Fuel Gauge Failure

 Our Fuel Gauge Failed 

On the last couple of trips, our Fuel Gauge became erratic. I would drop from showing 3/4 full to Empty or some other significant change in reading. I would normally put that down to a bad wiring connection however, I rebuilt the entire engine control panel in 2016 and I know I did a really good job ensuring all of the connections were solid. ( Crimped ! ) But still worth checking out the wiring.

The engine instruments are all on a common power supply and a common earth and the wires are connected to the instruments via ring terminals and nut and bolt attachments. All were secure. The other earth on the fuel gauge system is at the fuel tank itself, but that was solid too and using a Multimeter the resistance was less than 1Ω.

Next suspect was the Sender.

It's a pretty simple unit. The float opens/closes a series of reed switches as it moves up or down the shaft of the sender.

That changes the resistance of the sender and the gauge displays the fuel level dependent upon the resistance.

The tank is located on the Port side aft, Access is by removing the plywood bulkhead on the port side of the Aft Berth. 

I removed the sender from the tank and we tested it by moving the float up and down, ah ha! it would intermittently operate correctly, so I have to consider that one or more of the read switches is faulty.

Disconnecting the sender from the system and testing with a multimeter confirmed it was the sender.

I had ordered a replacement Sender and Gauge so that I was prepared if it turned out to be either of them.

The new sender did not work with the old gauge but the new gauge was the same size so it was a reasonably easy swap out.

The Gauge is not just a simple voltage meter!

When the power is applied, the gauge lights up to the selected background color choice then the needle moves from E to F, back to E and then it moves to indicate the current fuel level. It does this very smoothly. I found this a really nice feature, the needle moving in that way indicates that the system is working.

Once the system was wired in, all that remained was to replace the engine control panel, sealing the edges with Butyl tape - that makes it easy to remove if needed. Then secure the wiring at the tank end and replace the wooden bulkhead.

Most of the time taken was in testing the various components and wiring.

Kit details: 100TECH Boat Fuel Sending Unit with Gauge 11"(280mm) 

SUS316 Stainless Steel Marine Fuel Level Sender Sensor 240-33ohm

I opted for the 11" sender rather than the 12" that would still fit, if the gauge reads empty, then we have at least 1.5" of fuel in the tank. Consider it a reserve.

I purchased the kit from Amazon $69.

The only near hiccup was that the float on the new sender is slightly wider ( Dia. ) than the old unit but it fit snuggly. The kit included a new gasket, screws and butt connectors.

Just an FYI, we never fill the tank to Full - I really do not want to risk fuel overflow so when the gauge reads over 3/4 full we stop filling! We always carry at least 2 x 6 gallon fuel cans. So our normal capacity is 23 gallons in the tank plus up to 24 gallons in cans on deck. That gives us about 45 gallons and at 1 gallon per hour, we're good for 45 hours of motoring. 

One last thing: When we are motoring, we have a routine of 'checking the heartbeat'. About every 15 minutes, we'll check the engine status:- Look over the stern to ensure water is pumping out the exhaust, Check the engine Temperature and Fuel level.  If I'm in the cabin and Peggy at the helm, all I need do is tap my wrist with two fingers and Pegs gets the message then checks the Heartbeat.  

See you on the water.

Solar Panel Wiring & Mounts

Managing the Solar Panel Wiring

Currently, the Solar Panels on Eximius have their power wires secured with zip ties down the Bimini Support Stainless Steel tubing. The same type of zip ties are used to secure the wires that run up the Pedestal Support tubes to the electronics at the helm: Chartplotter, Depth Display unit, Auto Pilot control and display as well as the general data display and finally the VHF Remote Microphone.

Those Zip Ties have to be replaced at least once a year due to them breaking down as a result of UV damage.  

While aboard a friends boat this past weekend, I noticed that his wiring is secured using much larger zip ties. The Brand is TR Ultra Heavy Duty Multi-purpose cable ties -- UV resistant,  Black

They are 11.8" long and .49" wide, 0.067in thick.

The pic shows the typical thin zip tie that I get from Harbor Freight and the TR Zip tie. Literally a Huge difference.

