www.iFourWinns.com

The Four Winns folks were kind enough to provide me with a different tank monitoring system. As readers may recall I've had a "less than successful" experience with the factory supplied Firebuoy/Xintex tank monitoring setup. To call it a "Piece of crap" would be insulting to crap.

So they sent me a Dometic/Sealand TankWatch 6 gauge and a pair of tank probes. Trouble is the tank probes use just a press-fit connection. Given my experiences with leaks and such I'm not at all interested in anything that doesn't have a MECHANICAL connection. So they sent me a pair of 3" flange kits and a set of probes designed to fit them. It took me a few weeks to set aside enough time to get them installed.

Installing the flange require drilling a 4-1/8" hole into the tank. I picked up a hole saw just for this. Of course then it took me two different trips back home to remember to bring the danged mandrel for the hole saw, heh. Drilling the waste tank wasn't as horrible as I'd thought it would be. I had the harbormaster come around and pump out the tank. I'd dosed it a bit with OdorLoss the week before and then with some Pine Sol the day before we took a trip. So the tank was pretty well agitated and about 3/4" full. Once I drill through the tank there was a bit of a stink but not all that much. I kept a plastic bag handy with wadded newpapers in it to stuff into the hole. But with all the hatches open the smell never became a problem. It was a bit tricky getting the inside gasket installed for the flange. A bit of caulk applied to it helps it stick into place. Same thing goes for the washers that go on the bolts. Threading the nuts onto them was an exercise in great patience! Fortunately I didn't drop any into the tank.

Adjusting the sensors is a bit of a challenge. They're floats attached to some PEX tubing. They come in a 4' length. You have to trim them. You push the probe to the bottom of the tank, mark the tub and then go down another 1-5/8" to cut it. Taking care not to cut the wires running inside the tubing. The instructions were relatively clear but, as always, it's "measure twice, cut once". There are three probes, empty, mid and full. Determining the length of the mid probe is a matter being one-half the length of the empty one. Again, no biggie, but one requiring a bit of care since the empty probe nearby has just recently been down in the last inch of 'water' left in the tank. Rubber gloves and plenty of spray cleaner are good to have handy. Once the probes are trimmed properly it's just a matter of threading the sensor into the flange.

The water tank was another matter. The way the tank is set up there's really not enough clearance between it and the drawer that sits on top of it under the forward berth. There's only about 1-1/4" clearance under the drawer and the sensor needs more than that. So I had to pull the drawer panel to let me get to the rest of the tank. I installed the sensor just forward of where the drawer box ends. This isn't the best location as that's also just a bit forward of where the tank starts to slope inward to accommodate being up in the bow. I worked around this by bending the 'empty' probe inward a bit to let it get closer to the bottom.

I actually had to pull the tank out entirely. In order to get the hole drilled and the sensor measured you really need to have straight access to the top of the tank. This can't be done when it's under the forward berth. Since I have the forward stateroom wall on our 348 this means I had to remove the door too.

As a side note, my single most favorite tool for working on the boat has been my DeWalt 18v right-angle cordless drill with a #2 philips screwdriver bit. It's breeze pulling various panels and trim with the right-angle drill.

And I had a LOT of screws to pull to get the door and frame loose. But no big deal, it came out and reinstalled with no problems. With it out I still had to manhandle the tank quite a bit to get it out into the main cabin area. I repeated the drilling and sensor measuring, the same as the waste tank.

While I was dealing with the fresh water tank I also put a new washdown hose up on the bow for cleaning the anchor and rode. More on that in another post.

Then it was a matter of deciding where to put the tank monitoring panel. I considered putting it up near the water tank. But I hate any lights staying on when I'm sleeping. Even the little green light in the CO detector bugs me (I blacked it out a bit with a Sharpie marker). There's not a great place out in the main cabin for it either. I didn't want to put it in the same place as the existing sensor. Mainly because I didn't want to get into the hassle of cutting into the shower gelcoat. So I settled on the forward end of the sink backsplash. This is the same panel that the light switches are on. I measured such that it's now the same distance from the forward edge as the lights are from the aft edge. Looks nice. I tied it into the power circuit for the overhead light in the head. This way the sensor will only be illuminated when the light is on. I figure that's a good combination.

