January 2023

 Jan 8.

Ceiling primed and installed with floor joists laid in place.  I have the boat close enough to level that I can use a water level if I'm careful but mostly I'm just using it as a straight edge. 

Jan 18,

Wood for building boats is getting hard to come by especially away from the coast.  Marine grade plywood is skyrocketing in price and getting scares. I'm glad I have most of what I need.  I will need a few more sheets of 20 mm and 12 mm plywood.  I have a source in Gulf Breeze, Meridith Lumber.  No exactly what I want but it might do.  I also found Meranti, which is what I've been using, in Ohio. Marine Plywood by Homestead.  An 8 hour drive one way but it's cheaper than Noah Marine right now and the shipping should be cheaper as well. I'll check that as an option.

Jan 22,

Worked on plumbing this weekend and getting the galley prepared for cabinetry.  I had to figure out how to mate the fitting for the pressure pump to the PEX that I'm using for the fresh water system.  At first I was going to go with a threaded 1/2" fitting to a 3/4" PEX fitting but our local stores did not carry that fitting and was going to have to order it.  I thought a little harder and decided to go with PEX type A 3/4" pipe and stretch it over the barbed fitting that came with the pump.  A stretching tool was going to set me back $150 so I put some oak on the lathe and made my own.  I made one mistake in that the clamping ring no longer fit over the barb and I could not get the fitting back out once I hammered it in.  I was able to gently persuade the clamping ring over the barb and PEX with a block of wood and light blows with a hammer.  That is where the slight marring of the outside came from.  I've got one more of these to make and it will be much easier the second time as with most things.  By the way, this is PEX A and can be stretched, never attempt to stretch PEX B or C. 

The black fitting is the combination barb and threaded fitting that came with the pressure pump.  If using the threaded part, you would cut off the barb.  You can see the barb causing a bit of swelling just below the clamping ring. You want a bit of room on either side of the clamp. You definitely do not want the clamp directly on the barb or too close to the end. The wooden piece to the left is what I used to stretch the PEX to accept the barb.

The tanks plumbed to the pump.  1/2" pipe comes out of the tanks and then comes together with 3/4" PEX.  There are individual valves for each tank underneath.  A bit of a stretch, but the tanks can be turned off individually if necessary.  Unfortunately, any repair work to this part of the fresh water system is going to be difficult. All of it is very low pressure, so hopefully it will last for the boats lifetime.

Working on the vented loop for the below-the-waterline discharge.  Missing is the final leg between the vented loop and the through hull fitting.  The through hull has not yet been installed but can be seen sitting  off to the left.  Above the ceiling (painted white), you can see where I've started to feed electrical wires to the various fixtures including the pump shown. 

The 3/4" PVC pipe show in the center is the grey water run that will go to the shower sump pump.  There is one small section where the grey water will be pumped up, the rest should gravity feed to the tanks.  I don't want grey water draining back to the sump or sitting in pipes.

Heat gun set up to bend schedule 40 PVC pipe.  Note the bent piece of metal at the other end to help hold in the heat a bit. There is a 1/4" gap between the end of the pipe and the piece of bent metal.

The other end of the heating process.  One problem I've encountered is that the heat concentrates on the outer edges and it is hard to get a bend in the middle of the pipe.  I think I need to heat the outside of the pipe a bit to get a smooth bend.  That's what I did previously.  It wasn't really necessary for this installation.

First through-hull with 90 degree pipe.  I've cut down the threads on the threaded fitting to fit my hull thickness.

Another view.

First hole below the waterline.  I plan to saturate the exposed wood in the hole with West epoxy.  I'll then use thickened West G-flex epoxy to bed the fitting in before the wetted out wood has cured. The G-flex is more flexible and more suitable for bedding fittings.  

December 2022

As I mentioned earlier, all waste water plumbing will be schedule 40 PVC and all fresh water will be PEX.  PEX is chosen for its flexibility and durability and the PVS is chosen for its durability and price.  I think PVC is generally not used in pleasure boats because it comes in stiff straight runs and not well suited for the curved surfaces of a boat.  It also requires glueing together (actually chemically welding) and can be a bit of a pain to cut correctly.  Or at least I thing these are the reasons builders don't use it on pleasure boats.  It is much much cheaper than sanitary hose, lighter and I suspect PVC is more impervious to odor than conventional sanitary hose.  I've worked with PVC quite a bit on residential projects.  I've also learned that it can be bent to pretty tight curves given a bit of finesse. The trick is heating the pipe to the right temperature and not trying to bend it too much in a single heating cycle.  I found this out when I built a steam chamber out of 4" PVC pipe back when I built my first canoe.  The steam chamber worked great but it started to sag in the middle. I thought at the time that knowledge would come in handy. Sure enough, I was able to bend 1.5" PVC to the curvature of the side of the hull (see pictures below).  Cuts still take some trial and error in the tight spaces of the hull of a boat.  Dry fit the pieces together and don't glue up too much at one time.  Remember that when you add glue to the joints being joined, they slip a bit tighter that they do when you are dry fitting them.  As for transitioning to marine fittings, such as pumps and through-hulls, a 1.5 - 1.25 rubber transition bought at your local hardware store works perfectly.  These rubber transitions are tough and made to last forever.  They also add some vibration isolation and flexibility when attached to pumps and rigid fittings.  All tank fittings are designed to work with threaded PVC fittings or glue in PVC fittings son no weird transitions needed.  

