This spring my fresh water pump started re-pressurizing on a more and more frequent interval. Since the pump was 10 years old I started by replacing it with a new one. In trying to purchase as near identical unit as possible, I ended up moving from 40psi to 50psi. The swap was pretty easy, but my pressurize interval went to about once a minute and I had now a slow stream of fresh water appearing in the main bilge. After removing most of the settee around the table to be able to see every pipe and explore under the floor as much as possible - Pic 1. (Note: In pic 1 there is a red pipe leaving the water pump because at this point I was using a spare piece of red pipe and plugging it one at a time into each separate downstream pipe to isolate which one leaked.) I determined that the only possible source of the leak was the pipes to the forward head. One blue and one red pipe run forward from up the starboard side from the water pump and can be seen in the door under the forward Pullman berth where they each t so that two of each run forward from there. One set goes to the forward vanity and can be accessed under the vanity. The other set goes forward and turns to port and dives down just forward of the forward holding tank. It must travel under the shower floor as it next appears coming straight up the port side in the molded column with the shower faucet at the top. Removing the Corian piece with the shower faucet reveals a round hole. I was able to pull the faucet up enough to bring the red and blue pipes and their connectors up out of the hole. Of course, I found no sign of leaks at either the shower or vanity connections. Going back to where the pipes “t” I replaced both ts with a straight connector, and by process of elimination found that the blue pipe to the shower was what was leaking.

After borrowing a remote access snake/camera I determined that there was no way to access the shower pipes after they disappears under the floor, nor did they seem to move when I pulled on either end. I then began to investigate an alternate route for new pipes to the shower. It turned out to be pretty easy to run the pipes down the port side, into the main salon, and then across to the starboard side where it was easy to tap into the main pipe run. Pic 2 shows the straight connectors that replaced the “t’s” and the now abandoned red and blue pipes to the shower. Pic 3 shows my new shower faucet affixed to the Corian piece with the fittings going down the column. Pic 4 is looking down inside the column where you can see both the new and the abandoned pipes. The blue tape in Pic 5 is the path of the new pipes. To run the pipes up the column I drilled a hole in the compartment under the little seat opposite forward berth. Be sure to drill high enough thay you are entering the wider space under the little storage cabinet, not the tight space at the bottom. Pic 6 has a flashlight shining on the forward hole. I used a round drill hole saw blade. The partition here was thick as it was first wood and then fiberglass. I then pushed an electrician’s fish wire in the hole and managed to get it to be visible under the hole in Pic 4 where I snagged it with a straightened coat hanger and pulled it up and out the top. I then attached the end of the new red and blue pipes to the the seat end of the fish wire and pulled them through and out the top. Next I drilled a hole in the aft end of the same seat base into the port hanging locker, and started feeding the new pipe back that way. The aft end of the hanging locker already has an opening where a black wire loom and a white a/c cooling pipe travel - Pic 7. Pic 8 shows the same white hose and the new red and blue pipes coming out the back side of the hanging locker, turning sharply to starboard and diving under the floor. Pic 9 is under the floor in the aisle showing the pipe running to starboard against the forward edge of the main salon. There is a already a small space to run the pipes along that wall and under the forward settee base. You can access the next space by lifting the removable floor panel under the table and feed the pipe through another existing hole so that it comes out on the starboard wall where the pipes run forward. Pic 10 shows the pipes coming out the last referenced hole and how I “t” them into the main pipe run using the “t’s” removed at the beginning of this process. Note that there is a thin plastic removable panel that covers the pipe run here that was not replaced until after pic 10 was taken. It did require a minor alteration with a saw to accommodate the pipes at the new “t’ location.

Parts purchased:
21’ each of red and blue 15mm whale fresh water pipe (had a little over a foot left over)
2 Whale 15mm straight connectors.
A new shower faucet fixture (optional).