Bill,
One of the handiest things the Admiral said I did on Julandra (compliments are hard to come by!!!) was to change the foot pump from draining the fridge (never used) to a foot pump for fresh (domestic) water. I originally plumbed it as a salt water pump, but found that the salt water was rusting the sink, and we never really wanted to use salt water in the galley anyway. I suppose if we were crossing an ocean or something, we might feel differently. Once I changed the foot pump to a fresh water pump, we used it all the time. When your hands are dirty or soapy, a quick squirt on the pump, without touching anything, worked wonders. I Tee'd the input for the foot pump into the line between the tank manifold and the 12V water pump. I also put a cheap shut-off valve in the fridge drain hose. I didn't want (relatively) warm air making its way up into the fridge.

What a great idea for saving water! Tom,did you use a separate faucet(tube) at the sink for the foot pump? I am always running out of water in the Gulf islands...mostly from washing dishes with the tap running..the foot pump would be a great way to meter water flow for this.

Hi Bill
I agree with the others, for their situations. If you're sailing in cruddy salt water you won't use it.

We have been sailing coastal NZ and South Pacific islands, and the water is generally pristine. On our two excursions to Tonga, Fiji and New Caledonia we've found we have had to eake out our fresh water, so we use the footpump for salt. This we use to rinse dishes, wash hands and anything else we can, as sometimes our 170 litres in tanks and 40 litres in jugs is not enough between rain showers! We also bath in the sea with Krystal with a fresh spritz to finish. Our record is 6 weeks without re-filling.

We have no stomach for the cost and complexity of a watermaker, but on a couple of occasions we have begged some water from friends who do... Once after watching friends on a nice Cat [I]hose down the decks with fresh![/I]

Should our electric water pump fail we can switch back to foot-pumping fresh water.

I tee'd our foot pump off the engine raw intake, but have since found out this is a no-no, as it can starve the raw water from the engine. :eek:

Greig,
Yes, I did. This is what I installed:
[URL]http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?produ...
I drilled a hole in the top of the divider between the two bowls, near the pressurized faucet. Sorry, don't have a picture.

Mine is plumbed from the the engine intake valve, saves a lot of water when we have six people on the boat racing in the Abacos.We always wash dishes with salt water then rinse with fresh. When I have 5 girls racing for 2 weeks, I need the water for showers!!

What happens when you no longer have a way of pumping out the sump in the fridge? You just sponge it out?
Sam

Sam, we capped our fridge drain line years ago, since we have a fridge, not an icebox. On our boats, the lowest part of the drain connection is well ABOVE the bottom of the box anyway, maybe the same on yours. So unless you've accumulated a ton of water in the bottom, you have to get "down and dirty" to clean the bottom anyway. We usually clean it out every six months or so. Unless I spill something...:mad:

Hmmm, this has got me thinking... I've always got about a quart of water in the fridge sump. And I leave the fridge on 24/7, even when I'm off the boat. I pump the foot pump all the time and the water comes back in a little while. I'm thinking now, (can't explain why this didn't occur to my addled mind before) that when I pump, the water just runs over to the sink drain hoses while I'm pumping then just runs back when I quit.
That would explain a lot. I think I'll try stopping up the fridge drain with a cork and see what happens. I may have to find some other way to excercise my foot.
Then, Aha! I could also rig the pump to take in salt (or fresh) water like you guys!
Thanks
Sam

On the Mk II (maybe the Mk I is the same) the outside sea water level is about 8 inches above the bottom of the fridge. If the sea water backs into the fridge you'll have a mess.

See the various water savers links below. We have use the Instant-off for years on our boat.

[url]http://www.instant-off.com/[/url]

[url]http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?produc...

[url]http://www.amazon.com/Smart-Faucet-Shut-Off-Kit/dp/B0036JDXWO/ref=pd_sim...

[url]http://watersaverrow.com/purchase_today.html[/url]

Yes, thanks Larry, that may be what's happpening. In my case, I keep the boat way up the St. Marks river and its fresh water. But I can easily see how that might be the issue. I'll be back aboard today or tomorrow and can figure it out.
Sam

So, I whittled out an old wine cork and hammered it into the hole in the fridge sump after I pumped all the water out. Then cleaned out the scum residue and voila! a nice dry clean fridge sump. and no use now for that foot pump. Maybe I'll plumb it to salt water even though the GF is not fond of the idea. Thanks guys!!
Sam