The Pack of 50 is sold on Amazon $20, here's the link there are other sizes ( various lengths. ) 

When I install the new solar panels in the next week or two ( awaiting delivery ) I plan on running the wires down the Radar Support Post instead of the Bimini frame.

I see several benefits to using these larger width zip ties.

1. UV Resistant - We live in South Florida - Enough said
2. Larger Width - The extra width expands the area of wire reducing point loading.
3. Appearance - they look so much better than their thin counterparts.

Moving nearer to installing the new Solar Panels !!

I have decided on the rail mounts. Recently, I assisted in the install of 1200 Watts of solar panels on a Trawler, we used Aluminium Rails and mounts to secure the Panels to the roof of the boat. That worked out really well so I'm going to use the same products.

Ok, onto the Solar Panel Mounts.

The existing panels are mounted on top of the Bimini supported by a hodge podge of rails made of Wood or Aluminum square tube or Aluminum U channel. It does not look neat and tidy and the wooden rail is suffering, I'm removing all 3 rails and replacing them with Aluminum Rails

The pieces of rail are only 30" long but can be connected together easily with a solid bar that fits in the square slot.

I have a total of 10 pieces plus 2 half lengths left over from my buddies Solar Project.

So there is 300 inches of rail and the rails are about 60" long or between 2 pieces and 2 + 1/2 piece, so I have plenty of rails and also plenty of the various fittings to attach the rails to the Bimini and the solar panels to the rails.

I purchased additional connector pieces as the kit only had 2 of them, the additional ones are solid but have the same function.

Ideally, the panels would all touch the adjacent panel, but the Back Stay cables prevent the two aft panels doing that, however, I hope that the forward edge of the two aft panels will be able to touch and connect to the front most panel.

Starting this week ( July 11th 2023 )

See you on the water.

Update to include links to the Solar Panel Rail Kits that I used.

The rails are 30" long and can be joined. The aft rail is about 68" long so that is made from two full length pieces and a short one in the center. The other two rails are 60" so just two pieces joined together.

I put rubber plugs ( Black Sink Stoppers from ACE Hardware ) between the rails and the Bimini Tubing to support the rails ( they also act as a water barrier over the holes drilled through the Bimini canvas and the tubing.)

Here's the link to the rail Kits  I had needed two kits for my install.

July 4th Cruise 2023

No Wind = more of an RV event than an SV event for Eximius

High tide dictated that we would have to leave the dock on Thursday evening so we loaded the boat Thursday afternoon, it was Hot! so we plugged in shore power in order to run the Air Conditioning. We left the dock about 18:45, it was looking like we would have good weather but no wind, so our plan was to anchor overnight at Sunrise Bay. We dropped anchor before the Sun went down and made a dinner ( see that disaster here ) 

Oh! we tried out our new Anchor Ball in Sunrise Bay and it gets my ***** votes right now. I have it setup for a 12' 1/8" white line from the ring on the ball to a spring hook to attach to the Anchor chain close to the Anchor shaft. That way, the ball will float without trying to pull up on the anchor in waters up to 12' deep. 

It was nice being able to see where the anchor was relative to the boat, it also indicates where it is compared to other boats especially when they are dropping their anchor. The Bay was almost empty, plenty of room to anchor and our nearest neighbor was about 80' away ( we have a digital laser range finder ) and was the type of boat that would not stay overnight - no cabin.

Ouc  cabin was reasonably cool overnight so we slept well although I did get up at 2am to turn off the dry bilge system, it's not that it's loud, but just annoyingly loud enough to cause me to wake from a not very deep sleep. Once the dry bilge system was turned off, I was able to go back to sleep.

We woke up around 7am and had a cereal breakfast with skillet toast and that so important Coffee! The morning was off to a good start.  After breakfast, Peggy took the helm while I hauled in the Anchor Snubber and then we worked together as I pulled the anchor and Pegs kept the boat so that the anchor chain was mostly straight up and down. We wore our headsets and that always makes it easy to communicate. Once the anchor was up, the anchor ball removed and everything stowed, Peggy turned us to the East side of the Bay so that we could turn North on the ICW.

