Plumbing, Head, Part 5, Holding Tank Installation

The holding tank, fully installed

If you have read my multi-part article on the work I did in the large, aft locker underneath the V-berth, then you will know that I did almost all of this work for one purpose - creating an appropriate place for securing the new holding tank for the new plumbing system on Oystercatcher, my Ericson 25. You will also know that at the same time I sought to maximize the usable space in this large locker by creating shelves and partitions that would break up this space into smaller, more functional areas. Now that I had completed all of this work, and now that I had completed much of the work for the replumbing of the head, I now needed to install the holding tank. The steps I took to complete this task are the subject of this posting.

You'll remember that my plan called for securing the tank by means of galvanized straps.

I noticed right away that these pieces of metal could cause some problems in terms of chafing the plastic of the tank. Therefore, I purchased some small sheets of gasket material.

These I would cut to size.

I also needed to do everything I could to soften the sharp edges of the metal where I had cut it to size. I used an angle grinder for this. It was much more effective than the Dremel.

There were also two unrelated side projects that I needed to complete before I put all the pieces together for this holding tank. I had earlier installed a new bronze transducer in this space, http://www.ericson25.com/2014/03/electronics-gps-and-vhf-part-6.html. Now I needed to secure the conduit for the transducer cable to the adjacent wooden cleat. I used my Milwaukee Tools right angle attachment to drill the holes for the hanger.

I also needed to secure the forward chainplate grounding cable to the other cleat. Again the right angle attachment was handy in the confines of this space.

Let's pause for a moment and look back at how I had dealt with this transducer cable and conduit just minutes before I completed the work I described above. This conduit had been in place when I purchased the boat in 2009. Through it ran the cable for an old, defunct instrument. I wanted to reuse this conduit, but I wanted it to be shorter in length by about a foot. My plan was to secure the conduit to the bulkhead you see pictured behind my arm.

Using my cable cutters, I removed about a foot from the end of the conduit. The string that you see is a piece of Spyder line that I used to snake the cable through the conduit.

There was a lot of excess cable, and I could not cut it short. The instructions for the transducer made it quite clear that any cutting of the cable would ruin it. Therefore, I decided to coil the excess and secure it in this space between the cleats in the V-berth.

In the picture below you can get a sense of where I would later secure the other end of the conduit - on the bulkhead in the lazarette. Notice the blue painter's tape on the cable. This was my reference mark. When I coiled up the excess in the V-berth, I had to ensure that I left enough slack in the cable on this end of the conduit. Otherwise, I would not have enough cable left over to join the cable to the GPS in the galley.

The edge of the black plastic conduit was sort of sharp. I didn't want it to damage the transducer cable. Therefore, I installed a piece of flexible conduit around the cable in the area where it entered the hard plastic conduit. You can see what I'm talking about in the picture below.

I put black electrical tape on the ends of the flexible conduit to ensure it didn't slip away from the appropriate section of the cable.

Now I needed to focus on the port and starboard partitions. I had always worked under the assumption that these would secure the holding tank laterally. Now I began to think that it would also be good to support it laterally with galvanized straps. Therefore, I needed to retrofit them into the design. This demanded that I cut some slits into the partitions - slits that would accommodate the straps. To cut these slits, I used a drill.

I also needed to cut notches on the aft end of these partitions. These notches would allow me to wrap the galvanized straps from port to starboard more easily.

The initial slits that I cut for the galvanized straps were too small. There was not enough room for me to make the turn with the strap.

This time, I used my Makita jigsaw to make the cut. No longer a slit, this was now a rectangular hole.

Back inside the boat, I put everything together without the holding tank in place, just so I could see how it was all fitting (or not fitting) together. The notches on the aft end of the partitions were definitely helping me make the turn with the galvanized strap in those areas. The rectangular holes on the forward end were now definitely large enough. The new problem was the hardware for the galvanized straps. The screws that I had installed to secure the strap to the battens on the bulkhead were now an obstruction. Specifically, the heads of these screws would likely chafe the plastic holding tank.

My solution to this problem involved Monel staples - better than stainless steel.

And it involved gasket material.

The gasket material formed padded standoffs that would protect the holding tank from the heads of the screws.