 Dec 4,

It's almost time to say good-by to the holding tanks.  Soon they will be covered by the sole.  I still need to add a vent to each tank.  I have the fitting but have not decided the best way to proceed. 

Working through the rough plumbing.  The pump-out is a 1.5" PVC schedule 40 pipe starting at the bottom of the tank connector and drawing straight up and around the starboard tank.  It then encounters a "Y" where the straight part continues to the pump-out port on deck and the branching part goes to the waste pump and up through a vented loop and back down to a through hull fitting.  The vented loop portion and through hull fitting are not shown.

Cut our some flooring that will go under the cabinets in the galley.  You can see the "U" galley if you ignore the 12"x24" temporary piece that is in place in the middle so I can stand and pretend to cook. Plumbing access holes are not yet cut out of the sole. 

Preparing for laying down the fresh water tanks. These are aluminum "U" panels that wrap around the floor boards with 30# asphalt impregnated felt in between.  The tanks will lay on these. No condensation issues here.  

Tanks in!

I don't need any super expensive sanitation hose.  Schedule 40 PVC is superior and cheap.  Oh, and you can bend it after heating with a heat gun.  

Yes, the heat gun worked very well for the above bend.  The technique that I used for this bend is that I held the heat gun so that it blew hot air into one end of the pipe.  This heated the pipe evenly around the circumference of the pipe but tended to over heat the pipe on one end as apposed to the other.  For short lengths this is not a problem.  For intermediate lengths, you might want to heat both ends, one after the other.  The pipe cools very slowly once heated so cooling is not a problem.  For this bend, heating more on  one side than the other actually worked in my favor.  For long runs and gentle curves, I'll try heating the pipe externally and slowly working the bend I need into the pipe.

The tube to the deck goes to the deck pump-out.  The "Y" goes to the over-board pump-out (pump shown) via a ball valve so I can replace that pump without stinking up the entire cabin. There will be a loop up under the deck before the plumbing goes back down below the waterline to a through-hull.  I need to get the ceiling in first because all of this will mount to the ceiling under the settee. 

November 2022

 Nov 2,

I picked up the new bulkhead fitting today.  The last piece to complete the tanks.  Unfortunately, I'm going to be out of town this weekend.  I'm hoping to get a little tank welding in anyway.

Nov 5, 

I have finished the second freshwater tank.  Woo Hoo! I'm going to get the holding tanks finished before I put those tanks in the boat though.  

October 2022

 October 30,

Well, I was out of the country for most of the month.  I had a work trip to Johannesburg South Africa and my wife and I stopped off in Paris on the way back.  We replay had a great time and learned a lot about South Africa.  Beautiful country and very nice people.  

I managed to get some work in this weekend on the boat though.  Putting the finishing touches on the tanks.  Getting them to not leak was not the end but, luckily, the end of the trouble.  Everything since has gone fairly smoothly. 

I'll have some photos soon. 

Final fitting of the top of the fresh water tank with the access port fully populated with  bolts.  Those took some time to install.  

An actual finished fresh water tank.  The other ready to have its top welded on.

The holding tanks (or black water tanks) with their tops fitted and ports drilled for access and plumbing.  I've got one of the floor beams in place to check the fit. I had to order another bulkhead fitting to accommodate the shower drain from the shower sump pump.  Originally I had it plumbed into the pump-out tube between the tanks but I figured that that would not work well when pumping out the tanks.  There is no guarantee that the sump pump would hold the pump-out vacuum and I'd have to put a valve on the line to make it work correctly.  The new plan is to run it to the top of the tank using a bulkhead fitting.  There is just enough clearance. 

