I moved all my vents to the bilge because I was tired of getting my clothes
wet every time I filled my tanks. Be careful about moving the vents to the
deck because the fiberglass tanks are not rated for much pressure – moving
the vent 2-4 feet above the tank results in a pressure of 1.5 to 2.0 psi.
They could fail.

Bob

On Sun, Nov 24, 2013 at 1:40 PM, Miss Kathleen wrote:

Hi All,

Just replaced a portion of the bulkhead around the chain plates and also
the floor area inside the forepeak locker on the port side.

At the same time I crack tested all the chainplates – and they were good,
however, on reinstallation one of the heads of a bolt broke off. Result –
new bolts!

Generally the sealing around the plates was good and I took the
opportunity to fill the area around the chainplates with epoxy. No more
water will enter the deck area around the chainplates.

It was hard to believe that a leaking chainplate could result in so much
damage. In the end, on evaluation, it was another item that caused the
damage.

The water tank vent pipe fitting.

To replace the portion of bulkhead I had to remove quite a few items, and
one of these was the water tank vent – which in my case is simply a pipe
fitting jammed into a hole in the deck with some silicon for sealing. This
is then covered with a small piece of teak to prevent salt water entering
under rough conditions.

I guess that over the years when the tanks were filled the water would
come out the vent pipe and then straight onto the bulkhead and then drain
down to the bilges inside the forward locker.

I am going to re-route both port and starboard overflow pipes to the upper
anchor locker. Easy to monitor when filling, and no worries about salt
water entering the pipe.

Maybe you folk have already addressed this issue, but if not, it would be
prudent to do a check on the vent fitting.

Cheers

Dennis

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—
Bob Fine
s/v Pelican
Pearson 424 Hull #8
http://thesailinglife.blogspot.com
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Lest you think that the 424 is the only Pearson to vent water tanks into
blind spaces or clothing drawers, it’s not. The 35 and others did the same
thing.

The idea was to have the cushions off and look through the inspection plate
to ensure the tanks didn’t overflow. But when you need to remove 8
cushions and pull out a bunk the sense of that is lost.

I put steel plates over the holes and made sure the vent was only high
enough to keep the tanks from emptying while heeled. About 18″. That
minimizes the tank pressure. Also it gets the bilge washed every so often.

Bob

I’m not being terse. This is from my cell phone and I detest typing on it.
On Nov 25, 2013 6:07 PM, “Miss Kathleen” wrote:

Bob,

Good point. The vents are currently located in the coaming and I was
thinking of moving the outlet to the anchor locker.

On second thoughts your option returning the outlet to the bilge, maybe
with a siphon break, will be a better idea, and simplet to install.

Anything is better than overflow water at the bottom of lockers, over
clothes, or into the bulkheads.

Cheers

Dennis

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My water tank vents have never been a problem because I
dare not fill my tanks. That’s because I have never
managed to adequately seal the inspection ports. I
installed all new O-rings in the plastic ports Pearson
put in, but they still leak when the tanks are full. Of
course, I could seal those holes so nothing ever gets
through them, but I need easy-open inspection ports for
periodic cleaning and, well, inspecting – checking
water levels and dirt accumulation.

My solution has been to avoid filling the tanks to the
brim. I watch/feel through an open inspection port when
taking on freshwater and stop when the level reaches
about an inch below the tank top. It’s a modest PIA,
but it works. Of course, this way the tank vents never
come into play at all, so I haven’t bothered to
rearrange them.

Has anyone found a quick-opening water tank port cover
that doesn’t leak?

Tor