Plumbing
Once you've got engines running and fuel being delivered, the next area to worry about is plumbing. You need water to live, and much more importantly, you need a way to deal with the byproducts of the good life! When I bought her, Island Eagle had a fairly unusual plumbing system. First, there were the tanks: four massive steel water tanks, totalling about 1000 gallons of fresh water! I decided that I'd keep the tanks, and replace everything inch of the actual plumbing.
I converted one of the four tanks to a grey water tank, giving a 250 gallon grey water capacity. This discharges overboard via a Sealand T-type diaphragm pump. The grey water on Island Eagle runs to a little sump in the engine rooms, serviced by a Whale diaphragm pump (won't bind up on hair from the shower sump). The grey water tank discharges overboard via a Sealand T-type pump in the shop, with a timer.
For the master toilet black water tank, I removed the top of another of the old water tanks, blocked off the outlets, and then installed a 50 gallon poly black water tank INSIDE the old water tank. This means that if it leaks, it will be contained. There is also a second black water tank forward, under the forward hallway, which services the midships and forward toilets. Both black water tanks have independent Sealand T-type discharge pumps as well as Y-vales and deck pump-outs.
All toilets are Vacuflush, and they have been extremely clean and reliable.
There are two 300 gallon fresh water tanks under the shop and that master head, with independent deck fills. They had sight tubes and a crossover connection in the shaft alley. There is a Groco centrifugal transfer pump for balancing the tanks.
There are two Par Max VSD pumps in the engine room. Either one can supply the whole ship with no problem at all. While it is possible to cross-feed the pumps, I have found it most practical to simply feed the starboard pimp from the starboard tank and the port pump from the port tank. That way you can choose which tank to feed from just using the two breakers supplying the pumps.
Hot water is supplied by a Force 10 hot water heater located in the shop. This has both an electric element as well as a heating loop from the main engine.
All fixtures are supplied by 3/4" PEX pipe run back to a manifold in the engine room.
Since the grey water tank is on the port side, far and away the most practical way to run is by using just the port fresh water tank, that way the boat remains balanced even as the fresh water is consumed (since it's just moving from the fresh water tank to the grey water tank).
Bottom line: Every single inch of the plumbing systems on Island Eagle was new in 2005 and is built properly. It works perfectly.
I converted one of the four tanks to a grey water tank, giving a 250 gallon grey water capacity. This discharges overboard via a Sealand T-type diaphragm pump. The grey water on Island Eagle runs to a little sump in the engine rooms, serviced by a Whale diaphragm pump (won't bind up on hair from the shower sump). The grey water tank discharges overboard via a Sealand T-type pump in the shop, with a timer.
For the master toilet black water tank, I removed the top of another of the old water tanks, blocked off the outlets, and then installed a 50 gallon poly black water tank INSIDE the old water tank. This means that if it leaks, it will be contained. There is also a second black water tank forward, under the forward hallway, which services the midships and forward toilets. Both black water tanks have independent Sealand T-type discharge pumps as well as Y-vales and deck pump-outs.
All toilets are Vacuflush, and they have been extremely clean and reliable.
There are two 300 gallon fresh water tanks under the shop and that master head, with independent deck fills. They had sight tubes and a crossover connection in the shaft alley. There is a Groco centrifugal transfer pump for balancing the tanks.
There are two Par Max VSD pumps in the engine room. Either one can supply the whole ship with no problem at all. While it is possible to cross-feed the pumps, I have found it most practical to simply feed the starboard pimp from the starboard tank and the port pump from the port tank. That way you can choose which tank to feed from just using the two breakers supplying the pumps.
Hot water is supplied by a Force 10 hot water heater located in the shop. This has both an electric element as well as a heating loop from the main engine.
All fixtures are supplied by 3/4" PEX pipe run back to a manifold in the engine room.
Since the grey water tank is on the port side, far and away the most practical way to run is by using just the port fresh water tank, that way the boat remains balanced even as the fresh water is consumed (since it's just moving from the fresh water tank to the grey water tank).
Bottom line: Every single inch of the plumbing systems on Island Eagle was new in 2005 and is built properly. It works perfectly.