September 2022

 September 11,

I was able to correct the leaks in the fresh water tank.  I initially had three leaks.  Two corners and one bottom seam.  One corner and the bottom seam were fairly straight forward to fix. The last corner proved to be a real problem.  I tried to fix it multiple times and ended up with a mess.  Since I was unable to get to the problem and was now dealing with a mess, I cut out the entire corner and replaced it.  Solved the issue and the tank no longer leaks.  Investigating the bad corner, I noticed a void in the weld that might have been trapping water or air that prevented the new weld to seal properly. Whatever the reason, it is fixed now. 

I cut the corner out and replaced by a solid chunk of HDPE.  

I also attached the plumbing to the second freshwater tank and performed a leak test.  I have two corners leaking and the first few attempts to fix these failed.  It was late and I was tired, so I needed to put the work up and think on the best way to fix these corners.  Hopefully, the second tank won't be as miserable to fix as the first. 

Sept 20,

Making some progress with sealing the second tank.  I still have a very small leak in a few places.  Every step forward seems like two steps backward sometimes but I'm making progress.  I also worked on the brackets that hold the plumbing in place on the bottom of the tank.  No unsupported plumbing on this boat.

One assembled in the background and one in pieces in the forefront.  

And this is how they attach.  That ball valve and connection to the tank is now well supported.

Both tanks being filled near full to check for leaks.  Almost 200 gallons of water (1500 pounds). A 24 hour wait reveled some very small drips around some of the seams.  These very slow drips can be ground down and re-welded without draining the tanks.  The act of grinding the drip area down, temporarily stops the leaks and lets me get a good weld in.  Unfortunately, there are occasionally underlying conditions that make these leaks pretty persistent so I keep trying until I get a 24 hour leak free period.  The tanks have been filled for a week now and I've addressed most of the issues. I had a new leak show up this morning after 6 days.  It is such a slow drip that the water almost evaporates before I can see it. Almost.  Well, that will be easy to fix. 

Obviously, I've made a tactical error in the design of these tanks.  Most importantly is the difficulty in welding the corners where three planes (two sides and the bottom) come together.  If I ever make a tank again out of HDPE, I will mold the sides like I did for the black water tank connector (Vee groove half way through the thickness of the HDPE, add heat and bend to a 90 degree corner.  Then weld inside.). I believe this would have eliminated 95% of all my issues with these tanks.  I'm not terribly happy with the workmanship on these tanks.  The re-weld work is not that pretty.  At least the inside will be smooth and clean and the tanks will not leak. To prevent any nooks and crannies where dirt can collect, I've ordered some food grade silicone that is formulated for tough surfaces.  I'm going to fillet all the inside corners with the silicone to make a super smooth inside to help keep the tanks sanitary.  I insist that I am not using the silicone to stop any leaks.  All leaks will be fixed by welding the plastic.  However, if I happened to miss a very slow leak, the silicone will act as a long lasting insurance policy. 

August 2022

 August 6,

There was really nothing to do but to cut out that connecting channel and start over.  I removed the tanks, cleaned up the old welds and made a new connecting channel.  I had just enough room to weld the connecting channel to one side with the tank removed and slide it into place when done.  This allowed me weld both sides and ensure a water tight joint.  I'll still have to weld the other (port) side when the tanks are in place. 

The new connector tube with plumbing attached.

Refitting the tanks.

All back together.

Well, I still have a very small leak along two seams.  It took me a few times grinding the seams down and re-welding to reduce that to a small weep.  Not much more than a sweat bead.  The amount of work done thus far is ridiculous. I think this is my first not so happy outcome.  My intention is to seal all the welds with epoxy.  I'll have to clean the tanks with alcohol and rough up along the seams with some sand paper.  I've already tested the bond strength of epoxy on the HDPE with the proper prep and there is a nice bond. Specifically, I'm going to mix up a quart plus of epoxy and pour in the lowest part of the tank that has the connector tube.  Basically, I'm flooding the area that is susceptible to leaking.  If I can get about 2-3 mm of epoxy floating on the low side of the tank, it will warm up and seep into any voids and small cracks permanently sealing the tank.  I hate to cheat like this but I just can't get the tank fully sealed otherwise.  If the weld is not perfect, you get a cold joint.  The conditions really have to be perfect and that is very difficult welding the connector when the tanks are already installed in the bilge. Luckily, the water tanks will be fully welded and tested outside of the boat where I can make better repairs if there is a leak. Specifically, I'll have full access to all welds on the inside and outside of the tanks.  

Aug 19,

The holding tanks are sealed and almost ready to have the tops put on. I've decided to go ahead and lay all the plumbing runs before I locate where the two main 1.5" lines from the head will attach.  These two lines will carry waste from the heads and the three wash basins in the cabins. The Kitchen sink will also drain into the port waste line.  All of that water is gravity fed into the tanks.  The two shower drains go to a closed sump and are pumped into the tank.   I'm also working on the freshwater runs so I can locate where the water will drain from those tanks.  