There was no wind, as expected, so we motored up the ICW and easily made all of the bridges. We have a Cheat Sheet with all the ICW bridges listed and the distance and time to the next bridge if we were traveling at 5 knots.  We had the ICW on the nose all the way up to Lake Boca. Not many boats on the center of the Lake, however, we were able to anchor about the center of the North side of the lake. We used the anchor ball again and this time it was really useful.  Most of the boats along that North side of the lake are in various states of abandonment and they are permanently anchored and not necessarily on reliable anchor rodes.  But we anchored safely and the anchor ball helped us know where we were relative to the anchor. Most of the night, the anchor ball was touching our hull, so we were over the top of the anchor.

We had a cooked breakfast of eggs, sausage, tomatoes and skillet toast plus the coffee. Then it was time to cleanup the deck. We get a lot of tree droppings landing on the boat at the dock. While I was sorting out the deck, a guy came along on his JetSki and asked if I knew who had set the mooring ball off of our Bow. I explained that it was our anchor marker ball. He then proceeded to tell me how a boat had broken free of it's anchor and had collided with his dock  - mind you! His dock is on the frontage of his huge home that overlooks the lake. He told me that he pays $250,000 taxes a year for the property and that he had 'poop' in the water by his dock. Then he went on to complain about the boats in the lake emptying their poop buckets in the lake and rinsing them out.

Ok, let's keep this straight. I don't care how much you pay in taxes or even if you don't pay any taxes. In my mind, it doesn't matter - we all deserve clean water and none of us want to swim in a Bay that is polluted by human waste. 

Personally, we take pride in running a clean boat. We just spent $$$$ on replacing the toilet hoses and pumping out the holding tank as well as replacing the Macerator pump on our waste system. I'm happy to report that our system is smell free. Also, the Thruhull for the waste system is locked off and cannot be accidently opened. That's the Law! To my knowledge, all of the members of our sailing club that own boats follow that same law. 

However! When we see boats anchored for months, if not years, in the Lake and never moving, plus there is no mobile pumpout facility close to the lake, then those boats do not 'pumpout' and if there are people living on the boats, they must produce some waste and they need to dispose of that in a healthy manner. By the way! Wrapping it up in garbage bags and dumping it ashore in a trash can is not a healthy manner!

So, I understand the complaint of the home owner about finding poop along his dock - I must admit I have my doubts about that - poop disintegrates in water pretty quickly especially when there are plenty of power boats navigating around the sides of the lake away from the anchored boats. Those power boats are like floating macerators!

Anchoring restrictions are an issue in South Florida, primarily due to boats being used as a really low cost housing option.  But I see no reason why those boats cannot be maintained in a healthy manner and I support local legislation that would enforce that.  

Florida has a program that encourages mobile and static pump facility services. It's probably abused by big corporations taking some of the grant money and then closing the facility ( Los Olas Blvd Marina might be an example of that )  We really do need pumpout facilities within reach of all anchorages. It should be easy to request a pumpout that would arrive within a few days, and local law enforcement could easily monitor that the pumpouts are being used without even visiting the boats.

Ok, end of Rant!

I'll close this post and start a part II covering the great weekend on the water and the parties with the HISC members on their boats.

See you on the water.

 

Replacing the Masthead Sheaves

Replacing the Masthead Sheaves on our Catalina 34 - In the water!

I plan to replace the Standing Rigging on our 1987 Catalina 34 Tall Rig Fin Keel later this year.

My plan  is to replace the rigging while the boat is in the water and not to pull the Keel Stepped Mast.

Pulling the mast would make it a lot easier, but it's crazy expensive here in South Florida. just to have the mast pulled. Just removing the mast and replacing it will cost about $3,000 !!!!! 

So, how to complete the task with the boat in the water?

The Rigging consists of 

1. Forestay ( $600 )
2. Backstay ( $1000 )
3. Port & Stbd Upper Shrouds ( two ) ( $1900 )
4. Port & Stbd - Fore & Aft Lower Shrouds ( two pair ) ( $1250) 

Rigging materials = $4750 + Taxes and Shipping -- Guesstimate $6000 ( as sold by CatalinaDirect )

The sheaves at the top of the mast are part of the Mast head and there lies the problem. I have gone up the mast several times ( 5 times in one month when our Wireless Wind Transducer Failed ) so I'm very comfortable about going up the mast and do not see any problems working to replace the standing rigging, but the sheaves are another problem because when I go up the mast, I am supported on the halyards that run on those sheaves that I want to replace!!!!

