Water air vent location

[wingssail]

Our water tank vents are in the cockpit. It might be a long run from the forepeak but we don't have any tanks in the bow. Typically the fittings we've used have a screen built in.

We used to have a fuel vent in a stanchion but after a couple of big gusts while sailing with too big of a sail (we were newbies too, once upon a time) salt water did get into the fuel tank, and the engine quit in the middle of Deception Pass.

I re-routed the fuel tank vents to the transom but the long run made re-fueling a slow pain in the you know what (fuel spouted out when the air built up).

So I added a second fill pipe for each of our two fuel tanks and with both openings it gives a big vent. We can fill at full pump speed now.

Originally Posted by Disailor

My water tanks have a 1.5" screw-in plug with a schraeder (tire) valve insert: Air goes in, no water come out.

I'm curious, as you draw water out of the tank and air comes in through the schraeder valve what keeps the tank from filling with air which cannot escape while filling? (Oh, I know, it escapes out the fill pipe which must make filling it a fun process)

[wrwakefield]

The air vents from our two potable water tanks are joined at the high portion of a loop and terminate in the galley sink. [Since mid 1990s...]

Since we use a watermaker much of the year, this approach is extra useful for knowing when a tank is full...

Cheers! Bill

[Boatyarddog]

Originally Posted by Disailor

My water tanks have a 1.5" screw-in plug with a schraeder (tire) valve insert: Air goes in, no water come out.

Seems backwards,
When filling air comes out, displaced by water in the tank.
How will you know it's completely full?
Any trouble filling your tank?
If this actually works, it's not a bad idea.
I loop my vent line as high as I can in the area it's placed, deck combing.
The loop stops any egress of sea water.
Boatyarddog

[Boatyarddog]

Originally Posted by wingssail

Our water tank vents are in the cockpit. It might be a long run from the forepeak but we don't have any tanks in the bow. Typically the fittings we've used have a screen built in.

We used to have a fuel vent in a stanchion but after a couple of big gusts while sailing with too big of a sail (we were newbies too, once upon a time) salt water did get into the fuel tank, and the engine quit in the middle of Deception Pass.

I re-routed the fuel tank vents to the transom but the long run made re-fueling a slow pain in the you know what (fuel spouted out when the air built up).

So I added a second fill pipe for each of our two fuel tanks and with both openings it gives a big vent. We can fill at full pump speed now.



I'm curious, as you draw water out of the tank and air comes in through the schraeder valve what keeps the tank from filling with air which cannot escape while filling? (Oh, I know, it escapes out the fill pipe which must make filling it a fun process)

Oh, I bet that was interesting!
Your engine died going thru Deception Pass?
How did the senerio play out.
Any hazards to deal with, single handed or crew?
Very tricky some times in that area.
Boatyarddog

[sv_pelagia]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

FWIW: Our two 400 l water tanks have their vent lines inside the vessel with loops that reach to near deck level. No issues in the 18 years we have owned her, and no screens either... but that is a trivial addition if needed.

Jim

Our water tank vents also go up high then down to bilge. If we over fill water tanks, the bilge pump/hose get a clean out.

(Up to 2013 our vents were paired with fuel tanks out to the deck -- not my design, blame PO. In a gale with very steep seas off Mendocino, we discovered this can result in fresh water entering fuel tank - - happily didn't go the other way. When we go to San Francisco bay, we cleaned fuel tanks and moved water vents to bilge.)

[wingssail]

Originally Posted by Boatyarddog

Oh, I bet that was interesting!
Your engine died going thru Deception Pass?
How did the senerio play out.
Any hazards to deal with, single handed or crew?
Very tricky some times in that area.
Boatyarddog

Yeah, well we were out in the Straits on a very windy day with too much sail up and we got water in the vent (didn't know it). We went through Canoe Pass because we thought it would be more exciting (faster current, narrower channel). I'd been through it many times before, mostly in small power boats. If you can go 25 miles an hour you can go either direction, any state of tide.

Turned out we had the current wrong, it was going out, and at 7 knots we weren't making much progress. Just about at the half way point, when we were stopped dead against the current, the motor died and it shot us back out the entrance.

No real danger and no harm done, the water runs parallel to the walls, not over them, and we drifted along like a chip of wood in a stream.

