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Hunter OEM Parts
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Water System
posted 05-30-2016 by Doug J
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Here is the 25 gallon portable water bladder that the PO of my boat installed. At first I wasnt sure I liked it. I thought I would rather have a hard water tank. I realized by using a bladder tank you can fit a higher capacity tank under the dinette by folding it up to fit through the small storage openings.
I did change the hose connection, because I didnt like the fact the only way to fill the bladder was through the large red cap. The PO only had a long 3/4 pipe going to the shutoff valve and elbow fitting that runs to the faucets. I modified it by installing a garden hose thread fitting. I permanently installed a garden hose with a shutoff valve at both ends. I keep it coiled up and stowed in the storage compartment with the bladder.
To fill the tank I run the garden hose up and out the forward hatch to a hose bib. With the shut off valves at both ends I can control the water flow from inside the boat, turning it off when full.
The bladder can be drained and sanitized easily by opening the shutoff valve at the outside end of the garden hose, utilizing the syphon action of the garden hose. Its easy to add some bleach to the tank for sanitation, drain and refill to rinse.
It would be nice to have a deck fill fitting, which I may add at some point, but the garden hose will always provide a way to drain the bladder for sanitizing.
I did change the hose connection, because I didnt like the fact the only way to fill the bladder was through the large red cap. The PO only had a long 3/4 pipe going to the shutoff valve and elbow fitting that runs to the faucets. I modified it by installing a garden hose thread fitting. I permanently installed a garden hose with a shutoff valve at both ends. I keep it coiled up and stowed in the storage compartment with the bladder.
To fill the tank I run the garden hose up and out the forward hatch to a hose bib. With the shut off valves at both ends I can control the water flow from inside the boat, turning it off when full.
The bladder can be drained and sanitized easily by opening the shutoff valve at the outside end of the garden hose, utilizing the syphon action of the garden hose. Its easy to add some bleach to the tank for sanitation, drain and refill to rinse.
It would be nice to have a deck fill fitting, which I may add at some point, but the garden hose will always provide a way to drain the bladder for sanitizing.
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It is installed under the forward dinette seat, a good location forward and on centerline, but not too far forward. There is still a huge amount of storage capacity under the v-berth.
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The handles provide easy attachment points to secure the bladder, by simply tying some cordage to them and running through four holes drilled through the inner edge of the compartment opening.
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Here you can see the bladder full, and the garden hose that is run up and out the forward hatch to the ground, while the boat is on its trailer.
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The Par-Max 3.0 water pump is mounted to the bulkhead under the dinette seat.
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Galley faucet.
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Head faucet.
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Transom shower. The Par-Max 3.0, 50psi, provides plenty of pressure.
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