances consider cross-connecting your potable water and waste systems. The only upside is that it might work, while there's all kinds of downside when something inevitably goes wrong with the check valve or a line. For someone who really wants freshwater flushing, the two safest and most commonly used methods are to install a separate flushing tank to provide water to the head, or plumb the head intake line to the sink drain, which requires you to shut the drain thru-hull, open the flushing water line, and run water into the sink while pumping. Either method will provide the maximum protection for your potable water system.

Oh, and it's Qest fitting, not Quest. You won't find anything if you try and search for Quest fitting. Well, you might, but it will be because the search engine will figure out what you really want.

artboas · Nov 6, 2013

Fresh water flush does work

robertsapp said:
This is what is commonly known as a really bad idea. You shouldn't under any circumstances consider cross-connecting your potable water and waste systems. The only upside is that it might work, while there's all kinds of downside when something inevitably goes wrong with the check valve or a line. For someone who really wants freshwater flushing, the two safest and most commonly used methods are to install a separate flushing tank to provide water to the head, or plumb the head intake line to the sink drain, which requires you to shut the drain thru-hull, open the flushing water line, and run water into the sink while pumping. Either method will provide the maximum protection for your potable water system.

Oh, and it's Qest fitting, not Quest. You won't find anything if you try and search for Quest fitting. Well, you might, but it will be because the search engine will figure out what you really want.

Our 49 heads are piped to the FW tanks.
A 12v solenoid is used to connect the FW line to the head water intake.
Very reliable.
I sorta agree that a check valve is not a good way to do this.
They can be stuck open, or back feed a slight amount