www.iFourWinns.com

I finally got around to installing a washdown hose for the anchor and rode. Around here on the Chesapeake most of the places we anchor have a very muddy bottom. This makes for a pretty messy job when pulling in the anchor. That and leaving the crud on the rode makes it stink pretty bad after a while, not to mention shortens it's lifespan.

West Marine has (surprisingly) the best price around on a 15' coiled hose in a flush mount container. This unit requires a 6-3/8" hole. The anchor rode locker is covered by a Beckson 8" pop-out deck plate. So I picked up another such deck plate ($5 on fleabay) and cut a hole in it. I then mounted the hose to this deck plate (really just a 'ring' now that I put a hole in it). This makes it possible for me to still get into the anchor locker if necessary. I've only needed to get in there once to replace a blow fuse for the windlass foot switches.

Then it was a matter of getting water to it. I had planned on putting a bulkhead fitting through the bottom of the locker. This would have been a really big pain in the ass to install. Crawling up into the bow would have been a REAL challenge. But I lucked out when I discovered there's just enough of a gap at the top to allow snaking some 3/8" tubing up and into the forward berth. I ran the hose up into the gap behind the forward edge of the starboard-side cabinet. I pulled the starboard side cover from next to the mattress. This gave me access to the space behind the cabinet. I ran the hose from there back to a gap just behind the closet cabinet. This drops right down into the tank area! Once in there I used a "hose barb to 15mm adapter" into a section of 15mm tubing. The tubing connects into a 15mm "stackable Tee" fitting. I simply disconnected an existing part of the cold water line, plugged this Tee into it and then the tubing. Voila! Water to the washdown hose.

Up in the anchor locked I put in a shut-off valve and a 15mm one-way backflow preventer. This prevents any hose water from accidentally backing up into the tank system. The shut-off valve lets me control the water from there in the event I have to remove the system for some reason (like if it got tangled and cause a leak or something). I ran enough hose for the container to allow it to be pulled up and out of the way. The position is such that it won't get in the way of the stored anchor rode anyway, but better to be safe than sorry. I added a section of hose to allow it to drain into the anchor locker. I'm less than pleased with the anchor locker drains however. There are two vent holes on the bow. These are apparently supposed to allow the rode to dry out merely by evaporation. Yeah, right. The line tends to remain wet for several days. I'd rather have some sort of more positive draining action for the locker. But given how nasty an anchor locker can get it's not like I'd EVER want to drain this into the bilge. So I'll live with the factory setup... for now.

The wife loves this new setup. Now she can hose down the rode and anchor, along with rinse off her hands and the deck. No more filthy mess!

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

Photos sure would be nice!

Sounds like a great idea, I was actually thinking about doing something like that, but by the time I am done swiss cheesing my deck for the windlass it may not be able to sustain another big hole!

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Brett DiMichele

Bear in mind you want to make sure you have easy and quick access to your anchor locker. That usually means either a deck plate or an access hatch in the forward cabin. If you have a deck plate (circular hatch) then my idea works great. Otherwise make sure you can get in there should there be a sudden need. I made mine removable through the deck plate itself to make sure of this.

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

Bill,

Can I make a shameless request for pics. This sounds real cool.

Walter

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Walter

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

I didn't take any pictures during the process. I didn't have the camera on board. I'll take a picture of the how it's installed in the deck plate this weekend. But since the hoses and such are behind screwed-down panels I'm not going to go pulling them again just for pix. I did take a couple of pictures of the tank and plumbing 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 water line and fresh water pump. It's mounted just to the starboard side of the fresh water tank:
[img]http://www.ideaspace.net/boat/images/tankmonitor/DSC_03461x1.jpg[/img]

The tubing here leads from the water tank, at the bottom of the picture. The blue tubing is 15mm and the fittings are made by Whale. From the tank there's a threaded fitting into the pump. Out of the pump there's another threaded fitting with a stackable elbow inserted into it. There's a one-way backflow preventer valve in the elbow, leading to a male-male fitting. From there it's the 15mm tubing into a regular elbow and then onward to the rest of the boat's water system. Note there are two different kinds of elbow fitting, regular and stackable. The stackable ones are quite handy. I pulled out the tubing from the regular elbow and inserted a stackable Tee fitting. It's from that Tee I ran the wash down hose plumbing.

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

Yes, I know the picture links aren't live. The forum software complains about their resolution. I hate forum software that screws around like this. After I take the the time to resize AND optimize the pictures to show enough detail I don't need forum software second-guessing me. So you'll have to cut-and-paste the links yourself.

Speaking of forum software, what's with getting the main site running properly again?

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

Hi everyone,
Just bought at 97 Horizon 240 to sit alongside my houseboat. I don't think this thing has been used much - less than 200 hrs.
Anyway, found out there was a transom washdown with a shower head. I don't see any switches but I do see a pump and a maybe 7-8 gallon freshwater tank on the port side of the engine. Thing is how does this thing work? I don't see a switch anywhere. Any ideas? I believe it was factory installed....
Anyone got a factory installed unit? I did check all the fuses and no problems found.

My 97 Sundowner fresh water pump is controlled by the "Acc" switch on the dash. I only have a sink inside the cabin but the transom washdown was an option. When I turn on the switch the pump will build up pressure and stop. Then when you use the faucet the pump turns on again to keep up the pressure.

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Terry
Current: 07 Crownline 255 CCR cuddy - 350 Mag MPI/B3 "Casi Cielo"

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