www.iFourWinns.com

I pretty much followed Al. Great guide he wrote up. I ended up installing it in the front side of the cabinet instead of the aft. I did end up drilling a new thru hull, and it wasnt bad. Put it in the factory location. The worst part was removing that cabinet. Just take your time and you will be fine. I bought the unit from Ocean Air It is a 7000 btu with electric heat. The unit with the complete install kit was 1200.00 with shipping from Florida. They wanted 1700.00, but as I have been finding out, everuthing you buy is negotable.

A couple things I discovered from my research last night that I am wondering about. The condensate drain in Al's guide goes to the shower sump. My shower sump pumps into my greywater tank, so that won't work too well. The second issue it seems is that Al mounted his pump and filter on the starboard side, but is looks like everything on the 268 is a bit reversed side to side so where did you end up mounting your engine room gear?

I installed the pump and strainer on the port side. Is you look down by the stringer you will see a wood block glassed in. I drilled thru that for the thru hull. Mounted the pump towards the bulk head. I will try to get some pics for you.
I also drained my condesor into the shower sump. You could probably drain yours to the engine compartment.

I don't know how much water actually collects and drains from the pan. The one in our 348 also drains from the pan to the shower sump. And I do not hear the sump running on any sort of regular basis. But then my sump drains overboard, not into a tank, so I don't have a way to test it.

Here's a thought, speak with the AC manufacturer about the expected amount of condensation draining from the pan. It may be a small enough amount to be of no real concern.

I have no idea what the rules might be in your boating area regarding the draining of something like that. I can understand why they wouldn't want stuff like soaps and food particles from the sinks being dumped directly overboard. But condensation? Don't know.

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

To be honest, I wish I didn't have the grey water option. I boat mostly in the Merrimack River in Newburyport, MA and screw around on the Atlantic quite a bit. The whole area is amazing for boating, with all sorts of bars, restaurants and rivers and channels to explore.

I digress... my point is that I would so much prefer the shower sump to pump overboard. Unfortunately, I am not sure what it would take for me to reroute the shower overboard and remove the grey water tank. I was thinking it would be cool to use the grey water tank area for storage if it is removable.

That raises the question. What do you guys have instead of a greywater tank? Mine can be accessed by removing the panel at the bottom of the mid-bed. I wonder if you guys just have a huge empty space under there, if so, you should hinge it and you could store quite a bit. It is the same size as the blackwater tank.

According to the plans in the manual, they put the optional grey water tank in the starboard side locker under the mid-cabin seating/bed. Yes, it's a fair amount of storage space. I've no idea how, or even if, they adjust the area to fit the tank instead of storage. The storage area I've got has just two panels that sit into a recessed edge, no hinges.

The drain from the sump goes out through an above the waterline fitting. There's a check valve inside the sump itself that allows it to pump up to the through-hull without the last bit in the line coming back into the sump. Obviously one needs to make sure the check valve is properly winterized (our dealer didn't, idjits, and it broke). The hardest part of converting from a grey tank would be running that hose. Otherwise it seems like a simple enough task. You might even go so far as to put in a wye valve to allow both.

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

Dspan-
Here are a few pics from some of the projects. The first few are the pump and strainer set up.



These are the two switches I added.

The 2nd over from the left is for these

And the 3rd over is for these.
[IMG]http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h233/248Vista/100_0611.jpg[/IMG
I was lucky to find these low voltage underwater lights really cheap. Great warrenty and totally waterproof.
Everything inclucluding the lights, switch and new 5 watt triple led bulbs was about 120.00. Far cry from the 800.00 that Hurley wants. They do make them in Stainless, as I found out later. The pair of them is 120 in stainless. Cant imagine I will have any problems with brass though.

Staggering the amount of money he tries to gouge for stuff. I've seen the prices jump in $100 increments almost every 3 months. That and his bullying of others online with threats regarding patents. I don't need something that bad from someone that behaves that way. Good to see you've found an alternative.

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

I finally told that guy that came "highly recommended" to got to you know where and I picked my boat up. I posted a thread about my latest dilema.

I have a more important question, 248 Vista, I LOVE THE LIGHTS!!!! under the swim platform. I want the details. What did you use, how did you install? That is freaking sweet. I'd love to do blue though. How long did it take?

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"Where Da Go"
2002 248 Vista
Lafayette, IN
http://blueoceanlife.worldventures.biz

I got two 48" led strips from a seller on ebay. Search led strip in ebay motors and you will find plenty. The attach with 3m tape that is already o the strip. I put a stainless bracket about every 8 inches or so. Drilled on small hole and ran the wire along the starboard side all the way to the helm. Only took a few hours. I ran the tab mounted lights as well at the same time. I know that the lights come in several different colors.
Yesterday I actually splashed the boat and last night the lights looked really cool. The green leds actually reflect off the water and are even brighter. The tab mounted lights were very bright as well. I probably wont use both at the same time. They kind of compete with each other. I forgot my camera yesterday, so I will take some night pictures with the lights on next weekend.
Kinda sucks about your ac dilema. You should try the install. Its really not that bad. I ran mine yesterday to test it. The ac is nice and cold and the unit is super quiet. Ran the heat as well and all is good.

The led strips are waterproof? and you just stick them on with tape? It can't possibly be that easy. I would be worried about them coming off and losing them in the water.

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"Where Da Go"
2002 248 Vista
Lafayette, IN
http://blueoceanlife.worldventures.biz

Stainless brackets every 8 inches or so as a backup

What do the stainless brackets look like?

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"Where Da Go"
2002 248 Vista
Lafayette, IN
http://blueoceanlife.worldventures.biz

Then I put a small amount of 4200 on the threads. They shouldnt go anywhere. Had her out for about 1.5 hours Saturday and so far so good

Where did you find those brackets? and are these the lights you used?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/plasmagl ... QQtcZphoto

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"Where Da Go"
2002 248 Vista
Lafayette, IN
http://blueoceanlife.worldventures.biz