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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

Catalina 250 Specific Forum

Water level sight gauge

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Al
Captain

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USA
269 Posts

Initially Posted - 12/11/2005 : 22:30:11

This has to the most-bang-for-the-buck upgrade I’ve done. Two elbows and some clear ridgid tubing and I’ve got a water level gauge. The upper fitting tees into the water tank vent, and the lower one tees into the outlet of the tank. Done!

Al Maniccia
SeaWolf C250WK #698
Marina Del Rey, CA

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AADIVER
Admiral

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USA
966 Posts

Response Posted - 12/11/2005 : 23:45:45

Al, as a 250 "newbie", could you be more specific how you rigged the gauge and more pix? Thanks.

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Al
Captain

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USA
269 Posts

Response Posted - 12/12/2005 : 14:50:33

There's really not much to it, Frank. Just check out the drawing. You can use whatever fittings work best for you. The Lexan tubing (plus a ton of other cool stuff) is available from http://www.mcmaster.com/

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atgep
Master Marine Consultant

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1009 Posts

Response Posted - 12/12/2005 : 19:07:45

This would be a great post for the general forum. It is a great idea. Mcmaster looks to be the ultimate site for us "handy" types. Is shipping reasonable?

Thanks for the great tip/link.

Tom.

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AADIVER
Admiral

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966 Posts

Response Posted - 12/12/2005 : 19:25:27

Al, how do you "tee" into the vent and water out hoses? Where is the sight gauge mounted per the picture?

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Bubba
Admiral

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USA
542 Posts

Response Posted - 12/12/2005 : 21:30:20

Outstanding project Al!

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Al
Captain

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USA
269 Posts

Response Posted - 12/12/2005 : 23:37:44

<i>Mcmaster looks to be the ultimate site for us "handy" types. Is shipping reasonable?</i>

McMaster is great. It's a huge industrial supplier (their catalog is about 4" thick...!) and there's a lot of good reference material in there, too. They're not cheap, they charge list price for everything and I would say their shipping is average. But everything's in stock, they ship same day, and customer service is excellent.

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britinusa
Web Editor

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USA
5404 Posts

Response Posted - 03/26/2006 : 09:10:31

Al, that looks as though it would double as a water clarity indicator!

Paul

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Tom Potter
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1913 Posts

Response Posted - 03/26/2006 : 10:14:06

Paul, this is a good one for the Tech Tips.

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SEAN
Admiral

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USA
772 Posts

Response Posted - 03/26/2006 : 10:14:12

very nice
you could probably put the gage in a lot of spots around the boat .A water level is very accurate.
we used one for my kitchen cabinets at home

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britinusa
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5404 Posts

Response Posted - 03/26/2006 : 10:17:43

I figured this is this applicable to both C250 and C25?

The new tech tip is online in the General Tips page
(Just click on the Technical Tips link and scroll down.)

Paul

Association Webmaster

Edited by - britinusa on 03/26/2006 10:37:09

OLarryR
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3440 Posts

Response Posted - 03/26/2006 : 10:58:48

Al,

Great project ! Agree with others - Look into adding it to the Tech Tips Section, then we all can see it there at other times when this post fades from memory.

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Al
Captain

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USA
269 Posts

Response Posted - 03/26/2006 : 22:24:24

I didn't even know we had a Tech Tip section, but I see it's been posted there, so I guess I don't have to do anything...!

I had purposely posted it on the 250 forum only, since I already spend way to much time on the computer and I didn't want to monitor another forum in case someone replied and asked a question about it (other forum software I've seen gives you the option of sending you a notification email when someone replies to your post. I wish we had that feature...). Anyway, the Tech Tips section works since it requires someone to email you if they need more info, so there's nothing you have to monitor.

One design flaw (at least with a pressurized system) I discovered is that when you open a faucet, the water isn't smart enough to know it's supposed to draw from the tank, and not the gauge (look at the drawing and you'll see what I mean). So if you're drawing a substantial amount of water, it drains the sight gauge and starts sucking air. I doubt this would happen with the stock manual pumps, but there's an easy fix, regardless: just add resistance to the line that goes to the gauge, since it only needs a trickle to work. You could just disconnect the sight gauge line and stick practically anything in the line that would nearly block it. The point is just to make it easier to draw from the tank than the gauge.

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The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.