Before we left, we downloaded the manual for the water heater we had selected and found that the manufacturer recommended installing a magnesium anode in place of the supplied drain faucet. Defender had that too, so we shelled out $22.95 for it. The water heater itself is a Seaward Model F-600, 6-gallon capacity, which is the same size as our old heater. That cost $274.99. We also needed a check valve for the cold water input line and Defender had a simple Shurflo check valve that will do nicely for $15.99. $333.91 later we left with all of our stuff.
This water heater is actually round but is enclosed in this galvanized rectangular steel box. We think we'll prime and paint the box before we install it.
The two 1/2" nipples shown at the bottom of the water heater are for heating the water underway by routing engine coolant through. We had these on our old water heater and never connected them. After completely re-plumbing the cooling systems on both engines a couple of years ago and rebuilding the heat exchangers with excellent results, we'll just cap those nipples and call it a day.
Besides, even after a seven hour cruise with our old water heater, we always had hot water. Better to leave well enough alone, as far as we're concerned.
Sunday: Getting the remainder of what we need
By this winter's standards, Sunday was an almost tropical day: no coat and we didn't even turn the electric heater on. First step was to buy the 1/2-inch reinforced water hose. We measured first and it looked like approximately 24 feet for the hot and cold water lines so we bought a 50 ft. box of Trident hose from the boat yard at $1.50 per foot.
When we take the old hoses and fittings out, we may be able to re-purpose some of the hose clamps but just to make sure, we bought a box of a dozen Number 4 stainless hose clamps. We probably own 200 or more stainless hose clamps (but none this small) and we never knew they were numbered by size. One more thing we learned doing a winter project.
The "T" and "L" fittings we had ordered were there so we packed up our stuff and waded through the mud/snow and took it all back to the boat.
The first part of the hose installation will be from the engine space to the storage area that is below and just aft of the lower steering station. We took everything out of that storage space and removed the access panel. That's where we will pull the hot and cold water lines up.
We'll have to drill two 3/4-inch holes next to that opening for the two water hoses, then route them to the right towards the galley. Sounds easy but it will probably be a pain in the butt.
We opened the box the Tident water hose came in and found that the hose was tightly coiled and a stiff as hell. We'll never be able to fish even a 12 ft. section of it that far without relaxing that hose. We brought the home were we will stretch it out this week in room temperature so we can work with it.
We spent some quality time down behind the engines to identify all the hoses and how they are routed. It should look a lot neater once we finish this.
We documented our Saturday "day off" going to Defender with some video. Once we left there, we visited our summer marina and ran into our dockmate Bob Caise, who kept is boat in the water this year. He was clearing snow from his boat. Norwich looks wintery but still one of our favorite places.
The end of the video is our usual shot of the Connecticut River. Still lots of ice, but it is rapidly breaking up.
I've been dreaming of my fantasy boat for so many years now- it's the cold and maintenance that puts me off, so I guess you've addressed both worries at once in this blog! It doesn't look like too complex a job really, and well worth it to make sure that next time it's snowy and cold you have reliable hot water.
ReplyDeleteLevi Eslinger @ Capital Plumbing