My solution is to install Mast Steps from about 6 feet from the top of the mast, the highest being enough to support me on both sides of the mast while removing the Masthead.

So, the plan would be to measure all of the rigging, purchase the correct size cable and new turnbuckles and any beckets that need to be replaced ( most of them ) and of course, purchase the mast steps.

Then going up the mast and install the mast steps. With the steps in place, I would replace the standing rigging one cable at a time. First I would backup the cable with a halyard or dyneema cable taking the strain off of the piece of standing rigging. Remove the piece of rigging and make up the replacement using Mechanical Fittings.

Next, onto the Mast Head.

There is a halyard that does not attach to the Masthead ( Spinnaker halyard ) I would use this to climb the mast using the other halyards to climb up the mast to reach the newly installed Maststeps.

At the top, I would unbolt the masthead and remove the sheaves, replace them with new sheaves and pins then replace the mast head.

Sounds pretty straight forward, but it is a boat!!!!

Posting this hoping to get some feedback on the project.

Rigging Dimensions

Instant Pot on our boat success and failure

Having had our Instant Pot 6qt at home for a couple of months and I love it. Using it every few days to cook dinners, cakes even cheesecake. So much so that I bought a 3qt Instant Pot for on the boat, although with a little concern about power consumption. We have a total of 3×100AH batteries,  that's over 3kwh if we run them to zero.

Last night I tried the Instant Pot on the boat for the first time and it was both a huge success as well as a dismal failure. 

1st, the Sucess

So the power consumption is 1000 W for the 6 qt model. I think that's right. It's only 700 W  for the 3qt model, and that was not too certain. Different people report different wattages so I didn't know for certain. Because I have ta complete Victron system on Eximius, when I plug something in, it shows me how much power is being used. 

When I plugged in the 3 qt instant pot and set it for high pressure cooking, the system showed the power consumption was 700watts.Thats a good start, but it gets better!

The Instant Pot takes a few minutes to get up to pressure,  it's basically boiling the water inside the Pot. Once it's approaching the pressure level, the pressure lock valve will pop up and the display will soon show the countdown of the number of minutes that were set.

This is where the Instant Pot shines! Once the Instant Pot reaches pressure,  the power consumption dropped to 1 watt! Yes, 1 watt!!!

I was cooking baked potatoes,  OK, they are steamed rather than baked, but I probably cook potatoes every week at home, they are a quick and easy dinner. I make a thick cheese sauce with butter, Ricotta and grated cheese blend adding pepper and salt to taste then topping them with more grated cheese. Delicious! 

On the boat I saw the power consumption pop back up to 700 watts foe about a minute twice during the cooking of the potatoes. 

I didn't time it, but I believe that the cooker only consumed 700watts for about 8 minutes of the 17minute cook time.

Roughly that's 700×8 ÷ 60 = about 90 watthours. And that is about 2% of the available power.

OK, time to fessup on the failure. 

The potatoes cooked perfectly, 17 minutes with a quick release (in the cockpit to avoid the heat steaming the cabin) I then removed the potatoes, added 1/2 cup of milk to reminaning water and a packet of cheesey pasta shells and a couple of cups of frozen broccoli then set the Instant Pot to pressure cook high for 3 minutes. 

Don't try that!!,

After the 3mins of cook time, I unplugged the Instant Pot again and took it out to the cockpit for the quick pressure release. 

Don't do that!!!

Cheesey sauce blew out of the pressure vent!! And things didn't get any better.  I scooped the pasta out of the pot and topped each of the potatoes with cheesey broccoli pasta and sauce.

Definitely not a success! Peggy did a stellar job of maybe eating half, but did not enjoy the meal. I should not really call it a meal, more like a mess.

