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Fresh Water Gauge


tangysheep

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Greetings All!

We are considering fitting a water tank gauge to our 60ft Aqualine 'Liberty' and would please like a little advice.

 

Has anyone fitted the unit suppied by Mid Service Centre and have they found it satisfactory?

 

The water pipe and stop tap are in the front step box and there looks room to fit the 15mm 'T' that's required. 12 volt is nearby.

 

Would the long length of cable, for the gauge, needed to have it on the rear control be a problem or would it be better at the front of the boat?

 

Thanks for your help.

Steve and Lindy

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Another way of doing this which does not involve drilling into the tank and can be fitted in a few minutes is a water flow meter.

 

I bought one from Ebay for £24 from

 

here

 

It counts the number of litres drawn off and displays it on a mechanical meter.

 

The one illustrated has 3/4" fittings @ £28 but he does them with 1/2" fittings as well for £24. You simply cut the plastic pipe (turn off the stop cock first!!) and use a couple of Hep2O adapters. Really simple.

 

The advantage is that you don't interfere with the integrity of the tank and the very simple installation. The disadvantage is that you need to note the litre reading at each fill-up because the meter is not re-settable. However, I just keep a pencil next to the tank. After all, you're only filling once every few days.

 

Chris

Edited by chris w
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I still use a piece of garden cane which is graduated to show how much is in the tank.

 

The other indicator is the stern trim. The Bensham has a 1,000 litre fresh water tank which, when full, gives even keel. Start scraping over the bottom of the canal - time to fill up.

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Yes I fitted one of the MSC guages. It is fitted with a hep2o T just after the tank before the pump. Uses the same power supply as the pump. Ideally ti wants to be fitted at the smae level as the tank outlet.

 

Very useful piece of kit. Mine is mounted on the front bulkhead where it is visible from the cabin. The guage has quite a long cable supplied, but I wouldsuggest contacting MSC if you want to make it longer. As the current is minute, I wouldn't have thought a longer cable would be a problem.

 

One bit of advice to anyone that has one: After about three years it wouldn't read at the top end correctly and recalibrating it didn't work - I eventually found that the tiny hole in the brass connector that links to the pressure sensor had blocked up with limescale.

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Greetings All!

We are considering fitting a water tank gauge to our 60ft Aqualine 'Liberty' and would please like a little advice.

 

Has anyone fitted the unit suppied by Mid Service Centre and have they found it satisfactory?

 

The water pipe and stop tap are in the front step box and there looks room to fit the 15mm 'T' that's required. 12 volt is nearby.

 

Would the long length of cable, for the gauge, needed to have it on the rear control be a problem or would it be better at the front of the boat?

 

Thanks for your help.

Steve and Lindy

 

I fitted the MSC unit to my boat. I'm not exaggerating when I say it's turned out to be the most useful 70 quid I ever spent. Simple to fit, simple to set up and it just works.

 

I kept the meter at the front, where I am when filling up. This seemed to make more sense on my particular boat. The meter movement itself will work fine on the end of a long cable run. Even 100 feet wouldn't bother it.

 

Gibbo

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At the risk of stating the obvious a good guide to roughly how full the water tank is to simply observe how deep the the bow of the boat is in the water. Every time you fill up casually tale a look at the water level at the bow before and after filling. Most boats will hold between 1/2 and 3/4 tons of water which will equate to 3 to 5 inches of draft, you will soon get a feel of how full your tank is.

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The guage has quite a long cable supplied, but I wouldsuggest contacting MSC if you want to make it longer. As the current is minute, I wouldn't have thought a longer cable would be a problem.

 

 

I fitted mine on a 60' with tank at the front and guage next to the engine gauge at the back. Just extended the cable with bell wire and it works fine. As said a great bit of kit.

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I fitted mine on a 60' with tank at the front and guage next to the engine gauge at the back. Just extended the cable with bell wire and it works fine. As said a great bit of kit.

 

Thanks everyone....sounds like it's a good unit and we shall give it a go!

Regards

Steve & Lindy

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Thanks everyone....sounds like it's a good unit and we shall give it a go!

Regards

Steve & Lindy

 

Am I mising something?

 

What is wrong with a T into the supply pipe, a length of clear plastic hose, and a small bore, open ended pipe running to well above tank level - or even the plastic pipe running high?

 

I recon most boaters could find the wherewithall in their scrap box.

 

Tony Brooks

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..... a T into the supply pipe, a length of clear plastic hose, and a small bore, open ended pipe running to well above tank level - or even the plastic pipe running high?

 

ferzackerly. :) .......... but the down side is that you don't get a real-time reading of the level of your water tank, displayed on your control console while you are chugging along the cut. Instrumentation looks so impressive. :banghead:

 

I remember working on a 100ft twin diesel coastal pleasure boat, and one of my tasks was to dip the fuel tanks with a graduated dipstick every day. Gauges ?? Not a chance then, and not now either.

 

............. from a fellow member of the K.I.S.S. brigade.

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ferzackerly. :) .......... but the down side is that you don't get a real-time reading of the level of your water tank, displayed on your control console while you are chugging along the cut. Instrumentation looks so impressive. :banghead:

 

I remember working on a 100ft twin diesel coastal pleasure boat, and one of my tasks was to dip the fuel tanks with a graduated dipstick every day. Gauges ?? Not a chance then, and not now either.

 

............. from a fellow member of the K.I.S.S. brigade.

 

 

If you want KISS & impresive how about:-

 

Fill tank and mark waterline at bow.

 

Empty water tank and mark waterline at bow.

 

 

Paint impresive plimsole type line graduated to water in tank

 

:-)

 

Tony brooks

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"Paint impresive plimsole type line graduated to water in tank"

 

What about when the diesel tank is full/empty, pump out tank too if you have one, and passengers? -

 

And not forgetting the salinity of the water - would temperature make a difference?

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"Paint impresive plimsole type line graduated to water in tank"

 

What about when the diesel tank is full/empty, pump out tank too if you have one, and passengers? -

 

And not forgetting the salinity of the water - would temperature make a difference?

 

 

On Theodora

 

Anodes 2" above the water means empty

 

Anodes 4" below the water means full.

 

Anodes half submenrged means look out for a water point.

 

Nick

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If you want KISS & impresive how about:-

 

Fill tank and mark waterline at bow.

 

Empty water tank and mark waterline at bow.

Paint impresive plimsole type line graduated to water in tank

 

:-)

 

Tony brooks

appropriately marked for salt water, brackish water and fresh water navigation in the case of us neo-coastal folk. Brilliant :banghead:

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Am I mising something?

 

What is wrong with a T into the supply pipe, a length of clear plastic hose, and a small bore, open ended pipe running to well above tank level - or even the plastic pipe running high?

 

I recon most boaters could find the wherewithall in their scrap box.

 

Tony Brooks

 

And you an electrics man Tony! Mind you yours will still work with flat battries. :banghead:

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Btw, we have the system Tony recoments, and it works wonders!

- Its just a metre lenght of clear plasitc pipe pushed over the drain point, so basicaly, tee'ed of the supply pipe.

- Its works fine, and every 5 or so years when the pipes geting a bit manky and discoloured, we just change it!

 

It could be improved, idealy i would have its own tank fitting, as with the current system, when the water leval starts geting low, the pump draws air from the top of the sightglass (although this does actaully serve as an audiable warning...)

- Also, the top of the sightglass tube is about 4inches below the top of the filler cap, so care has to be taken not to leave the tank overfilling for long!

 

 

Daniel

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