www.iFourWinns.com

is there a easy way to drain the freshwater tank without using the pump? it would be nice to get rid of all the un-used water after a outing. it seems like it would take a long time just using the faucets.

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republicans, working hard so you dont have to.

The faucets do not take that long. Turn them on, grab a beer,cook on the grill, and it will be drained by the time you finish eating.

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One of 4 Previous (Sold) Boats:
2000 Four Winns 268 Vista

Current Boat: 2004 Chaparral 235 ssi cuddy

I drain after each outing, but I don't use pump. To save the pump, I unhook plumbing just before pump and let the tank drain into bilge! But that's just me.
I also drain hot water heater each time as well.
I got this habit from using 5th wheel (RVing). Keep from rotton egg smell from ransid water in heater.

All plumbing in your FW boat uses quick connect/disconnect fittings.

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2000 248 5.7L DP
'92, '94 SXI 750, '08 STX 15F, '12 Ultra LX 300
Videos

You're only going to get bad water smells if the water's bad to begin with. If you know this (some places have high mineral content, like sulphur) then it's certainly worth the effort to run the taps until it's empty. But if you're using good water there's no real reason to empty it, at least not due to smells. Towing the added weight around, yeah, it's worth removing the extra water and it's shifting load. But I'd stick with just using the built-in pump and sinks to drain it. I believe most boats use a 3 to 4gpm (gallons per minute) pump so even the tank in our 348 would pump dry in a relatively short time. Just keep an 'ear out' to keep from running the pump dry.

I suppose you could add an inline valve somewhere to provide a larger opening. But most tanks don't have any place that's easily accessed to do this. You'd have to pick some other place, presumably in the engine compartment, to add the valves (presumably one each for hot and cold). They'd just dump the water into the bilge. They'd have to be mounted in a pretty durable fashion so the regular use of them didn't ruin the existing tubing. But it'd be a relatively simple matter of mounting a board somewhere, screwing valves onto it and then using some fittings and tees to connect into the existing water lines. The tees, fittings, tubing, valves and misc parts would total probably just under $100. It'd be a couple hours DIY to get it rigged up.

But I'd be hard pressed to justify the effort to do it when the sinks and pump are already there...

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

To better show how I drain water tank and NOT spend $100 installing a valve, I unhook a fitting between tank and water pump and let tank drain in bilge.
I take fitting and depress inner gray portion releasing hold of o-ring on pipe, then pull pipe out of fitting letting plumbing sag into bilge. To reconnect, just press pipe back into fitting til it bottoms out, try to pull apart, it should be solidly connected.





If you were to add a valve, there is only a need for one valve to drain the tank. This line between the tank and water pump is all that is needed. To drain the hot, you just open hot water heater drain.

I did install a an RV style winterizing kit (Tee inline just before water pump, with valve) I can select whether to draw water from tank or flip valve to draw from anti-freeze jug. Also installed a water heater bypass kit, so I don't have to fill water heater with anti-freeze. I can winterize entire plumbing system with just over 1 gallon of anti-freeze and the water pump does all the work.

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2000 248 5.7L DP
'92, '94 SXI 750, '08 STX 15F, '12 Ultra LX 300
Videos

do you have pics of the water heater bypass installed?

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2000 Four Winns 248 Vista (Nice toys, no Air)
2001 Highly Modified Yamaha GP1200R (75+MPH)

I wouldn't make a habit of loosening those Whale brand tubing fittings. They're not at all designed for frequent disconnect/reconnect cycles. After doing a bit of work on plumbing last year I've learned to be careful with them.

I also installed the water heater bypass and kit. I chose not to keep the kit installed because of it being pretty tight spaces near the 348's water tank and pump. I just pull the cabinet panel and have full access, at which point I can just unthread the 1/2" pipe fitting into the pump directly.

The water heater kit is two fittings and a hose. It basically re-routes cold water coming into the tank over to the hot outlet. There's one tee valve on the cold side. The hot side has a one-way valve between a plain tee off the hot line. There are some kits that use two tee valves instead of the one-way, in which case you have to properly turn each valve. No big deal either way. But it does save you from bothering with filling the hot water tank with antifreeze all winter. Saves the cost of the kit pretty much the first time you don't have to fill the tank with pink.

Both are made by Camco. I picked up mine through Amazon.

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

Bill,
Wale fittings are only $6 and pipe $2/foot, if and when things don't go back together, I can easily replace a couple parts for a couple bucks, still cheaper than installing a valve, but thats just the route I am going. Got to save money for more important stuff, GAS!!


Here is a link to the bypass kit I bought.

http://www.campingworld.com/browse/skus ... 7&src=SRQB

You can get them at just about any RV parts store.
Here is a poor photo of kit installed.

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2000 248 5.7L DP
'92, '94 SXI 750, '08 STX 15F, '12 Ultra LX 300
Videos

I slip a half inch id tube over that and snake it right out to the drain plug hole (assuming you're out of the water) and route the water right out that way. Also helps to recover/ recycle the pink if desired.

Penny wise, pound foolish comes to mind. From at least one supplier, valve fitting is only $12. Not exactly going to break the bank.

But you're in a trailer boat so it's less of a concern. For you if the fresh water system leaks it'd just run all over the driveway. For someone with a boat slipped in the water a fresh water leaks can mean SINKING IT if it's connected to shore water. I'll leave it to the readers to decide which plan makes more sense for their needs.

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

I agree with you bill, just trying to give info of how I do things on my boat to help someone with theres.

But you do know that if my fitting were to leak and I do hook up to a slips fresh water supply, I will not sink the boat, as the water pump will not allow water to flow back to leaking fitting. If this were the case you would be filling your fresh water tank and overflowing it.

I may add a Tee inline, next time I go to parts house I may pick one up.

Ah, good point, it would only drain the amount in the tank. Given it's not 'easy' to access the tank in the 348 there might be a tendency to try using some other fitting for the purpose. The only other areas that are accessible are back in the engine compartment. Which would be fed by shore water. Thus my hesitation.

Well, besides being a stickler for 'doing it right the first time'. My To Do list ends up being way to eff'in long because of it. But I rarely have to do a job twice if it's done right the first time. Getting that first time done, well, I'm procrastinating even now writing these posts! Heh.

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista