4588 main water tank failure,... options? Water maker?-gctid389926

[Guest]

Hello all. I have a water leak at the outlet, friction welded 1/2" fitting on the main water tank. I have had a look at deconstructing the woodwork (bed) above the tank and it appears they used a very effective glue. Any deconstruction will in stead be a demolition. I am not sure I have the stomach for that job, and wonder if,....with one good 50 gallon tank, a water maker might work just as well? This is the boat that we rebuilt from sunken state, that we made lighter, by doing without a generator, washer dryer, ice maker, stock houshold stereo, ice maker, microwave etc. in addition we used little 110 hp yanmar engines. Losing 200 gallons of water and adding a water maker should net another 1800 lbs of weight loss. Anyone have some experience with a water maker? Is 50 gallons a big enough reservoir? Any thoughts on the most bullet proof water maker available? We have freshwater toilets, but they can also use seawater. Don't seem to spend more than 3 days on the hook, at a sitting, and seem to have to charge batteries about every second day at most. Since then we have changed out all lighting to LEDs Water is diesel, and engine heated, stove is propane. Pretty frugal with water in the first place. Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Steve

[jimveres]

Sorry to hear about your water tank issue. The guys that installed my bow thruster lifted the bed assembly to gain access to the are under the bed. They didn't have to destroy the bed so maybe there is some way to get it off without destroying it.

With no attempt at conserving water my wife and I go through about 40 to 60 gallons of water a weekend where we leave Friday evening and return Sunday evening. That includes showers with the water running during the entire shower, water running while we brush our teeth and water running while we wash dishes. We'll be more conservative when we have guests aboard and we're going to be out for more than a weekend.

50 gallons would not last us for a week on the hook.

My concern with a watermaker is the amount of power needed to generate the water. I thought they consumed a bit of power which would require you to run the engines or have a really sizeable battery bank.

Others have talked about installing a bladder in the large tank. I don't recall anyone ever doing it but a quick search might uncover something.

Good luck,

Jim V.

[smitty477]

FWIW - we had a leak in the larger (top) aluminum water tank on our 45 a number of years ago.

We took a reciprocating saw to the base of the bed cutting straight across from stb to port at the back of the bed (stern side).

Again on the front and wedged the pieces of wood out without doing much damage.

We could then manuever the tank all over the front stateroom allowing for a good weld job on the weak spots(s).

After that we mostly used the cut pieces by adding wood 'tabs' and short screws so that the whole area was accesable later on if that was a necessity.

Total cost other than our labor was about $75 for the local welding work.

That might be a good way to go since a water maker is pretty much a power hog anyway which will require power, money, and fuel to support.

Hope this helps

[kwb]

No generator = don't bother with watermaker unless you are frequenting places with shorepower but no water on the docks.

[Guest]

Sea Clear make an engine driven unit that will do 20 gallons per hour. Since we charge batteries with one or the other of our mains, it might make sense to make water at the same time. Keep in mind our mains are not much bigger than the engine on the generator of Our last 4588.

[Guest]

I think in the scheme of things removing the bed bulkhead and replacing the water tank would be simple and much cheaper than the addition of a water maker. Water makers are big power users as mentioned. Since you mentioned a friction welded out let I'm assuming you have a poly tank. Why not friction weld a larger fitting in the same location. It can be done with a router motor and a hand made mandrel to hold the larger fitting. The fitting should be available from Marine Sanitation in Seattle. Next to Fishery's Supply.

[Guest]

I also had this problem. The friction fit around the outlet started leaking. I went to Industrial Plastics and bought 2 Ft of Poly welding rod. (44 cents) Used my dad's old soldering iron, and Vee'd out around the fitting on old weld (must be dry) Then melted the rod with iron into the Vee'd out groove. It isn"t fun but it worked and that was about 4 Years ago. Good luck!!

[Guest]

Thanks for that people. It's a long way in there, and the"clearance" hole in the wood is not centered, and too small, but I think I could open that up with a dremel type tool. I will give the welding a new fitting a try, and report back.

Cheers steve