Removing the water heater..

Scottcra92

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I have been going back and forth on the thought of removing my 5 gal water heater on my 252 Sailfish and replacing the weight with PVC pipes fillled with lead bird shot (5 gallons of water is roughly 42 pounds). Over the 3 years of owning the boat I’ve never had the need to use it, and it is starting to rust out anyways. I figured if I take it out, connect the water lines back together, and replace the weight I would be able to have a nice storage compartment where it used to be. Has anyone done this or have any other inputs?
 

DennisG01

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Well, I certainly wouldn’t worry about replacing the weight until I absolutely had to. There’s a good chance it won’t make any difference. If it does, it will be extremely minor and only perceptible when the boat is sitting still... if at all. Besides, you’re going to be putting weight back into that spot with storage.

If you don’t need the hot water, get it out.
 

SkunkBoat

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I'm sure you will find better use of that space than dead weight. Lots of boats never had a water heater, don't worry about the weight
 

Scottcra92

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Good point, I wasn’t sure if having that weight out would make a major difference. Thanks for the input.
 

ocnslr

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Removed ours years ago, due to non-use. Plugged the water lines, capped the power wires, and use the space for 300ft of the 600ft anchor rode.