HOW I SOLVED MY SHORE WATER CHECK VALVE RIDDLE

[aaronbocknek]

since ENTERPRISE has been used so much these last few months, the shore water has been constantly connected and disconnected. each and every time, within the past 3 weeks, once shore water is hooked up, i get the lowest flow onboard i've ever experienced. the pump puts out a nice steady flow, so at first i thought it was my dockside charcoal filter. disconnected the hose and ran water through the filter, steady and strong. nope, not that. checked the regular hose and other peoples wash down hoses. again, water pressure was strong. so, i suspected it was something boatside. the only thing that i could have thought of was the internal check valve in the shore water inlet on the boat. the unit itself looks a little long in the tooth, so, i took out my black and decker portable compressor and connected it to my city water blow out plug...... this small gem uses compressed air to blow water out of pipes and taps but does not use a lot of pressure (MAKE SURE YOUR TAPS ARE OPEN BEFORE ATTEMPTING THIS). i also use it to force 'pink' through the lines for winterizing.
i turned on the compressor, and the dial read 20lbs of pressure for a brief second then went down to zero. i tried it again and the needle registered zero. that tells me that there wasn't any back pressure pushing against the other side of the check valve. that check valve is used to prevent onboard water from being pushed out the city water inlet when the pump is turned on.
i reconnected the hose to the shore water hookup boatside, left the galley faucet turned to cold, open, and i had a nice steady flow of water. i may replace the boatside hookup in the spring, but, if this will solve the problem, why replace something that will work with a little tweeking.

just thought i'd pass this on since there was a thread about weak water early in the month. this is how i solved my particular problem.

this is the compressor, the connection w/ gauge and the blowout unit. those can be found at any rv supply store for a fraction of what you can get it at a boating store.

aaron

[oldtimer]

Aaron, I like the way you set up your small compressor to fit into your water system. Never would have thought of doing it this way, but will set one up like yours for next year. What caught my eye on your posting was the mention of the shore side water ftg out on the gunnel. As you recall, I bought my 74- 36 Tri in mid september of this year. Exterior & cosmetically she is in good shape, but needs lots of TLC on the mechanical's of the boat. Between being away a lot and getting near the end of the season, my time working on her is getting to an end. I am in a row of covered slips, and next week she will be lifted up and stored on beams underneath the hull, and once that happens, the marina frowns on anyone working on their boats due to insurance policies. (Wish my pop had settled in Florida instead of Ontario sometimes) Getting off track here, so back to the shore side water issue. When I first got the boat, I noticed water a few times on the sliding door track in front of my power panel, didnt pay much attention at the time because I had other issues. One day later while out on deck, I happened to hit the water hose with my foot and heard what I presumed to be after reading your post, the water valve rattling around loose under the deck. I stopped using the shore water then, and I presume that to get at this valve I will have to remove the electrical panel to get at it. That,s another job on my list for next spring. Have to mention one other problem that I am working on right now is the starboard rudder stuffing box. I tried to tighten the packing down a turn or so because it was dripping water like a leaky tap. But it was already bottomed out, so I decided that I would have to take it apart and repack with new stuffing. My setup has the rudder post coming up oust of its stuffing box, right on top of this was the rudder arm attached to the rudder post with a key-way and a tightening nut & bolt. Above this is the wooden beam crossover board, and on top of this board is a bronze bushing that the rudder post comes thru and finally a bronze collar which is secured thru the post with a split pin. This is a job from hell. I tried every bloody thing to get the split pin to move, no luck. Finally decided to hacksaw as much of the collar off as I could and take it off in pcs. I am going to cut this short because I could write a book on what I went thru in that cramped little cubbyhole to get that damn collar off. Its for sure as hell its going back on with a nut and bolt. Don't know what genius designed this setup back in 1974. Next job is to get in that little space again and get the nut off and do the repacking. Man, I got aches where I never knew I could ache after this project. Take care all.............Oldtimer