Bob
I would have mixed feelings about using PVC or copper for pressure water lines in the boat. I’ve experienced problems with the end fittings used with plastic tubing. Most of these problems have been addressed by replacing the cheap plastic fittings with copper compression fittings and nylon compression rings. I don’t believe the nylon rings are available anymore, but copper compression rings are. Too bad, since the nylon compression rings allowed you to disassemble the fitting and reuse the parts. I’ve not had very good results reusing fittings with copper compression rings.
I’ve still had issues with the hot water line from the water heater. Water in the water tank gets hotter than what you would normally find in a domestic water system. I’ve had issues with the water line breaking. I lost count of how many times I dumped a water tank into the bilge last year. I eventually replaced the hose from the water heater to the manifold with nylon reinforced tubing.
Friends of mine built a cabin in the woods in central New Hampshire a few years ago. When the plumbed the camp, they pitched the water lines and installed drains at the low points so as to make winterizing easy for them. I suppose you could do this with the pressure water system on your boat, but snaking water pipe through cabinets and bilge doesn’t lend itself to pitching the pipes as you might wish. We have a camp in NY, but our pipes weren’t put in this way. Its a pain to blow them out when winterizing. Sometimes we don’t get all the water out of one spot or anther and the pipe splits open when the water freezes. I think you would find it difficult to reliably blow the pipes out.
On the other hand, winterizing is pretty easy with the plastic tubing. All I have to do is drain the water heater, open the faucets, remove the water filter and toss a gallon of potable anti-freeze in the water tanks. If it were hard plastic or copper, I’d have to blow out the lines. This would be problematic.
Folks who keep their boats in slips might have a direct connection to a water supply. If I used this kind of connection, I’d want a fresh water system that was pretty reliable. I’d hate to come back to the boat to find that one of the water lines had broken and allowed the bilge to flood with city water. One would think that a shutoff of some kind would prevent this kind of problem, but I know I’d eventually forget to turn the water off. I think the right solution is to use a better quality plastic tubing than Pearson used. Someone must make something like this. West Marine sells something with the Whale brand on it, but it’s very expensive. If anyone has a suggested supplier for quality tubing at a reasonable price, please let us know.
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Rich Carter