Shower Drain on Hunter 326

[Dubai]

I am sure this has been covered many times but all my research suggests that the shower on my Hunter 326 drains into the bilge. That is not the case on my 2003 boat. There is a breaker marked Sump Pump and the drain hose from the shower does not drain into the bilge, rather it heads off in the genearl direction of the waste holding tank. Anyway it seems if there is a pump fitted it is not working as the shower does not drain and I cannot hear a pump running, Temporarily to get the shower drained, I have loosened off the shower metal perforated drain cover so that the water leaks past the hose and does drain into the bilge. So my questions are, doeas anybody else have a sump pump drain for the shower, if yes can they please enlighten me where the pump is located, can you hear it running when its operating and where is the shower drain water pumped to directly overboard or into the holding tank. Thanks guys.

 

[seadaddler]

Overboard

My shower pump goes directly overboard but my 07 H-36 has a floor board that lifts up at the bottom of the compianway stairs an all my thru hulls are also located there and yes you can here it running and also a on and off switch on the bathroom cabinet,it may need cleaning that it has a screen on the pump that needs cleaning.
Nick

 

[onecoolair]

My shower pump goes directly overboard but my 07 H-36 has a floor board that lifts up at the bottom of the compianway stairs an all my thru hulls are also located there and yes you can here it running and also a on and off switch on the bathroom cabinet,it may need cleaning that it has a screen on the pump that needs cleaning.
Nick

To repeat seadaddler somewhat........ It's call a shower sump and the shower sump box is at the bottom the companion way steps. The shower drains into this box . The freezer as well as the drain for head vanity,and locker next to shower all drain to this shower sump.
There is a screen it will need regular cleaning. If you have girl friend then it will need cleaning after each use. The pumps will still get clogged and burn up. The automatic float switches are notorious for sticking or just going bad. Which will cause sump to over flow into bilge. My shower sump pump has a main breaker at the navstation 12volt panel plus an over ride switch on vanity cabinet next to shower door. I have fuses just before pump and at the over ride switch. Check these fuses and all wire connections to pump. Use your Olms meter to check for voltage. You do have one of those right? If you have checked all this then pull pump to see if it is clogged with hair wrapped around it's impeller. This maybe the reason it may have burned up and will have to be replaced along with maybe even the float switch. Mine was an Attwood model . l am on my 8th or 10th pump. Last go around I could not find exact replacement pump and had to get creative with different pump. My local Wally Mart still had the float switch. The factory location of pump discharge is out the starboard side of boat behind the hanging locker in the aft cabin. Make sure someone has not closed the seacock.

 

[Dubai]

Thanks to Seadaddler & Onecoolair. I will get back to the boat this weekend and check all the good advice. Strange thing is (or maybe not!) there is no mention of a sump or sump pump in the boats handbook. Neither the electrical drawings or water drains drawings show it or describe it. Many thanks.

 

[onecoolair]

Thanks to Seadaddler & Onecoolair. I will get back to the boat this weekend and check all the good advice. Strange thing is (or maybe not!) there is no mention of a sump or sump pump in the boats handbook. Neither the electrical drawings or water drains drawings show it or describe it. Many thanks.

Dubai...... Just realized you may not be talking about the 36H Mine is a 356H which is the basically a the 36H with some minor changes. As far as I know nearly all the newer hunters year 2000 on ...but could be wrong now, they almost all follow the same pattern of main shower sump location and setup.
Not sure about your 326....Plus you did not say what year Hunter.

 

[Dubai]

Dubai...... Just realized you may not be talking about the 36H Mine is a 356H which is the basically a the 36H with some minor changes. As far as I know nearly all the newer hunters year 2000 on ...but could be wrong now, they almost all follow the same pattern of main shower sump location and setup.
Not sure about your 326....Plus you did not say what year Hunter.

Onecoolair. Yes if you read my original thread, I did say my boat was a 2003 Hunter 326. Not sure if my boat boat will have same set up as yours. All I have read on here says that the shower rains directly into the bilge. Hence my surprise when checking my shower wasn't draining I found the drain hose heading aft towards the holding tank.
Cheers

 

[onecoolair]

Onecoolair. Yes if you read my original thread, I did say my boat was a 2003 Hunter 326. Not sure if my boat boat will have same set up as yours. All I have read on here says that the shower drains directly into the bilge. Hence my surprise when checking my shower wasn't draining I found the drain hose heading aft towards the holding tank.
Cheers

Well that's what I thought you said when I first read your posting. Then I read your bio-information.... Which confused me. That's okay though, I just did not want to be feeding you the wrong info...
BTW.... My shower sump drain discharge heads off in the direction of holding tank as well but now discharges overboard next to the other bilge pump discharge locations. That's because hunter seems to treat there sailboats bilge discharge locations like you would a power boat. :naughty: Got tired of having to clean the bilge scum from the side of my boat. :cussing:The original bilge and shower sump discharge locations are now only for the second and third emergency bilge pumps. When the third bilge pump comes on an alarm will sound which get everybody's attention.