To ensure that the staples did not work themselves free of the rubbery gasket material, I applied pieces of duct tape over everything. Inelegant, I know, but a practical solution and one that would be out of sight and out of mind.

Now I could focus again on the two vertical straps.

After all the straps were ready, I put the holding tank into place.

Then I put the forward partition into place.

Next came the forward shelf . . .

and then the port and starboard partitions.

The vertical straps were first. This took some teamwork. I began by screwing one end of each strap into the lower ends of the battens. This provided each strap with an anchor point. Then a friend grabbed one strap at a time with his gloved hands and pulled that strap downward over the batten. While he held it in place, I secured it with screws.

As we did all this, we made sure that the gasket material was in place for protection against chafing.

The hardest task was the tightening and the securing of the horizontal galvanized strap. I began by taking out the slack in the strap and then securing it to the outboard sides of the partition.

Then my friend pulled inboard on the galvanized strap, and I secured each end of the strap to the forward side of the plywood partition.

We had come a long way, but our work was not done.

Now I needed to install the brackets that would secure the port and starboard partitions in place. This was a seemingly simple task, but one that was in fact tedious and time-consuming in the confines of this space.

This set-up was rock solid. The holding tank would not budge a fraction of an inch no matter how much my buddy and I pushed on it. Just for the record, in case it has not been clear all along, in the picture below we are looking aft . . .

whereas in this next picture we are looking forward. In other words, I took this picture we see below while standing in the area between the hanging locker and the head.

Believe it or not, the installation of this holding tank took the better part of a day. It was good to have a good buddy there to lend his thoughts and lend a hand. Burgers and brew were a good way to end this day.

Post Script: One year later, not long before I relaunched the boat (after this lengthy refitting), I went back and installed a Plexiglass inspection port in the forward shelf. I was troubled by the fact that I would not be able to inspect this area for the ingress of water and that it would be impossible for me to access this area in a timely manner in the event of an emergency.

This ends this posting on my installation of the new holding tank for Oystercatcher, my Ericson 25.

Anchor, Chain Locker, and Anchor Roller, Part 11, Chain Locker, Drain, Installation of Hose

The chain locker drain platform and the hose, ready for installation

Having constructed the drain platform for the chain locker and having installed the cleats that would support it, I now needed to install the platform itself. This task would involve the routing of a drain hose through several bulkheads so that any water from the chain locker would ultimately make its way to the main bilge in the galley area of the boat. The steps I took to complete this task on Oystercatcher, my Ericson 25, are the subject of this posting.

As I said in my previous posting, the red line in the diagram below represents the route that the water would need to follow as it made its way from the chain locker to the forward bilge through the bulkheads separating the three lockers underneath the V-berth. Recall that 2500 pounds of lead separated the forward bilge from the main bilge in the galley, and that there was a gap of one or two inches between the lead and the sole of the main salon.

The orange line in the next diagram represents the main bilge and the pumps and hoses that would remove the water from the boat. I would route the clear threaded hose from the chain locker to the forward bilge, over the 2500 pounds of lead to the main bilge and thus the bilge pumps. This is how I would pump any chain locker water out of the boat.

I had earlier completed a lot of work in the V-berth lockers, a considerable portion of which I have documented on this blog. I had installed cleats of Douglas fir for shelves. These shelves would allow me a flat surface on which to stow various items in this space without worrying about these items sitting in water. I had also painted these lockers with Pitthane, a two-part polyurethane paint. Additionally, I had installed a through-hull transducer for the GPS, and I had installed a grounding cable for the forward chainplate.

The bulkheads for these lockers had limber holes that enabled water to drain downward to the forward bilge. They also had holes that I had drilled for the routing of the grounding cable. Now I needed to go back and add some holes for the hose. I used a hole saw for this task. Below we see the bulkhead separating the forward locker from the mid-locker.

Afterward, I turned the drill around and cut a hole through the bulkhead separating the mid-locker from the aft-locker.

Here's a better view, looking aft.

Here's what it looked like in the aft-locker itself.

While I was at it, I decided to add an additional limber hole to this bulkhead between the mid-locker and the aft-locker. My thinking was that in the event that the boat was holed, the water that entered this compartment could make its way more easily to the bilge.