So, back in the maelstrom, we set sail (smaller sail) and went to Skyline Marina, fixing the motor underway, where we promptly ran aground.

Again, no harm done, no problem, tide was high the next morning and since we only had a weekend, we go out of there first thing and sailed back to Seattle, against a still gusty southerly, but fortunately our boat is great going upwind and we tacked back to Seattle in time go go out to dinner at Charlies.

All in all a very successful trip, from our point of view.

[MJH]

Originally Posted by BAD ORCA

Is there any reason why i cant put my fresh water air vent lines on the interior of the boat instead of on the outside of the hull?

I was thinking high up inside of a wet locker about three to four feet above the water line.

Im adding a second fresh water tank in the v-berth so need to add a new vent. I cant think of any downsides. I though maybe it would add to humidity levels inside the boat but my boat never seems to ever drop much below 70% humidity anyways. As long as its high enough to not leak when healed over 30+ degrees...

My boat has 2x100 s.s. fresh water tanks. The vents exit the tanks through an "L" shaped fitting with the hoses simply laying on top of the tanks so no chance of a bent hose restricting air flow. Over almost 15 years I have not noted any problem.

However, my 2x75 gallon fiberglass diesel tank vents exit outside high up the cabin top on both sides of the boat. The hoses are hidden behind the interior woodwork. I had a problem with bugs restricting air flow and installed screens.

My math major wife calculate the fiberglass holding tank to be about 47 gallons. It is located underneath the port head and hallway and is flatter than I would like. The vent was improperly installed to the starboard side of the tank and would clog due to heeling. I permanently sealed that location and reinstalled it in the center of the tank. The vent exits the port topside below the rail and joins two other flush vent fittings (sump tank and vented loop) I have never seen anywhere else.

~ ~ _/) ~ ~ MJH

[BAD ORCA]

Originally Posted by wingssail

Our water tank vents are in the cockpit. It might be a long run from the forepeak but we don't have any tanks in the bow. Typically the fittings we've used have a screen built in.

We used to have a fuel vent in a stanchion but after a couple of big gusts while sailing with too big of a sail (we were newbies too, once upon a time) salt water did get into the fuel tank, and the engine quit in the middle of Deception Pass.

I re-routed the fuel tank vents to the transom but the long run made re-fueling a slow pain in the you know what (fuel spouted out when the air built up).

So I added a second fill pipe for each of our two fuel tanks and with both openings it gives a big vent. We can fill at full pump speed now.



I'm curious, as you draw water out of the tank and air comes in through the schraeder valve what keeps the tank from filling with air which cannot escape while filling? (Oh, I know, it escapes out the fill pipe which must make filling it a fun process)

oh that’s interesting. i am replacing my fuel tank as well. mine will be a large 52 gal tank so that might be something i may consider rather than another vent. i have a similar problem now with my 44 gal tank. i assumed it was because it’s a bottom fill tank (can’t actually see where the fill tube goes in the tank) but maybe it’s the tiny vent?

[Boatyarddog]

Originally Posted by wingssail

Yeah, well we were out in the Straits on a very windy day with too much sail up and we got water in the vent (didn't know it). We went through Canoe Pass because we thought it would be more exciting (faster current, narrower channel). I'd been through it many times before, mostly in small power boats. If you can go 25 miles an hour you can go either direction, any state of tide.

Turned out we had the current wrong, it was going out, and at 7 knots we weren't making much progress. Just about at the half way point, when we were stopped dead against the current, the motor died and it shot us back out the entrance.

No real danger and no harm done, the water runs parallel to the walls, not over them, and we drifted along like a chip of wood in a stream.

So, back in the maelstrom, we set sail (smaller sail) and went to Skyline Marina, fixing the motor underway, where we promptly ran aground.

Again, no harm done, no problem, tide was high the next morning and since we only had a weekend, we go out of there first thing and sailed back to Seattle, against a still gusty southerly, but fortunately our boat is great going upwind and we tacked back to Seattle in time go go out to dinner at Charlies.

All in all a very successful trip, from our point of view.

