good reason to turn the hose off at the dock....

[BobCT]

when you leave the dock. I came onto my boat the other day to find the mid bilge pump running and stuck on the on position. It was on because one of the plumbing connections failed under the mid cabin berth.

I had about 8" of water in the bilge. The pump was hot and probably running for a long time. With the dock water on, if it had failed the other way and not turned the pump on, there would have been an endless supply of water and nothing to pump it out. Imagine leaving the boat for a week....

Apparently, this has been the cause of my mid bilge water (or the majority of it). It has been doing this for a while but got a lot worse the past few days. I was ready to condemn my tank when I discovered the leak.

Great, I get it all buttoned up, no leaks and turn on my hot water heater. About an hour later I check the same bilge to rejoice in my detective work and see 6-8" of water again! Completely unrelated, my h/w tripped the relief valve and all the water went into the same area. I have the parts ordered for that now.

BTW, the 3/8" push connections that you can get at HD, Lowe's work great. Even though the tubing is labeled 1/2", that's the O.D. so the 1/2" connectors are too large. Unfortunately, they don't have as much 3/8" as they do 1/2".

I'm trying to find some 3/8" shutoff valves now.


Bob

[Stripermann2]

At least you caught it in time before serious consequences.

Fresh water is always turned off before I leave the boat for the weekend and no dock water supply is hooked up either while I'm away.

[gjrylands]

I have a shut off valve right at the inlet for my dock side water inlet that I shut off when I leave the boat for any length of time. I could and probable should shut off the water at the pedistal, but I don't. The inlet is on my back deck so if there were any failure to the hose, water would run on the back deck and drain out the skuffer drains. I also plumbed drains around all of the hatchs on the back deck so they drain over board. I have 3 bilge pumps that drain the hull. The mid-ship pump is the main pump that runs when the boat is in the slip. The stern pump runs when the boat is under way. The front pump is a back up that will run only if the midship pump fails or can't keep up with the water comming into the hull. All 3 pumps are rated at 1500 gal/hr. As a test I have placed a hose in the bilge and ran it full blast to see if the pump would keep up with the flow and the main pump more then handles the flow cycling about every few minutes. All is great unless the pumps fail or the batteries go dead. Murphy's Law should not be ignored! Turn off the water before you leave your boat.

[RWS]

for the benefit of all, I am just reposting this item regarding the high water bilge alarm that is factory installed on my 10 meter.

The previous owner disconnected them, but all 3 are now back in service.

RWS

photo

[rossjo]

I can't imagine having a city water line connected to my boat. I would never do that. Just fill up your holding tank and use it till its gone. Then fill it up. Slow, but SAFE.

Also good to have your holding tank overflow plumbed overboard (my 74 F32 is not plumbed overboard yet), in case you forget to tun the water off when filling the tank (I simply hold the hose the entire time). This is regs on newer boats (newer = past 15-20 years).

[Rodman]

I can't imagine having a city water line connected to my boat. I would never do that. Just fill up your holding tank and use it till its gone. Then fill it up. Slow, but SAFE.

Also good to have your holding tank overflow plumbed overboard (my 74 F32 is not plumbed overboard yet), in case you forget to tun the water off when filling the tank (I simply hold the hose the entire time). This is regs on newer boats (newer = past 15-20 years).

My F26 Hard Top overflow is plumb right out the side on port side.

[k9th]

I am connected to dock water supply and it makes for better showers and everything else. But I never leave the boat with the water turned on. Too many horror stories for me.

[TADTOOMUCH]

I also turn off the city water supply to my F-32 while away but I also disconnect the hose from the inlet to the boat in case someone turns my hose on while I am away. If the hose is disconnected at the boat it would just run out the scupper in the rear deck if someone turned my hose on.

[Dan Faith]

I added dockside water to my F32. I use one of those connections that is a "Y" to run two hoses off one feed. Each hose is shut off by a simple lever on the "Y" when I leave all I do is turn the one on the incoming water to the off position. I can also hook up another hose to the remaining leg and do a deck washdown or whatever else. Also have high water alarm on the boat.

[bobg]

I agree with rossjo. I never hooked dock water to my previous 33' or my Trojan. I get chills thinking of all of the things that could go wrong... I just use the water in the tank and refill when it gets close to empty.

[rossjo]

scares me, but I'm anal.

[Big D]

I hook up dockside water all the time. Having said that, I never ever leave the hose attached when I'm away. When you leave the vessel for the day, remove the hose, and coil it on the dock. Do not leave it on board with the other end attached to shore. If you don't trust yourself to be diligent about doing this, don't hook up to dockside water.