Running hot & cold...

Today was pluming day aboard C'est la Vie.  A faulty accumulator tank provided the impetus to rebuild the pressurized water system.  The spigots above, located in the portside cockpit locker attach to our shower head.  Years ago we gave up on the shower below decks... not enough room, everything got wet, water had to be pumped from the shower pan, etc.   If you own or travel on a older boat, then I'm sure you are familiar with the issues that drove us to simply rip the shower nozzel and accompanying plumbing out of the head.  The cockpit makes a great shower stall with the only issue being privacy in busy anchorages.

Forward of the bulkhead pictured above lies the guts of our plumbing system.  Originally the area was the port side quarterberth, but the previous owner, who did an amazing refit in the 1990's, closed off the area when he expanded the galley and used a large portion of the quaterberth for the fridge, hot water heater, and plumbing system.  The image below is shot by crawling into the port cockpit locker and looking forward through the small cut out visible at left in the image above.

I post this image with some hesitation.  It feels a bit like voyeurism. Boat publications only illustrate the shiny side of things and here I am revealing C'est la Vie's dirty bits (pause now and share continued hesitation on the author's behalf.) Across the top of the image is the galley counter top. Below the counter top the grey box is our hot water heater.  Underway it uses heat from the engine's cooling system to heat up the water.  When connected to shore power, a rarity, it can use electricity to heat the water.  To the extreme upper left is the edge of our SeaFrost refrigeration system. The Seafrost system is definitely power hungry and the largest consumer of battery power on board, but it has proven to be a reliable system that can deliver ice on a summer day in the Exumas.  Back to the plumbing... the black pump at the bottom right is the heart of the pressurized water system.  I replaced the old pressure pump with a new Jabsco Par-Max 3 pump.  The new pump does not require a accumulator tank and is significantly lighter weight than the old unit.  At 3 gallons per minute (gpm)  the pump is the same capacity as the old pump and seems to deliver plenty of pressure.  Our pressure outlets are limited to the cockpit shower, a sink faucet, and a water filter system for potable water. As part of the project I also replaced all the hoses in the system.  To round out the tour, the hatch to the right in the image is one of three access doors to the engine.

On the shiny side of things, here is the same area as viewed from the cabin...

 Looks a bit better from this angle.  When underway we use the area to store our storm sails.