The only reason I could see your shower grey water dumping into the holding tank is because the boat was maybe kept on a small restrictive fresh water lake. Let's stop here!!!

 

[MrSteve007]

Dubai,

I too have a 326, which was bone stock when I took ownership of it from its original buyer. It took me a while to realize why my bilge kept going from bone dry to wet by the end of a trip. As you found on your boat's diagrams, the original design has the shower drain (and icebox drain) going directly into the bilge. I have yet to change this, but certainly don't think I'd pump it into the holding tank.

Hope that helps some.

 

[Steve Dion]

This is what you need.

http://shop.hunterowners.com/prod.php?16378

Three inlets so you can have your shower and ice box drain into it.

 

[Benny17441]

The h320 does not have a sump pump and drains directly into the bilge. I supect the h326 has a similar design. I guess they installed a shower fitting just to be able to claim the boat had a shower. After using it once and having to dry the head seat and floor I have not used it anymore. I shower at the swim platform with plenty of elbow room. We have a shower ficture with running hot and cold water at the stern. Luckily here in Florida our temperatures are moderate.

 

[Ken13559]

10 years ago, I complaint to Hunter that one of my 326 bilge doesn't drain to the main bilge where the bilge pump is. Hunter suggest drilling a hole to let grey water flow. I did just that. Now it seems that compartment is meant as shower sump. Oh well, there isn't another pump to pump grey water to holding tank so to the bilge is just fine. Breaker cct is there so did Hunter forgot to fit the pump?

 

[Dubai]

Thanks to all for the helpful feedback.
However, it appears that I didn't explain my situation very well!!

On my boat (2003 Hunter 326), the shower does NOT drain into the bilge (not checked the ice box yet). The drain hose goes under the floor and heads aft "towards" the holding tank but haven't been able to positively confirm where it actually discharges.
Perhaps there is indeed a SUMP under the floor, I will check again this weekend.

This appears to be contrary to all I have read about the shower drain on my model boat. There is NO mention of a shower sump or a Sump Pump in the handbook. Could this be a later factory modification? Anybody with a 326 can comment what happens to the shower drain on their boat?

There IS a circuit breaker labelled SUMP PUMP, but if there is a pump fitted, it doesn't appear to work as I do not hear a pump running when switched on. There is NO switch in the Head anywhere that I can find.

I will carry out some more investigations this weekend.

Thanks guys

 

[Ken13559]

On mine the shower drain hose was short and is under the floor board. It just drain onto the hull and flow into the Shower Bilge before flowing into the forward bilge. I too have the shower pump breaket but that's all. No pump. Curious where your grey water flows to. There are compartment under rear berth but not meant for water it seems. Good luck treasure hunting.

 

[kjretlaw]

I too have a sump breaker as well as a blower and refrigerator, all the options on my 2003 326 I’m hull # 339. None of the components were installed but the wire was run. I've added the refrigerator and the sump pump locating the sump pump in the center bilge area and routing the drain to the sink drain in the head. I've plumbed the shower, AC condensation, water heater over pressure, refrigerator drain and the shower into the one box. This keeps the bilge dry with the exception of the stuffing box which is minimal. The wiring for the sump pump on mine was under the galley floor, just pull the aft bilge panel.

Dubai
Stumped on where your shower is going to. You should be able to follow the drain line to it ultimate location.

 

[Dubai]

On mine the shower drain hose was short and is under the floor board. It just drain onto the hull and flow into the Shower Bilge before flowing into the forward bilge. I too have the shower pump breaket but that's all. No pump. Curious where your grey water flows to. There are compartment under rear berth but not meant for water it seems. Good luck treasure hunting.

I spent some more time on the boat trying to find where the drain hose connects. Will try to upload couple of photos. Drain goes into the bilge where the manual bilge pump pick up is located but as I hope can be seen from the photo it is joined to a second drain hose heading aft. It appears to go back to the holding tank again i have attached photo. Being single handed I couldn't positively identify the hose as being the shower drain hose but certainly looks like it. Arm not long enough to reach into the locker far enough to grab hold of it it seems to head up behind the holding tank. There is no pump fitted I'm sure so as an interim solution I have disconnected to joint in the hose and run it drains directly into the bilge. Will keep on with the investigation next time I have an extra pair of hands available. Cheers guys.