Fresh Water Reservoir

[Gianni]

Hello all.

1999 grady white sailfish


I went to turn on my fresh water pump, few issues.

From the actual hose cock on the deck, not water is coming out. Any ideas?

The "shower" spray thats behind the back seat comes out very weak, might need a new sprayer, not sure.. Is that an item that can be ordered?

My main question also is, the water that was coming out STUNK like rotten cheese, like extremely bad.

Is there a drain plug for the fresh water tank? If not should i just let it run till it goes empty.

And when i do run her empty, should i just put some simple green with a little water to wash it down?

I will never use it for drinking or shower water. I mostly fish on my boat.

Thanks to all in advance

 

[Legend]

GW dealers carry the shower head. The flow issues could be a leak, failing pump, clogged lines etc. To clean my tank, I usually run fresh water through it several times and then fill the tank and add a few cups of bleach. Run the water until the water/bleach starts to come out of the faucets. Let is sit over night and then fill and drain several times until the water runs clear. There is also a strainer/filter that could be clogged or dirty. I would replace that as On my 2004 Sailfish the strainer is located in the stern area below the fill tube.

 

[wrxhoon]

The fact that water comes out of the shower means that the pump works. I would say you have crap in the tank and the lines .
I would take the line out of the tank undo the shower and the other faucets and blow the lines with compressed air. If you have a lot of rubbish in the tank the only way to clean it 100% is to take the tank out.
To avoid all this I empty my tank completely every month and refill it with clean water .

 

[Gianni]

The fact that water comes out of the shower means that the pump works. I would say you have crap in the tank and the lines .
I would take the line out of the tank undo the shower and the other faucets and blow the lines with compressed air. If you have a lot of rubbish in the tank the only way to clean it 100% is to take the tank out.
To avoid all this I empty my tank completely every month and refill it with clean water .

The tank is that easy to remove?

 

[Gianni]

Thank you so much!!

 

[max366]

I have had similar problems and found that the screen strainer just before the water pump totally coated with white gunk, which also stinks. It almost stops the flow. Clean the strainer and- as Legend indicated- run bleach through the tank. I disconnected the hose before the strainer and had the hose sit in a small bucket. I then added 5+ gal of a bleach solution into the tank to do a good flush. Lots of crap came out. Multiple flushes. Put it back together once most of the crap has stopped and then run the bleach solution through the whole system. Hopefully that will do it.

 

[Gianni]

The water pump is in below of the floor access plates? Someone mentioned removing the whole tank, i dont see how you would be able to do that.

 

[DennisG01]

The water pump is in below of the floor access plates? Someone mentioned removing the whole tank, i dont see how you would be able to do that.

I didn't see where anyone said to remove the tank - just to flush it out.

As mentioned, when water sits it gets stagnant and smelly. The best thing you can do is to use it. Follow the recommendations above in terms of flushing (bleach) and cleaning. There's no one best way to do this, so whatever works best for you. With my last boat, we drank from the water tank - along with using it to wash dishes, shower and brush our teeth when we were away for a few days on it. Continual use and treatment were/are the keys. Even though you are not planning on drinking it, it can't hurt to put a capful of bleach into the tank every time you fill up. It's good PM.

 

[glacierbaze]

"If you have a lot of rubbish in the tank the only way to clean it 100% is to take the tank out......"

 

[DennisG01]

"If you have a lot of rubbish in the tank the only way to clean it 100% is to take the tank out......"

Ah, now I see...

I suppose "how easy" it is to remove a tank will depend on the boat model and how much effort one wants to put into it. But chances are better than not that it can be cleaned up without removing. It just might take a lot of flushing.

 

[glacierbaze]

If running the boat, I would not fill the tank. Leave some room for the bleach/water/soap to slosh around.

 

[Gianni]

I have a '99 sail fish... Ive never even seen where the tank is and there isn't that many removable parts to even get to it if im not mistaken.

 

[SkunkBoat]

There is always a way to remove it. Its either a screwed down & sealed deck hatch or behind a plate or drawer unit in a bulkhead. Get your manual from the www.gradywhite.com site.

I cleaned mine while in place. Remove the strainers from the ends of the faucets and pump it out, with it nearly empty, spray a hard spray into the fill while you are pumping out. Put some bleach in it and wait a day. Start over.
Keep doing that unit the brown slime is gone.

btw, after that I filled it with clean water and never used any one of the 3 sinks during the whole season. I'm a salty fisherman and use the raw water.

Drained it for the winter and put in antifreeze. Almost time to start over.....

 

[DennisG01]

Like smelly said above - there is always a way to get to things like this. I'm not on your boat or looking in the manual, but you just gotta look harder. The manual should give you the rough location.

"spray a hard spray into the fill while you are pumping out." I agree with this... with one caveat... just don't use the same "fresh" water hose that others have been sticking down there pump out fitting to flush their black tanks!

FYI... the fresh water tank, itself, doesn't need AF in it. Just run it dry. The little bit of water left in there will cause no problems when it freezes. Now, if you're doing that to run AF through your lines, then sure, go ahead. On my last boat (and many others that I work on), I never put AF into the tank if I could avoid it. Not that it's really a problem, but it's more to flush out in the Spring when you drink the water. Also, on these other boats, I have REALLY good access to the tank so I can just remove the pickup line from the tank and stick that line into a bucket of pink stuff. The lines always seem to flush out pretty easily.

 

[Newport Grady]

Hello all.

1999 grady white sailfish


I went to turn on my fresh water pump, few issues.

From the actual hose cock on the deck, not water is coming out. Any ideas?

The "shower" spray thats behind the back seat comes out very weak, might need a new sprayer, not sure.. Is that an item that can be ordered?

My main question also is, the water that was coming out STUNK like rotten cheese, like extremely bad.

Is there a drain plug for the fresh water tank? If not should i just let it run till it goes empty.

And when i do run her empty, should i just put some simple green with a little water to wash it down?

I will never use it for drinking or shower water. I mostly fish on my boat.

Thanks to all in advance

I rebuilt my pump last winter. It’s easy if you are so inclined. Afternoon project. Take pictures and then unbolt it from the wall. It was full of crap. Went from a dribble to working fine, and it’s 17 Year’s old. Probably had never been broken down previously. Just take pics while you are doing it and lay out the parts in reverse order. Then clean everything and reassemble.

The smell is due to stagnate water. Just run a few gallons thru new workings. Also put rev antifreeze in there. That cleans it In the spring.

 

[wrxhoon]

I have a '99 sail fish... Ive never even seen where the tank is and there isn't that many removable parts to even get to it if im not mistaken.

I'm familiar with your boat but I think you will find the tank is at the back of the boat and may not be very easy to remove as it is 32 gal i believe . You should be able to take off the two 6" inspection plates so you can see it. The pump should be on the starboard side under the seat again take the access plate off to inspect.

You maybe able to clean it up without taking the tank out.

I keep mine full all the time but I don't have the freezing problem you may have there . Here the weather is like south Florida, I go fishing all year around.

As SkunkBoat said go to the Grady website, click models put your model there and you can download the manual for your boat.