The brown lines represent the waste water system and tanks.  The blue and red lines are the fresh water system.  Blue for cold and red for hot water.  It's a rough design but enough to get started. 

The fresh water tanks can be tested for leaks on a bench top instead of in the bilge.  Much easier.  I did have some issues in the corners where all the HDPE faces come together.  So there was some grinding and rewelding at those places.  I'm going to go ahead and do the same for the other tank before I test because there is an obvious weak point at those corners.

The drain for the fresh water tanks is attached via a 1/4" thick EPDM gasket and set in a small well to allow the tanks to fully drain.  A 1/2" PVC elbow is screwed into the tank bulkhead fitting and a ball valve is glued to the elbow.  Each tank will have its own valve so they can be individually shut off.  Half inch PVC pipe will run to the edge of the tank supported by a bracket (not shown) and then we convert to 1/2" PEX.  The PEX will run to a tee which connects both tanks and then runs aft via 3/4" PEX to the pressure pump.  3/4" PEX is run all the way to the water heater (under the sink) and forward to where it splits and reduces to 1/2" to go forward and to starboard to the separate wash rooms.  At the water heater (tankless powered by propane), the cold and hot water tees to the kitchen sink.  The kitchen sink drains directly into the black water tanks at a junction that receives the waste from the port head and the port cabin wash basin and the vee berth wash basin.  The starboard was basin and head drain into the starboard black water tank (holding tank).  All of the above waste lines are gravity fed.  The two showers drain into a well pump and are pumped up into the black water tank using a tee at the tank connector where the pump-out is connected. 

July 2022

 July, 10

I've spent some time cutting the tongue and groove "V" boards for the ceiling while I wait until the parts come in to finish the tanks.  Originally I was going to weld all the fittings onto the tank using HDPE pipe.  As it turns out HDPE sheet and HDPE pipe are not generally weldable to each other.  I've since ordered some impressive looking bulkhead connectors that have 1.5" NPT threads on either side.  The large ones for the black water tanks have arrived and I was able to take measurements to make a connector tube to connect the tank on the port and starboard side together.  On top of this tube, I will put the pump-out tube via one of those bulkhead connectors.  I did some experiments to figure out how best to make this tube to connect the tanks.  I used a "V" bit in my router and cut a 90 degree "V" where I wanted to bend the HDPE sheet 90 degrees.  I did not cut all the way through.  I left an 1/8" and used the hot air welding gun to soften up the joint so I could bend it to shape.  As I got to about 75-80 degrees, I had a narrow groove that I was able to heat to welding temperature and then close the gap to make the 90 degree bend.  I held it in place until the HDPE cooled.  Then I added a weld down the inside.  In this way, I was able to make a square tube with only one real seam.  Also, the rounded corners look real nice.

I am holding the tube in a jig to ensure that the sides stay at 90 degrees while the weld joint cools.  I just made the next to the last weld.  

The completed tube that will connect both tanks across the centerline of the boat.  The  pump-out pipe will connect to the top (side as pictured) of the connector tube since that is the lowest place in the tank system and equally close to both tanks.

July 30.

This is how the connector tube is suppose to fit.

View from inside the tank showing how tight I've fit that tube,

A view from the other tank. I'll cut a groove where  the weld will go.

This will be the pump out tube in the middle of the connector.  It is the lowest part of the tank.  

This is the external gage that will let me know how full the tanks are.  Nothing to get fowled here.

Final installation and welding of the connector tube. I've put rubber flashing over the longitudinal where  the tank will sit.  This will keep condensation, from the tanks, off the wood.  I did the same under the I-Beam that acts as a mast step girder as well as bolts to the ballast keel. 

I like to illuminate my work.  

Filled with water.  Wait... is that a leak!  Actually I had a leak on both sides. This one was easy to fix.  The leak on the port side was a disaster.  I spent an entire day working on it and just could not get it fixed.  Finally, I stuffed rags in the limber holes and flooded the section of the hull where the tank is hoping to see water enter the tank at the leaks.  It's pretty tight there so it really did not take much water and it only took a little to see where water was coming into the tank.  A lot easier than figuring out where the water was coming out of the tank.  Even knowing exactly where the leak was, I was unable to fix it yet.  I completely ground down the welds and re-welded three times.  I still have 3 small beads of water percolating up from very small pin holes.  I think my issue is the dampness of the wood beneath the tank.  When I try to re-weld, moisture (steam) seeps up creating gaps in the weld.  I've marked the small pin holes and I'm going to let everything dry out over the next few days and try again.  At least I have a rather easy method of finding the leaks.