i have a H 41, woul you instal the foot pump for sea water inside the cabinet below the sinc so you must open the door in orden to operate the pump? Also do i need to buy a special faucet for sea water? Were did you instal yours? Is amazing how much fresh water we use for cleaning the dishes under nav. The las 4 day trip with 6 people onboard we ran out of fresh water on the last day, on the folowing trips we use sea water to clean the dishes and we have almost half tank on the same trip.
Sea water faucet and pump
- Thread starter Valerio
- Start date
Most of the foot-pedal pumps are meant to be installed behind the cabinetry-- usually in the kick plate under the cabinet doors-- with the foot pedal itself sticking through. This usually requires a larger opening than you'd like to have. I made cute little cover plates to trim mine.
It is vital that you mount the foot pump with two key considerations:
1. Mount it very strongly. Your foot and leg are much stronger than your hand and arm. The Whale foot pump (Galley Gusher) is very powerful and pumps like crazy. But you can easily tear the pump off the wall if it's not mounted securely. I advise through-bolting this with 10-24 machine screws (the holes are #10 but can be enlarged to 1/4". Use large fender washers on the back-- and make sure what you're mounting it to is strong too!
2. Mount it so that it's easily removable. These pumps can be serviced and if something bad happens you should be able to detach three nuts & bolts, detach two hoses, and take it right out with no more hassle than that. Don't hide or cover up the nuts & bolts so that it's a deconstruction disaster to try to remove it.
You are right to worry about fresh-water consumption. You'll need to practice washing dishes and rinsing your hair with as little water as you need. When at sea, ration the water by using a personal rinsing jug-- about 3/4 gallon-- to fill with fresh water and then turn the water off. Bathe in seawater and use the fresh in the jug to rinse. Unless you've got really long hair or a skin condition this should work pretty well.
Consider using a particle strainer on the seawater line. This, like the toilet intake and engine intake, should be fitted with a proper marine seacock that's easily accessible. I advise a Forespar Marelon one, as you should never drink from bronze (assuming there is any reason you might consume some of the seawater). Use drinking-water-safe hose (clear with blue tracer). Don't 'tap in' to something else, like the saltwater washdown or the toilet intake. We tried this on a past boat and soon enough the seawater at the faucet began to stink... bad. All the other service on that line was dirty water, lying in the hose in the bilge. Ugh. It's not a problem to install one more inlet and seacock so long as you take the care to turn it off and on when you should.
The seawater won't need any special faucet-- actually, since you're not drinking it, it can use anything, like one of the cheap aluminum Whale 'Tuckaway' style. Aluminum is not strictly FDA approved and aluminum leachate (such as from soda cans) has been tenuously linked to Alzheimer's (hence the date codes on soda cans-- not there for 'freshness'; there to avoid liability suits). But most people may want to install something prettier, and for that it's drinking-water-safe chrome-plated brass, like in your house.
It is vital that you mount the foot pump with two key considerations:
1. Mount it very strongly. Your foot and leg are much stronger than your hand and arm. The Whale foot pump (Galley Gusher) is very powerful and pumps like crazy. But you can easily tear the pump off the wall if it's not mounted securely. I advise through-bolting this with 10-24 machine screws (the holes are #10 but can be enlarged to 1/4". Use large fender washers on the back-- and make sure what you're mounting it to is strong too!
2. Mount it so that it's easily removable. These pumps can be serviced and if something bad happens you should be able to detach three nuts & bolts, detach two hoses, and take it right out with no more hassle than that. Don't hide or cover up the nuts & bolts so that it's a deconstruction disaster to try to remove it.
You are right to worry about fresh-water consumption. You'll need to practice washing dishes and rinsing your hair with as little water as you need. When at sea, ration the water by using a personal rinsing jug-- about 3/4 gallon-- to fill with fresh water and then turn the water off. Bathe in seawater and use the fresh in the jug to rinse. Unless you've got really long hair or a skin condition this should work pretty well.
Consider using a particle strainer on the seawater line. This, like the toilet intake and engine intake, should be fitted with a proper marine seacock that's easily accessible. I advise a Forespar Marelon one, as you should never drink from bronze (assuming there is any reason you might consume some of the seawater). Use drinking-water-safe hose (clear with blue tracer). Don't 'tap in' to something else, like the saltwater washdown or the toilet intake. We tried this on a past boat and soon enough the seawater at the faucet began to stink... bad. All the other service on that line was dirty water, lying in the hose in the bilge. Ugh. It's not a problem to install one more inlet and seacock so long as you take the care to turn it off and on when you should.
The seawater won't need any special faucet-- actually, since you're not drinking it, it can use anything, like one of the cheap aluminum Whale 'Tuckaway' style. Aluminum is not strictly FDA approved and aluminum leachate (such as from soda cans) has been tenuously linked to Alzheimer's (hence the date codes on soda cans-- not there for 'freshness'; there to avoid liability suits). But most people may want to install something prettier, and for that it's drinking-water-safe chrome-plated brass, like in your house.
Foot pumps are not bad but there is no reason not to install an electric pump these days, especially if coupled with a plastic spray hose. On this topic, is there a problem to tap into the engine salt water intake? Currently, my water maker takes salt water from the engine intake and it seems to be OK. Any thoughts?
everything in my boat is electric and everything is prone to crash soon or later, since i have purchased this boat i became an electrician, in my last boat i was a painter, jajaja
'The usual condition for everything electric on board is NOT WORKING.' --Chicester.
Why risk even the hassle? The foot pump is simple, strong, reliable and efficient. End of debate!
Why risk even the hassle? The foot pump is simple, strong, reliable and efficient. End of debate!
I would say (from experience) that the engine intake is the ONE thing you should NEVER tap into for any reason. Leave it entirely discrete (separate) with a minimum of variables (connections, bends, etc) that could go wrong. Anything else is better than using the engine intake line for this.
The bad experience we had with our C44 cutter (Warren Luhrs' boat) was that the *other* route of the line added stink which found its way into the seawater tap at the galley sink... rendering the seawater tap completely useless till we could haul out and add in a separate through-hull.
'The simplest and most reliable thing is to just add another through-hull.' -- Rick Cherubini.
