4K: Fresh, Salt & Waste Water Systems
4K1: Fresh Water Fill Location
The water tanks are filled by side deck fill pipes on the port side
midships and port side forward with a cap on each marked “WATER”.
You need to fill the tanks individually. You can use the sight gauge on the engine room tank to tell if
your water is getting low.
4K2: Fresh Water Filter
There are charcoal filters on the output of the
watermaker and directly between the tanks and the
fresh water pumps. On a long trip, Northwest
Explorations will have supplied you with spare filters;
otherwise, you should leave them alone!
4K2: Fresh Water Heater
After the water pump, water is distributed directly to the cold water faucet lines. In addition, it
goes to the boat's water heater. The heater uses two energy sources, (1) heat from the port engine, so
that whenever the boat is running, or has recently run,
there is hot water; and (2) 110 volts AC from shore
power or generator, if available and the water heaters'
110-volt AC breaker is "on". The heater is insulated well
enough to keep hot water overnight without power,
provided you haven't wasted a lot.
Note that it can take
considerable time to heat water from a “cold” start!
4K3: Fresh Water Pumps
The water line from the tanks leads to the boat’s
fresh water pumps in the engine room, port side
forward. There are two pumps (one is a spare),
selected with two valves on each pump and a DC switch
mounted nearby. Provided the circuit breaker is “On”, a
pump will run whenever its built-in pressure switch
detects low water pressure. There is also an
“accumulator tank” located here; it provides a “pressure
head” for the pump, so the pump doesn’t need to run so
(Above) The aft filter (blue) is for
the watermaker output.
(Right) In the left of the picture is
the filter for fresh water from the
ship’s tanks.
The two water pumps are in the bottom of the picture, and the red
selector switch is top left. Note the yellow valves handles; the
foreground pump is in use.
Section 4K: Fresh, Sea & Waste Water Systems 4.26
