Important notice re: Splendide Washer / Dryer combo

Jun 1, 2009
1,737
Hunter 49 toronto
Ok, so I'm lucky enough to have a washer / dryer in my stbd aft cabin on my 49.
But, what you must realize is that the WD units in the 49 /50 were installed BEFORE the aft cabin cabinetry was put in.
Therefore, to remove this unit requires some hideous surgery to the doorway. So, you really want to maintain this well, so that you don't find yourself in a position where you need to replace it.
I just went through the insanely awful job of replacing the front tub seal. I can't remember which was the worst part of the job, as it was 4 hours of pain and suffering.
When Hunter installed the WD, they put in a lower wood plate to keep the WD unit from sliding out when the boat is heeled over to stbd.
As there was no way to remove this wood piece, to get the unit out, I had to make a wood ramp to muscle the WD over the plate, and grunt if into the cabin.
Then, after the repair, I had to ramp it over the wooden plate again, putting cuts & bruises over my arms and hands in spots that weren't already hacked up.
I callled the splendide service depot after the repair, and moaned about how obscenely difficult it was to change the tub seal.
In taking with them, they alerted me to the fact that there was an EVEN WORSE job I was likely to encounter.
As most of you likely know, on your home washing machine, there is (typically) a screws-in filter located at the bottom front of the machine. When you open this, it's full of pennies and chewing gum, which you dutifully clean out.
Well, your home washing machine differs from your boat unit, insofar that you never winterize your home machine, whereas the boat unit gets floooded with -40 antifreeze each fall.
Well, the service depot told me that the antifreeze gums up, and destroys the pump. And to change the pump, you need to lie the machine on its front, and have 3-4 guys working on the damned thing.
So, I then realized that the wooden plate that holds the WD in place, also prevents you from removing the lower front plate and cleaning out the pump annually.
Not a good design on Hunter's part.
So, now I needed to get this stupid plate out, so that I could inspect and clean out the pump.
I have bad news for you. This is a really, really horrible job.
So, the first thing you need to do is remove all the woodwork, hoses, dryer duct from the rear of the machine. If you haven't done this before, it's not all that much fun. Just keep removing screws and wooden bits, taking lots of photos. Aldo, pencil mark the wood pieces to help you reassemble.
Then, you'll need to pull the WD back as far as you can, giving you about a 3" space at the front.
The front panel is put in with 4 miserable-to-remove angled pocket screws on the back of the plate using a red Robertson.
These are the easy ones.
Next, when Hunter put this board in, they used wooden dowels on the sides in addition to the pocket screws .
You will need a Japanese micro-thin pull kerf cutting saw to carefully cut down the existiing line.
And now comes the truly awful part.
Hunter screwed it in from underneath, and there is no way to access the heads of these screws. Like absolutely no way,
So, you need to apply tape to the floor in front of the panel to keep the floor from getting scratched

Then, take a hacksaw blade, wrap electrical tape around half of it.
Get a 3" paint scraper, and tap it between the panel an the floor.
Now, spend the next hour cutting the 3 stainless screws, and bleed all over the floor from where the hacksaw blade continually cuts slices into your hand.
Once the panel is out., remove the lower panel on the WD.
Then, unscrew the filter cap, (have a low profile bowl ready to catch the spill out), and clean all the gunk out of the filter.
When you want to re-install the wooden plate, just use removable angle brackets so that future servicing is made easier
Not a fun job, but it will save you huge grief down the road.
 
Sep 20, 2006
155
Hunter 49 Mystic CT
I feel your pain. My washer pump went a couple of years ago. although getting the replacement pump and doing the actual repair was easy, getting access was the killer just like you described.
 
Jun 1, 2009
1,737
Hunter 49 toronto
I feel your pain. My washer pump went a couple of years ago. although getting the replacement pump and doing the actual repair was easy, getting access was the killer just like you described.
Ok, and now here is the next part,which I completed today.
Having taken out the board in front of the WD base, I needed a way to put it back in:

Solidly
And easily removable so that I could check the filter annually. This is a really important thing to do, or you'll eventually blow your pump.

I decided that the best path was to install 3 screws from the top on the board into the floor below.
But, this laminate floor is an awful thing to put wood screws into.
So, I got 10-24 threaded inserts, and installed them in the floor instead.
Then, I simply put in 3 10-24 machine screws with flat washers. Extremely rugged, and a breeze to remove.
 
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