I ran the wiring for the probes down behind the head sink and over into the cavity behind the galley refrigerator. As readers here will recall, I know a whooooole lot about pulling out the fridge.

Of course, what happens? The head of a screw holding the fridge stripped. I had to drill the head off it. Grrrr....

I secured the wiring using zip ties and hold down squares screwed into existing mounting panels. I ran the waste tank sensor line down into the bilge, following along the path for the galley sink waste hose. This comes out at the shower sump. I then connected it to the waste tank sensor probe. I ran the fresh water sensor line underneath the cabinet all the way up into the tank compartment under the forward berth. I have some fiberglass rods electricians use for running wire, this saved me a lot of effort. I likewise secured the wiring using zip-ties. You really want to avoid leaving any wires 'flapping'. Boat motion will eventually cause loose wiring to fail. Better to make sure it's secure.

Getting to the wiring for the tank monitor was easier than I expected. There's a little shelf under the porthole in the head. There are three screws on it. Remove those screws and that shelf panel comes right out. This gives you clear access to the area behind the backsplash. I cheated a bit and ran the wire down in-between the cabinet shell and the inner hull liner. There's just enough room to do this. I put some neoprene around the wiring to help avoid chafing.

Now that it's installed I have a pair of 3 lights for each tank.

The left side is for the fresh water:
Green - full
Yellow - mid
Red - empty

The right side is for the waste tank:
Red - full
Yellow - mid
Green - empty

I tested both tanks by filling them from empty and all lights work properly.

If you've got the crappy-ass Xintex sensors and hate how inaccurate they are you may want to consider replacing them with this system. This is what Four Winns provided me. Had I been buying my own I might have leaned more toward the external sensor style monitors (Raritan, etc). But those systems are pretty expensive. Should this system fail you can be sure I'll upgrade.

_________________
-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

I didn't have the camera with me as I was doing the plumbing work. But here's a couple of pictures taken earlier this season.

Here's the tank itself, as seen from the main cabin looking forward. The drawer has been removed and the wood panel is sitting on top. The bed is folded upward.
[img]http://www.ideaspace.net/boat/images/tankmonitor/DSC_03581x1.jpg[/img]

This is the top of the water tank. I installed the new tank sender flange a few inches from the filler hose connection in the far right of this picture:
[img]http://www.ideaspace.net/boat/images/tankmonitor/DSC_03521x1.jpg[/img]

I did have the picture when I was installing the tank monitoring panel. Here's how the panel is installed showing the whole sink backsplash area:

[img]http://www.ideaspace.net/boat/images/tankmonitor/IMG_3923-11x1.jpg[/img]

Here's the monitor in action, both tanks are full:
[img]http://www.ideaspace.net/boat/images/tankmonitor/IMG_3931-11x1.jpg[/img]

I pulled power for this off the head light circuit. This way it's only on when the light on the head is also turned on. This does two things I like, it saves power and doesn't have annoying lights running all the time.

_________________
-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

Nice Work Bill!!!

Looks great!

_________________
Walter

2003 248 Vista - VP 5.0 GXi
2009 Toyota Tundra SR5 5.7L 4x4

I didn't have the camera with me as I was doing the plumbing work. But here's a couple of pictures taken earlier this season.

Here's the tank itself, as seen from the main cabin looking forward. The drawer has been removed and the wood panel is sitting on top. The bed is folded upward.


This is the top of the water tank. I installed the new tank sender flange a few inches from the filler hose connection in the far right of this picture:


I did have the picture when I was installing the tank monitoring panel. Here's how the panel is installed showing the whole sink backsplash area:



Here's the monitor in action, both tanks are full:


I pulled power for this off the head light circuit. This way it's only on when the light on the head is also turned on. This does two things I like, it saves power and doesn't have annoying lights running all the time.

_________________
-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

Repost for Bill