The good news is that the Instant Pot worked great and consumed very little power but the chef needs to practice..... a lot 

Solar Panel Update - problem with shipping

Solar Panels Damaged during shipping - it's a problem

We ordered 3 x 220 Watt Solar Panels from a company via Amazon. All three were damaged upon arrival. They probably worked, but the damage to the frames was something that I could not hide if they were mounted atop our Bimini on Eximius. Everytime I board the boat, I would see those damaged panels and you know how those scratches itch! So I returned them. I took a couple of weeks to get the money back into my amazon account. 

I have searched online many sites trying to find a local company where I could pickup the panels and inspect them before taking delivery of them. None! There was one local company that had panels almost the size I needed but they were literally 2 times the price! So 3 panels would go from $700 up to $1400!

I have previously purchased BougeRV panels, worked great both on the boat and at home ( Solar Hot Water Pump system ) so I ordered three 200Watt panels from them. Their reviews on Amazon were really good and they included details of their packing in their Ad. 

Yesterday, the 3 panels arrived. Two were perfect but the 3rd was destroyed, it had obviously been damaged in transit, the frame on one side was actually bent, the box was concaved on one side. The glass on top of the panel was shattered into several thousand pieces, totally ruined.

Of course I contacted the seller and am expecting a response within 24 hours, of course, it's Friday, so I don't expect a reply till Monday.  I was able to talk to customer service, they were on the ball and didn't hesitate to escalate it up to the Returns dept. That's a good sign!

The good news is that I can go ahead with the install, I'll use one of the panels as a template for the 3rd panel and mount the two good panels, new wiring and the new MPPT controller ( see my other post on the entire process of planning and installation.)

Meanwhile, I won't hold my breath until Monday ;)

Paul

Update - Sunday June 25th

BougeRV have been responding and their latest email indicates they are going to replace the panel directly ( not via Amazon ). Their Customer service is staying on top of this issue. They are getting ***** right now. 

Update - Monday June 26th

So far I'm impressed by the customer service at BougeRV, there was an email waiting for me this morning which indicated they are shipping the new panel and that I can toss out the broken one. Understandably, the busted panel is not worth the shipping.

Macerator Failure - you know what that means...

Our Macerator Pump Failed 

After a great cruise down to Biscayne Bay over the Memorial Day weekend, we headed 4 miles offshore so that we could do a black water tank PumpOut. It didn't work!

Our normal procedure is to unlock the Thru Hull valve and turn on the Macerator pump. Peggy would watch lookout over the stern for our dirty trail and as soon as it stopped she would give me the signal that it was ok to shut the pump off and relock the Thru Hull valve ( a Federal requirement that we take seriously ) 

Well, Peggy didn't see the trail! Nothing was being pumped out despite the open valve and the Pump running. I thought that perhaps it was taking it's time to prime so I left it running for another minute. Nope! that didn't work either. Then the Macerator Pump just stopped. Didn't blow the circuit breaker, it just stopped. It wasn't even hot.

After a few calls and advice from several sailing buddies, I was able to connect with a Mobile PumpOut company ( We've used them before, small business, they were having a day off and so didn't return my call till Tuesday ) 

Yesterday the truck pulled up and Chris ran the hose from the street down the side of the house to the dock and got us setup for a PumpOut. I asked if it was ok if I cleaned the tank out when it was empty, that was fine. It was not so pleasant but it was fine!

Just over a year ago, I had installed an 8' inspection plate on the top of the Black Water tank, sure glad I had now!

The tank was only about 1/2 way full measuring from the top of the tank, but it's probably less than 1/3rd full as the tank gets very narrow at the forward end. 

We use 'Oderless' after every PumpOut and it works, the stench from the tank was almost zero, but I'm guessing one quickly gets used to it.

As the PumpOut progressed, I could see pieces of calcium scale collecting near the exit point ( that would be the bottom aft port side of the tank) and guessed that was what prevented the pump working and it's ultimate demise. The pieces of scale varied in size from dust up to about 4" by 2" and about 1/16th of an inch thick

I had setup a hose and spray nozzle so that I could rinse the tank sides down. That successfully detached even more of the scale from the sides of the tank.

