[C38] Fresh water tank vent

[Tom T.]

Our water tank has a vent in the fill cap on the tank itself.  I didn't install an outside vent for two reasons.

1.    I didn't want bugs, salt water or debris entering the vent from outside the boat.

2.    I installed a crossover with fill valve in the forward end of my bilge which goes between the cold water supply to the head and the service hose going from the water tank to the water pump.

By taking the tank cap off in the v-berth and opening the crossover valve, we can fill our tank from inside the boat where there is no bird droppings, etc.  When the tank is full and overflowing into the bilge, we close the valve in the bilge and replace the vented tank cap.  The vent hole in the tank isn't sufficient for venting when pressure filling so it must be removed during the fill process.  I could have installed an auxiliary vent with an inline filter but since the process we use is so simple and easy, I decided to forgo the auxiliary vent.

Since we the time we bought our boat, the water fill deck fitting has never been off.  We installed a "whole house" water filter in our anchor locker where we also installed a camper type water connection which includes a built in pressure regulator.  The water fill is on the port side mirror image to the manual bilge pump so it looks like a factory fitting.  The hose fitting on the boat has a protective cover when a hose isn't attached so everything stays very sanitary.

Filling the water tank with the crossover is very easy, much easier and more sanitary than trying to drag a hose to the foredeck.  Since the shore water supply has to go through a whole house filter, our complete water system is protected from contamination.  We use a carbon filter which also improves the taste of the water.  If we are at a dock with shore water connected, we just top off the bow water tank before we disconnect the water hose in the cockpit.

The filter and crossover projects are both very inexpensive and easy to do.  All materials were purchased from either Home Depot or Lowes.   We used a plastic crossover valve because it sits in the bilge with salt water and the plastic won't corrode like a brass valve will.

Tom Troncalli
Renata hull #95





----- Original Message ----- 
From: Max Soto 
To: Catalina 38 Listserve
Sent: 8/12/2008 1:21:19 PM 
Subject: [C38] Fresh water tank vent


Hi all,

Estancia came with no vent on the water tank. Is the same case on all C38s?? I just have a piece of hose with a check valve and that's it, so, I have to fill the tank from the inside so I can check the level. I want to install one, but because of the low sheer line, I'm concerned about salt water coming inside the vent to the tank. Have anyone added an external vent?? 

Any comments will be really appreciated!

-- 
Max Soto
C38 #198 ESTANCIA
Puntarenas, Costa Rica 
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