Alright, I just got confirmation that I have a liveaboard slip coming available in March, so I'll be getting my proverbial and literal shit together for a move in April. This project is now happening...ideally by the end of the month. I'll consider it a birthday present to myself...yeah...
So tooling around a few of the other excellent plumbing overhaul threads on this site (Loren's was especially good) I'm seeing this is not only an opportunity to replace old hoses, but to improve the way the entire system functions. I'm not sure that my current setup is ideal at all, and after inspecting a few other setups, I'm pretty sure it's not.
I've sadly only taken bad pictures of the setup so far, as the whole area grosses me out and I haven't wanted to spend time there. Time to suck it up. Gross head pictures coming up, and then a number of questions.
This is kind of a rough picture of the entire gnarly under-sink situation.
Just a pic of the PHII pump with the rusty, gnarly intake hose going to it
This is the tank up and out to the deck fitting / overboard.
So looking at all this, there are a number glaring issues that need to get remedied.
1. The PHII pump itself leaks. I have a sneaking suspicion this is the primary source of the head smell in the bathroom.
2. The raw water intake hose to the PHII pump is basically disintegrating, it's rusty, cracked, etc.
3. No vented loop from the PHII pump water to the bowl, it's maybe 2 feet of hose.
4. Long run of white sanitation hose from PHII pump to Y valve seems suboptimal.
5. Y valve is probably old and gnarly at this point.
6. Holding tank compartment looks pretty gross. And why is the hole there, to give the tank hose room to sit? Was that the best option?
7. The entire under sink area looks pretty messed up. Dirty, is the black stuff mold? Is the white stuff on the hoses salt, or calcium, or mildew or something else?
So I'm open to some sage advice on what can be done here, but my basic ideas are as follows:
1. Replace the PHII pump assembly entirely. I think it's been rebuilt 3 or so times, I'm just going to start fresh.
2. Replace all the hoses. All of them. Except the soap hand pump tube, that looks fine.
3. There has to be a way to optimize the Y valve situation more. Like have the toilet go straight to the holding tank, then have the Y valve be between the overboard thru-hull and the deck fitting for pump out.
4. Maybe replace the Y valve - I never considered the back pressure of the holding tank pushing back into the system while heeled over, but that seems like something to avoid.
5. Considering a new holding tank. Is there a ready-made Raritan tank that anyone would recommend? I should pull the old one at the very least to scour the compartment it's been sitting in.
6. I know there's an easy upgrade here, having the sink drain go to the raw water intake, right? Is that done with a T-fitting connecting all three together?
7. With all the hoses out, clean the bejeezus out of the under-sink area. After it's been cleaned thoroughly, could I do something like paint the whole area with Bilge Kote to seal in any lingering demons and give the area more of a sterile look instead of "unkempt latrine."
Thanks for any tips and sorry you had to look at pictures of my gross head.