Wearing nitrile gloves, I scooped out the scale by the handful, there was enough to fill a 2 gallon bucket. Rinsing and repeating and then Chris helping by moving the PumpOut hose from the deck connection to down in the cabin. He was able to suction out almost all of the grot in the bottom of the tank. A few more washdowns with fresh water and a few more scoops of gross scale and stuff. The tank was as good as it was going to get.

Next step. Order new hoses to replace the hose connection from the head to the tank and from the tank to the clean out on deck. Got that! 14' of 1/2" sanitation hose $297.80

New Macerator Pump. Ordered from Amazon, got it.

New 8" access panel, ditto. I just hope that the removable lid fits the old plate holder. If it does not, then I'll remove the old and install the new.

We now have all of the pieces to complete the project. Need a few extras to make the job easier to manage:- Puppy Pads to put under the hose ends when they are removed from the Head and from the Macerator Pump.  A new box of Nitrile gloves. New hose clamps - got them, I always have spares. Finally, new Electrical Butt connectors to connect the new Macerator Pump to the power supply.

My plan is to disconnect the old hose from the head, apply some liquid soap to the outside of the hose where it passes into the forward bulkhead of the head and into the void below the Hanging locker and then the void beneath the floor of the Nav station and into the Holding tank locker area.  The tough bit is getting the new hose to follow the old.

To get the new hose from the head to the holding tank area, I'm going to join the old pipe and the new pipe with a few pieces of wooden wedges and then push the old pipe with the new pipe so that we don't lose the end of the old pipe.  Sounds awkward, probably is but I don't see any other way to get the new pipe through the bulkheads.

I'll take the opportunity to clean up the grotty area that is currently under the pipe from the tank that connects to the Macerator Pump

So, other than dealing with grot and the challenge to get the new hose from the head to the tank, I think it should be a quick job, maybe 3 or 4 hours.  But---- it is a boat!

Well, it took 3 1/2 hours just to remove the hoses. The good news ( I hope ) is that where the hose from the head passes forwards under the floor of the Nav Station is not a blind space. The hose exits forwards by the Starter Battery and then it's a clear run towards the holding tank area. That means we don't need to use the old hose as a messenger. That's good news, because it was a beast getting the old hose out without anything on the aft end! 

The hose from the tank to the Macerator pump includes a 90º elbow connector, that piece of hose was about 90% occluded. I was able to remove the entire hose assembly from the tank to the pump in a single piece and wash it out with fresh water, it came clean. We're going to replace the piece of Sheilds Hose from the tank to the elbow, but from the elbow to the pump is a rubber flexible connector. It's now clean and should ( !!!! ) be easier to install.

--- The pic shows the Connection from the tank to the elbow connector ( double clamped at each end ) it also shows the Tank Sensors that are adhered to the aft end of the tank. ( at the bottom of the picture. )

This pic shows the disconnected hose from the head that goes to the top port side of the aft end of the tank ( that Elbow connector ) I had to snip the wire reinforcements of the hose to get it off of the Elbow Connector.

I spent quite a while trying to clean the hull beneath the hoses. The pic above and the pic here show how bad it was and how well it came up.

Not sure if scrubbing it with something to see if it will come up any better, but it worth the effort

One thing I'll have to make sure to do is to clean the connections on the tank. This pic shows the build up of grot on the end of the connector.

Another thing to note is the thru hull for the pump output, the white hose is connected to that thru hull. I was very careful when easing the hose connection there. I do not believe that that particular thru hull has a suitably sized backing plate. 

Plan is to put the boat on the hard later this year, so I'll add replacing that thru hull and incorporating a decent backing plate.

Here's a close up of the tank fill connector ( for the hose that is connected to the head's Pump )

Should only take a few minutes to clean that up.

Note, I put a wadding of paper towel into the ends of the tank connections just to try and reduce the odor coming from the almost empty tank.

Next job is to finish cleaning out the tank. We put a flashlight in there this afternoon and could clearly see about a quart of grot - effluent and scale at the far end, forward, of the tank.

The opening in the top of the tank is an 8" access plate, I'll be able to get a small shovel to scoop out the goop.  Definitely going to suit up for that project.

