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I've never liked having to drag a hose up to the bow of our 348 to fill the fresh water tanks. We have reasonably decent city tap water at our slip in Annapolis. And I keep a food grade water hose connected to the boat when it's in the slip. I use a shut-off valve on the hose and turn it off when we're not on the boat. I wouldn't want a runaway hose leak to end up sinking it! While it's connected to shore water it doesn't pull from the on board tank. This makes it convenient for showering, doing the dishes and general cleanup when we're at our home slip. I generally *avoid* using shore water from transient slips when we travel.

But for all it's convenience, the shore water connection doesn't refill the on board fresh water tank. The plumbing circuit is setup such that it can't because there's a water pump in the way.

The water system on the 348 (and I'd imagine most models) is setup such that the system lets water into it from two ends. At the bow there's the fresh water tank and it's 12vdc pump. At the stern there's the shore water connection on the transom. The system will accept water from either end. But the plumbing at the bow has a one-way valve that prevents any shore water from being pushed back through the pump. I'd imagine this is to keep the pump from being harmed. But it also means the shore connection can't fill the tank.

So I've added a loop around the pump. I've added a Tee connection just ahead of the pump. I've then added another Tee connection just behind the pump (between it and the fresh water tank). I then added a shut-off valve. This lets me turn the valve and have the shore water refill the on board water tank. I just tried it and from a bone dry tank it takes about 12 minutes to refill it. This is about the same as using the gravity feed connection up on the decking. But the nice thing is it doesn't require dragging a hose all the way up the gunwales to the deck connection! All I have to do is turn the valve and let it fill.

There's a small downside to this. Since the tank is mounted underneath the forward berth, and behind some cabinetry, I can't see it. So I can't look at it's translucent plastic sides and see if it's full or not. Fortunately the tank has an overflow hose. When the tank is full that hose fills and pours water out a fitting on the starboard bow. I just keep and eye on that outlet and cut off the valve.

The 15mm quick connect fittings are remarkably easy to work with. Just press the tubing into the fitting and it's DONE. No wrenches, no soldering, no teflon tape, nada.

All it took was about 8' of blue water hose, two Tee connections, two stem elbows, three regular elbows and a shut-off valve. Probably somewhere in then neighborhood of about $60 in parts.

The circuit goes like this:

Tee (downstream of the pump), 1ft of tubing, regular elbow, 3ft of tubing, stem elbow, stem elbow, valve, 2ft of tubing, regular elbow, 1.5ft of tubing, regular elbow, 4" of tubing and then finally into a Tee to the water tank. Tubing lengths are approximate.

This essentially allows the shore water to flow around the pump when the valve is opened. Yes, if I forgot to close the valve and turned on the pump I'd cause a loop in the system. Besides having two valves, or finding a 15mm Tee valve, this is just a factor I'll have to live with. Tee valves that don't have significant restrictions inside them are rather hard to find (I couldn't).

The only tools required were a utility knife and a phillips screwdriver. The knife was used to cut the tubing. The screwdriver to attach some tie-down and tubing clips to keep things secure. That and removing screws holding the cabinet facing under the berth.

The whole process took me about an afternoon's worth of actual work. Two more days were spent running around to local chandleries trying to find the 15mm connections I needed. It seems the local places aren't doing a very good job of stocking this stuff.

While I was in there I also removed the water tank sensor. It leaked. I simply replaced it with a 1-1/2" threaded plug. This was the only part of the job that was inconvenient. The sensor is too long to come up out of the tank without loosening the hold down straps and moving the tank. Not too hard to do, just inconvenient.

Meanwhile I'm also adding a sediment filter. The water heater had a bit of mineral deposits in it when I replaced it. Hopefully the filter will help avoid that in the future.

I'll try posting some pictures later.

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista