The beauty of the PEK system is the copper compression ring compresses the
pipe on a special (small) brass barb fitting and seizes the pipe to the
brass which means you can still rotate it (the brass) if you need to in
making a connection; however, it remains water tight... it will not leak. I
used some on a salt water pump as well that the surveyor sort of had
problems with, but this stuff far exceeds the water tight integrity of hose
and hose clamps, so I told him I was more then satisfied with the
installation and could provide technical data if he was going to make an
issue out of it. He declined.

Dave

-----Original Message-----
From: Steven Hodge [mailto:stevehodge # speakeasy.net]
Sent: Saturday, September 17, 2005 9:32 AM
To: Baba, Panda and Tashiba
Subject: RE: [baba] Cleaning Stainless Water Tanks

In my email, I was talking CPVC, not PVC. It is that "milky white/cream"
color; all the mega hardware stores have it. The "C" means it is suitable
for hot water as well as cold. It welds together just like PVC. It does
NOT use an expensive tool, so I do not think it is the same thing as you
used, Dave.

Rick, your "long runs" comment is more or less why I only did my CPVC in the
"central" part. As for jogs & elbows, yes, you'll need them, but in my
opinion they look better than tubing. As for red/blue, well, that might be
nice when you put it in, but, let's face it, once installed why do you need
it color-coded? A sharpie works pretty good in the few places you might
need to know.

I had to have Alcyon surveyed for insurance last spring and the surveyor
thought the CPVC was a great idea.

As for cold temperatures, well CPVC is used in crawl spaces under houses,
and under slabs. If it's ok there, it should be ok inside a boat, shouldn't
it? (Or do I have west coast blinders on?)

As for shattering on impact, well, I don't plan on taking a sledge hammer to
it. Plus it would be hard to hit in its well-protected place under the
floor.

As for your surveyor dinging you for not double-clamping everything, it
probably shows that he/she has never personally tried to fit hose clamps
onto a typical barb fitting. Yes, some barbs are long enough to fit 2 on,
but many (the majority?) are not. My opinion is that a single high quality,
non-perforated stainless steel hose clamp, well-placed on the barb, is
better than 2 crammed on, with neither of them well-placed. The
"non-perforated" aspect is important. Alcyon has many such single clamps on
fittings below waterline, and again my surveyor never commented on them. He
had built a couple of boats himself in the past, so I guess he knows what
the real world is like.

I certainly hope your surveyor wasn't commenting on double barbs on domestic
water lines...a failure on those lines is only going to lead to a loss of
fresh water and a mess, not a sunken boat.

Steve, Panda 40 Alcyon

-----Original Message-----
From: Rick Beddoe [mailto:sonadora # sail2live.com]
Sent: Saturday, September 17, 2005 6:14 AM
To: Baba, Panda and Tashiba
Subject: re:[baba] Cleaning Stainless Water Tanks

The use of PVC sounds great. I have some questions, however.

When our boat was surveyed, we were dinged because the P.O. had not
double-clamped hoses that were below the waterline...which was practically
all the hose. Any concerns about these fittings?

I'm certainly aware of the durability of PVC. However, I have seen it
shatter on impact, especially when cold. I'm curious whether plumbing in PVC
is up to 'code' (whatever 'code' that is) for marine use. The implication is
that if it is not, a bank may not finance it if a marine surveyor throws up
a red flag. That means no sale if that day, god forbid, ever comes.

With that said, PVC is certainly a great way to go. Odorless. Easy to clean.
Super cheap, even with fancy fittings and tools. I especially like the
red/blue usage.

Now, I hate emphasising how small a Baba 30 is, but there really aren't many
long runs where PVC would come in handy and a combination of short pieces
and elbows sounds sort of Rube Goldberg-ish.

Cheers,

Rick Beddoe
s/v Soņadora, 1978 Baba 30, Hull #22
http://sail2live.com

**please do not reply to the e-mail above. Use beddoes # sail2live.com


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Received on Sat Sep 17 12:14:07 2005