That brown mark by the tank's connection to the Macerator Pump is the left over from a corroded Jig Saw Blade. I was able to remove the blade but need to do a bit more cleaning.

The picture is taken from above and aft of the Holding tank.

I used Spray Nine solution to try and clean the area. I'm taking some more aggressive scouring pads with me next time down at the boat.

The easiest hose connection to remove was the one in this photo. That black connector is at the aft, bottom, inboard corner of the tank. It connects to a piece of hose about 6" long. That connects to an Elbow. The elbow is connected to the Macerator Pump via a short rubber hose.

So that will be the last connection to make when I put it all back together.

So next steps are:-

• Clean out the inside of the waste tank.
• Clean the inside of the hull just aft of the black water waste tank.
• Clean the ends of the tank connectors
• Remove the toilet for easier access to the head bulkhead.
• Use a dremel to clear out the area just inside of the bulkhead on the forward side of the head and then seal the area with epoxy. I hope to expand the hole by about 1/8" of an inch, that should leave a little room to add some caulking around the hose.
• Install the hose from the lower outboard tank connection up to the deck pumpout plate.
• Install the hose from the lower inboard tank connection to the Elbow for the Macerator Pump connection.
• Run the hose from the head into the storage cabinet ( by the Starter Battery ) thru into the Tank area and connect that to the top outboard connection on the tank.
• Replace the tank access plate as the old 'transparent' plate has broken down probably due to the chemicals we put  in the tank to reduce odors.
• Connect the power supply cables to the Macerator Pump.
• Give it a test and check for leaks.

Probably another 3 to 4 hours of work.. but, don't forget - It's a Boat !!!!

Well we blew through 7 hours and it's still not finished.

Removed the toilet and cleaned that up.

Cleaned up the hole in the head's forward bulkhead

Installed the hose from the tank up to the waste clean out deck cap. That actually went pretty quickly.

Installed the hose from the head area forwards thru two bulkheads. It took an hour and then a small amount of liquid soap eased the rest of it in a few minutes.

Got the tank connections made for the pumpout hose and the fill hose.

Then, I thought it a good idea to test the new Macerator Pump. The old wires had been joined with solder and liquid rubber insulation, mucky stuff. Stipped the supply wires back and found they are not Tinned, Not Thin Stranded and of course, not labeled. So add an hour to replace those two wires with 10AWG Tinned Thin Stranded copper wires, new terminals and labels. A couple of butt connectors to join the supply wires to the Pump - Turn the breaker on and WooHoo! It works. Quickly cleaned up the connection and applied heat shrink.

Next job, mount the pump and connect to the waster tanks pump out connection. That took another hour of sweating and swearing but finally got it done.

All joints now have hose clamps, two where they fit.

Only thing left to do is to secure the Macerator Pump to the bulkhead, check tighten all of the hose clamps in the tank area, then reinstall the toilet and secure the hose with a couple of hose clamps.

Another visit to the boat and we have finished the project. The toilet is secured with new Stainless Steel lag bolts, the bulkhead forward of the head has been cleaned and caulked, the hole with the hose through that bulkhead is also neatly caulked.  We flushed a gallon of water with some Oderless and watched it as it poured out of the filler inlet into the tank - watching with the tank access panel lid removed.

I also ran a wire snake up the Vent hose from the tank to the elbow just below the Port side clean out and did the same for the Midships water tank vent pipe. That midships vent has proven an issue as the tank expands when we fill with water unless the fill cap is removed in the cabin.  

I'll probably replace the entire toilet in the next few months but meanwhile I need to run a bead of caulking along the base of the head's forward bulkhead and around the hole that the new hose passes through.

Things learnt that could be shared.

I could have used a pair of snips that were ground down so that it would be easier to cut the reinforcing wires of the new hose.

Apply liquid soap to ease the hose passage through the bulkheads.

Get larger size rubber gloves to make it easier to change them more frequently.

Plan on it taking a whole lot longer than anticipated.'

Measure the length of the hose removed before buying the replacement hose. I have 4' left over and at $20 per foot, that's $80 :(

Plan to replace all of the hose clamps, luckily I had enough.