Water System Leak

[RGrew176]

I have had an onboard water system leak in one of my water lines since late last season. I tried to locate a plumber who works on boats without success. Today I decided I would try to fix it.

I had come up with 2 possible fixes neither one of them professional. I was more or less going to jury rig a fix if that was possible.

Fix #1. I got a piece of hose and cut it to the length of the part of the line I was going to fix. It was the hot water line to the sink in the head area. I slit the hose and slid it around the leaking line. I then used some hose clamps and tightened them at tight as possible. Turned on the waterpump and no go. It was leaking although not as bad as without the "fix".

Fix #2. Bypass the line to the faucet completely. I cut the line in two places and removed the line from the faucet connection. I then inserted a piece of hose to the line running from the bilge and the line running to the shower hot water line. Double clamped the hose at both ends and turned on the pump.

Here we are one hour later and not a drip. Problem solved and leak fixed. It's not professional and I will tell any new potential owner about my jury rigged fix when the time comes to sell this boat.

It was a small tight area to work in, one of the reasons I decided to bypass not install a new line. It took a couple of hours or so to get the job done. I know that the engineers who design boats have to pack a lot of stuff into a 29' 10" hull but PLEASE try to make parts that need to be worked on a little more easy to access. If engineers had to work on boats I think they might make it easier for them to be worked on when things need to be fixed.

Problem hopefully fixed for now.

[rjr]

Rick Was the leak in the faucet or in the shower line? When you say from the bilge do you mean a hot water supply line?

[g36]

gotta keep that vacation going.

[RGrew176]

Source of the post Rick Was the leak in the faucet or in the shower line? When you say from the bilge do you mean a hot water supply line?

It was in the short line that ran from the main water line up to the faucet. Very difficult to get to. It was the hot water line that was leaking. It was easier to by pass the faucet than try to run a replacement line there.

[Marty]

Could always use pex and sharkbite fittings. Push and connect...

[km1125]

Source of the post

Source of the post Rick Was the leak in the faucet or in the shower line? When you say from the bilge do you mean a hot water supply line?

It was in the short line that ran from the main water line up to the faucet. Very difficult to get to. It was the hot water line that was leaking. It was easier to by pass the faucet than try to run a replacement line there.

Did you remove a "T" that was used to feed the faucet? I had many issues with leaks at connections and if it is that grey plastic line it is subject to that problem. About every year a new leak would spring up and I'd have to fix it, until I finally ripped it all out and replaced with PEX.

[RGrew176]

Yes, I removed the T fitting to the faucet knob, hot water side. So are it is the only leak since I purchased this boat. It is the gray plastic stuff. May have to redo the plumbing some day but not today, hopefully. I can get buy without hot water at the sink. The shower wand is just behind the sink on the wall if I need hot water there.

[mjk1040]

Grey Line sounds like Quest Tubing. Pex replacement for sure.

[Petemait]

I had some leaks that i repaired this past month. I used 1/2" pex on the grey stuff, which worked great. I bought the crimper, tubing cutter and all the fittings for around a hundred bucks to do some work in the house last year.
I found it best to make as many connections out in the open as possible, then put it in the more difficult to reach spot just to make the final tie in connections.
Hope your fix holds up for you.
Best,

[RGrew176]

It's still holding. Fingers crossed.