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When you sit down and analyze it, Rutu has SIX separate plumbing systems. There are the pressurized fresh water system, the sea water wash down system, the gray water discharge, sanitary holding and discharge, cooling water for refrigeration and air conditioning and the bilge pump/drainage system. Each has its own pump.
While the fresh water system is pretty standard, Rutu has a few special features. First, the shore water line is plumbed into the tank selection manifold By opening a tank valve while connected to shore water, the tank can be filled without dragging a dock hose around to the deck fill. A check valve parallels the pressure pumps to prevent passing shore supply through the impellers. There are two Groco pressure pumps. The primary pump is set about 15 PIS above the other. If demand increases above the primary capacity or the primary fails, the secondary kicks in automatically.
The sea water and fresh water systems are tied together with a ball valve backed up by a check valve so that at the dock we can wash down the decks with fresh water. The sea water wash down system has hose bibs in the cockpit and at the bow. These are actually quick connects designed for the purpose by New Found Metals. There is also an anchor chain wash down system.
The tank selection manifold was fun to put together. There is something satisfying out of quickly making a box full of nipples, tees ells and ball valves into a single unit. Used a whole roll of Teflon tape.
The gray water system drains the sink, lavatories and showers into a central collection box. From there a float switch controls periodic pumping overboard.
The holding tank system would make a Chernobyl engineer sigh in envy. You will have to read the page to see what I mean. There are two holding tanks. One for the forward head and the other for the aft. The discharge from each tank is plumbed to the Y valve on the right. The Y valves are Whales with a center off position. The valve on the left selects either the Jabsco diaphragm waste pump or the deck pump. The hose is Trident 101. I may regret not taking Peggy Halls advice and using the SeaLand hose but I couldn't find any discounts on it.
101 hose is a bear to work with. Regular 1 1/2" hose fittings don't work. Shields makes special fittings that work well with a little help of a smear of KY.
To get an occasional blue water fix, I occasionally serve as voluntary crew on deliveries of charter boats to and from the BVI. As designated machinist mate, I have spent a lot of time upside down in the bilge trying to find and fix a balky pump. I decided that all of my pumps would be in one place and easy to get to. I installed a pump board just forward of the companion way.
Clockwise from upper Left you can see the air conditioner cooling water pump, auxiliary fresh water pump, fresh water pump relay, primary fresh water pump and sea water wash down pump. Off to the right is the fresh water tank selector manifold. The white accumulator tank is for fresh water and the blue one is for sea water. At the bottom of the picture is a corner of the gray water sump. The bilge pumps are just below the bottom of the picture. With the exception of the fuel transfer pump and the sewage waste pump, all the pumps are accessible by opening one floor hatch.
There will be a teak grate in the area at the top center of the picture to catch any splash from the companion way and direct it away from the pump board to the bilge pumps.
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