You said Canoe Pass, closer to Fishermans Bay off Lopez is.
Different area but, Deceptions the only one with Rock walls jutting up 100 ft.And like 50' wide.
In that area, you really have to watch the current and flow. And, as you might realize, if your 10 minutes late, in a sailboat you may not get through, if your bucking the current.
Boatyarddog

[BAD ORCA]

thanks for all the great feedback. i think i’m going to re-route my freshwater vents to the interior. i’m thinking a high loop which can dump into the bilge somewhere. i like the idea of fuel vent far back on the transom with the addition of another fill cap that can be opened during filling.

[wingssail]

Originally Posted by Boatyarddog

You said Canoe Pass, closer to Fishermans Bay off Lopez is.
Different area but, Deceptions the only one with Rock walls jutting up 100 ft.And like 50' wide.
In that area, you really have to watch the current and flow. And, as you might realize, if your 10 minutes late, in a sailboat you may not get through, if your bucking the current.
Boatyarddog

Nope, the skinny side of Deception Pass is also called Canoe Pass. At its narrowest it is 100ft wide. Deception Pass itself is 300 ft wide at the narrowest.

Spent my formative years boating in that area. If you want some excitement do some laps around Deception Island in a 10' home made speed boat with a 28hp motor at the peak of the tide flow. It gets squirrelly, but no problem for a power crazy 15year old kid with a jacked up 28hp Scott Atwater with a 17" prop. Life jacket? never had one.

[Boatyarddog]

Originally Posted by wingssail

Nope, the skinny side of Deception Pass is also called Canoe Pass. At its narrowest it is 100ft wide. Deception Pass itself is 300 ft wide at the narrowest.

Spent my formative years boating in that area. If you want some excitement do some laps around Deception Island in a 10' home made speed boat with a 28hp motor at the peak of the tide flow. It gets squirrelly, but no problem for a power crazy 15year old kid with a jacked up 28hp Scott Atwater with a 17" prop. Life jacket? never had one.

We're both wrong...

Two-mile long, swift-running Deception Pass separates the steep, forested rocky cliffs of Whidbey and Fidalgo islands. It is used by many mariners going between Puget Sound and the San Juan Islands and other points north, and connects Skagit Bay to the east and Rosario Strait to the west.
Tumultuous currents churn through the deep pass, with a navigable width of barely 150 feet. At more than 8.5 knots on the ebb and 7.3 knots on the flood, the rapidly moving water causes whirlpools and strong eddies along the shores.
Towering 182 feet above the canyon-like passage is a two-lane highway bridge, built in 1935, connecting the two islands. It is an awesome sight, whether looking up at the bridge from your boat, or peering down into the turbulent waters from the bridge.
Deception Pass is a natural drama at any stage of the currents, but that’s not what Captain George Vancouver noticed when he saw the pass in 1792 . He first thought Deception Pass was an inlet, but when Sailing Master Joseph Whidbey and his crew rowed and sailed their longboat through the passage, they discovered it was more than an inlet and that the land to the south was an island. In his journal Vancouver wrote of “ … a very narrow and intricate channel, which, for a considerable distance, was not forty yards in width, and abounded with rocks above and beneath the surface … These impediments, in addition to the great rapidity and irregularity of the tide, rendered the passage navigable only for boats or vessels of very small burthen.”

And Canoe Pass is 30 ft at the widest part.
You went that way, geeze.
None ever goes that way, Big Rocks. 30 ft to play in, seriously?
The main Channel is 150 ft.
And 145 deep!
Never been thru Canoe Pass here.
Boatyarddog

[Disailor]

When I was moored in Lake Champlain there was a time of year when the spiders would let out a trail of silk & ride the wind. They would be everywhere onboard so first chore Sat AM was "Dawn Patrol"
Best bug killer I've found is a spritz bottle filled with 50/50 mix of Dawn dish soap & water.
Kill fast, rinses outside & wipes inside. Will knock down flying wasps (ants too).

[sv_pelagia]

We try not to kill spiders! Bad luck.

Besides, they eat mosquitoes etc.

Gotta get them off the boat, however, before the babies hatch.

[Mike Banks]

I get a small plastic bottle the same size neck as the air vent hose. I cut the bottom from the bottle, and stuff it with soap-less stainless steel scouring pads. That stops any insects making their way into the hose, and also allows the tank to breathe. Run the hose to the highest point you can.