I also went back and added an additional limber hole to the bulkhead between the forward locker and the mid-locker.

Having completed the holes, it was now time for me to route the hose from the main bilge all the way up to the chain locker. To route the hose from the main bilge over the 2500 pounds of lead to the forward bilge I used a stick, to which I had taped the hose. This was a scrap piece of wood that I had ripped off of a board at some point in the past.

I had earlier used this technique in the routing of the grounding cables from the aft chainplates to the grounding bolt in the forward bilge. As I have said before, there was a one or two inch gap between the 2500 pounds of lead and the sole of the main salon.

Below we have a good view of the main bilge and the forward bilge (port side). In the area beneath the sand colored carpet is the 2500 pounds of lead. The centerboard trunk (underneath the mast compression post) separates this port side forward bilge from the starboard side forward bilge, which is inside the head (not pictured). Before I installed this hose, any water that drained downward from the chain locker through the bukheads underneath the V-berth went either into the port or the starboard side forward bilge. The forward end of the centerboard trunk created a fork in the road, so to speak.

I had to remove all of the grounding cables from the grounding bolt in order to route the hose through the port side forward bilge.

I routed the hose beside the black PVC conduit that contained the cable for the transducer.

In the aft-locker underneath the V-berth I routed the hose to the port side of the bronze transducer.

Then I routed the hose through the bulkhead that separated the forward locker from the mid-locker.

From the forward locker I routed the hose up into the chain locker. Fortunately, I had measured this run accurately. I had about six inches of hose to spare.

Now it was time for me to prepare the drain platform for installation. I began by drilling pilot holes through the platform into the mahogany cleats. I would not have been able to accomplish this task without my Milwaukee Tools right angle drill attachment. This tool was indispensable in the refitting of this boat. To see it elsewhere in action, click on Milwaukee Tools in the Labels sidebar,.

After I had drilled the holes, I temporarily installed the screws.

Then I broke out the butyl tape. This was the good stuff that Maine Sail sells on his Compass Marine website. By this point in the refitting of Oystercatcher I had used four rolls of this tape. Recently, I had ordered two more rolls. These new ones were now packed in boxes with his U Bed It logo for this tape. By the time all was said and done, I would use all of these two rolls. Thus, I used six total rolls in the refitting of this boat. When I started, I had estimated two or three rolls and had ordered four, just so I would have at least one extra for unexpected repairs. I should have known better. It always takes more time and more materials than you expect.

Before I installed the drain platform, I first needed to install the hardware. I began by chamfering each of the holes that I had drilled. This would allow the butyl tape to form a gasket of sorts underneath the hardware. I had learned this technique from Maine Sail's tutorial on deck hardware installation on his Compass Marine website.

Acetone got rid of sawdust and any other impurities that might have been on the surface of the wood.

I applied butyl tape to the underside of the screen and the underside of the flange of the plastic through-hull.

Then I installed the through-hull

On top of this I installed the screen. The butyl tape on the screen was there to protect the wood from water creeping into the screw holes and thus causing rot.

Now I needed to join the hose to the through-hull. This task was a necessary prelude to the installation of the drain platform. Otherwise, it would have been next to impossible for me to do this after the fact.

Before I installed the platform, I applied butyl tape around much of the perimeter.

I also applied butyl tape to the screws. This would keep water out of the wood.

Then, I at last screwed the drain platform into place.

I packed additional butyl tape into any crack that needed it. If I allowed water to seep through the cracks, then all this work on the drain platform would be a complete waste of time.

I also packed butyl tape along the forward edge of the platform, making sure that the hole through which the green grounding cable ran was sealed off.

The only thing left to do now was to cut off the excess hose and secure it in the main bilge. By the time I had taken all the slack out of the hose, I had about two feet to spare.

I used cable ties to secure the hose to one of the bilge hoses, making sure that the end of the hose was as low as possible. This brought this part of the project to completion. Now I could install the anchor and the anchor rode. That is the subject of my next posting.

This ends this posting on how I installed the drain platform and hose in the chain locker of Oystercatcher, my Ericson 25.