Friday, June 12, 2020

Re-plumbing Catalina 34 Mk 1 - part 3

Success - New Plumbing finally passed the Pressure Test.

Tuesday May 26th 2020.

What was intended to be a quick trip to the boat turned out longer because things came together so well.

On Saturday, we completed the install with the exception of a leak where the new plumbing connected to the old Shower Thermostat. Turns out that was caused by a sloppy removal of the old hose in which I had to cut a slit in order to get the tube off of the fitting. The knife blade not only cut through the hose, which was the plan, but it also cut s slit in the surface of the fitting. That slit was the source of the leak.

So today I went armed with a replacement fitting and new hose. Replacement complete, I did another pressure test before re-securing the Shower Thermostat in place. All of that took about an hour.
With everything working, it was time to start putting the boat back together again. Bathroom Cabinet replaced and Under Sink Cabinet door replaced. 




In the Galley, I tidied up the electrical wiring that I had relieved in order to run the new piping. That included repositioning the Drinking Water Filter System UV Lamp power unit. In order to disentangle the wire from the lamp to the power supply where it was twisted around the sink drain pipe and the Pump housing, I had to remove the lamp from it's housing - Grrrrr! I could hear the inner glass of the housing snap as I pulled out the lamp! Note to self - next time remove the entire UV Lamp housing from the filter assembly before extracting the lamp. I bypassed the UV lamp system for the time being. and then replaced the Galley under sink cabinet and cutlery draw. 

With the water pressure turned on, a last check of all joints to inspect for leaks. I was certain there were none as the pump automatically turned off when it got up to pressure and it stayed that way while I put all of the cabinets back in place.

Other than having to replace the quartz glass sleeve for the UV Lamp housing, the job is finished. Oh, one more thing to do. Print out nice labels for the Water Selector Valve - Mid Ships  -- Aft -- Off





Hardly a big HuRaaa! but sure feels good to know that the new pipe joints are solid. As expected, water pressure at all faucets and the shower is still plenty high and I could hardly notice if there was any drop in the pressure compared to the previous hose piping system.


Here's the Re-positioned Water Pump and the UV lamp power source.

Much neater and I anticipate that it will be easy to change out the pump when it eventually fails.

I had broken the UV Lamp housing glass tube: That's the tube in which the lamp is inserted and allows the UV light to pass through into the water chamber.

I was able to get a replacement tube and a spare lamp from Atlantic UV online. It took all of 5 minutes to replace the lamp tube and put it back together.

In this pic, the galley drawers are removed for access.




This is the inside of the galley unit showing the Three Way Ball Valve. 

It's held in place by two SS screws from the outside face.

Not so clear but it also shows that the access to the Galley Sink Drain Thru-hull, so it's a lot easier to operate the Thru-Hull.












And, Finally! the new Fresh Water Tank Selector valve is complete with natty little labels to avoid confusion.

Having finished the job, we spent a couple of hours cleaning up the cabin, stowing everything that was removed or relocated to access the hidden areas of plumbing.

We have already booked a weekend at a Marina for our first trip since the pandemic hit. We'll be practicing safe distancing, and meeting with sailing buddies. 


Time for the next projects - new Spinnaker, Sock and running rigging. And fix the ding that we put in the port side 3 months ago (March)

Now to pull from these posts for a Magazine Article.

Stay Safe and we'll see you on the water.


















 

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