Hmmm. I've never installed one, so I could be wrong, but I thought that the whole point was to bypass the water tanks and deliver water directly to the faucets. No? The only thing I know for sure is that you should turn the water supply off whenever you leave the boat. I'll be interested to hear from folks who know about this.

Mike

Glenn, West Marine Adsvisors - should be your friend, and I always recommend having one of their catalogs on board as well as at home. I can't begin to tell yo the number of references I've given. They have lots of great information, including this one:

[url]http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/WestAdvisorView?lang...

It's a great idea, but remember this important caveat: NEVER, EVER, DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT leaving that water connected and/or on when no one is on the boat. Never.

Our boat came with one, which I had assumed was standard on the C36, but maybe it was installed by a prior owner.

There is a built-in pressure reducer at the fitting itself (the fitting is next to the shore power connector), then the hose runs to a checkvalve/backflow preventer, then Ts into the hose running from the freshwater tank manifold right before the T for the water heater.

We have tremendous water pressure at our slip, but the pressure reducer works well to bring it down to a reasonable level -- in fact, a lower than the pressure from the onboard pump, such that we have to switch off the freshwater pump to make sure we're drawing from the City water supply.

A quick connect fitting for the water hose (you can get it from most hardware stores in the garden equipment section) is a nice addition and makes it easy to comply with Stu's VERY important advice to always leave the City water disconnected when one is away from the boat (the nightmare scenario of filling up your boat with nice fresh water overnight is something we'd rather not contemplate!)

Let me see if I understand this correctly.
You tee the city water into the supply manifold. When using city water it is necessary to turn the water pump off and close the tank valves. To fill the water tanks, just open the valves.

That sounds pretty nifty. Not sure I would want the shore power and water connection right next to each other....water and electricty don't mix very well.

[QUOTE=Ken Juul;10546]Let me see if I understand this correctly.
You tee the city water into the supply manifold. When using city water it is necessary to turn the water pump off and close the tank valves. To fill the water tanks, just open the valves.
That sounds pretty nifty. Not sure I would want the shore power and water connection right next to each other....water and electricity don't mix very well.[/QUOTE]

I agree that it would be nifty to be able to fill the tanks in this manner, but it doesn't work that way. The tee is after the manifold; however, there is no need to turn of the tank valves, so I guess there must be a check valve in line there as well (ergo, the fresh water tanks can't be "backfilled", as it were). The pump has to be turned off only because when a faucet is opened and a demand for water is created, the accumulator tank actually has higher pressure than the City water (which has its pressure reduced) so the faucet would end up drawing from the storage tanks (I can hear the pump cycle on).

Again, I always thought the City water connection was standard on the MK1, but I gather now that's its not.

I'm doing this from memory as I'm not at our boat, but she's scheduled to be hauled out Saturday morning for the winter (thank goodness; we had a freak snowstorm here in NYC this past weekend and near freezing temperatures, so "there's not a moment to lose"!). While I'm down at the yard I'll try to remember to sketch out a schematic of the plumbing to post here.

And yes, I'm not thrilled that the water and electric connections are next to each other, but that's the way it came -- whether installed by Catalina as an option or by a prior owner I cannot tell.

[QUOTE=Chachere;10550]I agree that it would be nifty to be able to fill the tanks in this manner, but it doesn't work that way. The tee is after the manifold; however, there is no need to turn of the tank valves, so I guess there must be a check valve in line there as well (ergo, the fresh water tanks can't be "backfilled", as it were). The pump has to be turned off only because when a faucet is opened and a demand for water is created, the accumulator tank actually has higher pressure than the City water (which has its pressure reduced) so the faucet would end up drawing from the storage tanks (I can hear the pump cycle on).

Again, I always thought the City water connection was standard on the MK1, but I gather now that's its not.

I'm doing this from memory as I'm not at our boat, but she's scheduled to be hauled out Saturday morning for the winter (thank goodness; we had a freak snowstorm here in NYC this past weekend and near freezing temperatures, so "there's not a moment to lose"!). While I'm down at the yard I'll try to remember to sketch out a schematic of the plumbing to post here.

And yes, I'm not thrilled that the water and electric connections are next to each other, but that's the way it came -- whether installed by Catalina as an option or by a prior owner I cannot tell.[/QUOTE]

Down at the boat yesterday winterizing and had a chance to review the plumbing. So:
1) After the on-board tankage water has passed through the pressure pump, the accumulator tank, and a check valve, it reaches a Tee, where the City water line joins (after having passed through the build-in pressure reducer at the hull fitting and its own an-inline check valve). The water supply then proceeds to another Tee (dividing off a hose supplying the head sink cold water faucet), then another Tee (dividing off to hoses supplying the galley cold water faucet and the hot water heater).

2) Another C36 MkI had just been hauled and stored next to mine, and it has the City water connection in the same location (just next to the electric connection), so I now suspect that this was a factory option.

3) Thinking about it, I imagine a strategically placed valve (say, inside the little door on the aft side, starboard end of the galley sink cabinet) in a line that ran from a Tee added to the City water supply line running to a Tee added just after the water tank manifold valves (i.e., bypassing the pump, accumulator tank and check valve) would indeed permit us to "backfill" the water tanks, rather than disconnect the hose and fill each tank separately via the deck fittings. This would indeed be very nifty, as Ken Juul suggests!

I'll put it on my wish list of mods to ponder over the winter....