Fresh Water Tank on 2002 342

DanW

My mechanic is working on replacing my fresh water tank because it sprung a leak. Last year they replaced it with a 45 gallon tank (original was 51 gallons). It started leaking too, so my mechanic will replace it under warranty. However, he doesn't want to replace it with the same 45 gallon tank because he says the plastic was too thin and it will likely crack and leak again. I agree with him. The problem is he has only been able to find a 35 gallon replacement tank to fit the area. I really don't want to lose that much storage capacity. Has anyone had to replace their tank? Do you know what you replaced it with and where it was sourced?

I have looked in to having one custom made (~$1,000), but trying to find a standard in-stock one first.

Thanks,

Dan

Ian

Tried Great Lakes skipper?

davidbrooks

I have a feeling you are gonna have to go the custom route. When i was looking for a holding tank for mine a few years back there were non to be found. Just ones that i had to drill my own holes. I ended up just keeping what i had.  I wouldnt want to go smaller either. But if i had to choose between smaller and high quality vs larger and custom....i would go small. The only time you really need the extra storage is if you are staying out on anchor for a few days.

mattie

https://www.trioniccorp.com/

Heard Trionic is a great place for holding/waste tank replacement. Good quality.

Looked into it last year for a fresh water tank leak. Fortunately didn’t need to replace to solve,

DanW

Thanks for the suggestions. Great Lakes Skipper has one that is 1 inch too big. I'll send it to my mechanic, but I don't think it's going to work. Trionic didn't have any that were close to the right size. My mechanic found a 40 gallon tank and a custom one would hold about 46 gallons. I'm going to go with the 40 gallon tank as I don't think an extra 6 gallons is worth $1,000 for a custom tank.

I agree David - a little smaller and better quality is better. The plastic on the first replacement was too thin and buckled. Definitely not putting another one of those back in. I hate fresh water tanks. I replaced two in 6 years of owning my last boat (Sea Ray) and now on to my second in two years of owning the Rinker. I can't complain too much though. Both boats are over 18 years old and things are bound to need repair.

Thanks,

Dan

Liberty44140

I think 40 gallons is fine. On our 342 we could go Friday night to Sunday afternoon including 3 showers (one for me, two for admiral) on the factory tank and still have 5 or so gallons left. We would stop the flow while soaping and only use water to rinse. 40 should be ok. Recommend cutting inspection ports on both sides of the aft storage so that you can visually see what is really left in both holding tank and water tank. I have a thread on here with pics of that. 

DanW

Yeah, I think 40 will work too. They originally wanted to go down to a 30 gallon and I said no. Like you, we don’t typically stay out for more than two nights except sometimes 3 nights for 4th of July so we should be fine. 

When the fresh water and waste tanks were replaced last year, I cut inspection ports into the aft storage. That’s a great idea. 

Dream_Inn

I wish I could hold even more water. I can maybe get 4 nights if we are real tight with it.  We love anchoring for long weekends!  I'd get what you can, you can always put less water in.

Liberty44140

Dream_Inn said:

I wish I could hold even more water. I can maybe get 4 nights if we are real tight with it.  We love anchoring for long weekends!  I'd get what you can, you can always put less water in.

What do you have in the 400? We now have a 75 gal tank and we can go for quite a while. We did 4 straight nights on it this summer and the admiral was taking full showers, not just using water to rinse. Do we need it? No but sure is nice. 

Dream_Inn

@Liberty44140 I believe we have 65 gallons.  We do the full shower thing but can be pretty quick.  A nice shower always feels great!  Washing up dishes can take some water, even using sparingly. The head is pretty efficient on it, but the main reason you don't want to run out.🤗

Liberty44140

Agree dream. For clarity when I say full shower or rinse I mean on the 342 all “normal shower stuff” would be done in the shower stall, but we would turn off the water just while soaping up to save on it. Would only run water while getting wet or rinsing off soap. Of course admiral likes water on the whole time like at home if possible....

dperri

Dan I seem to be having the same issue with my 2003 342. I have water in the forward bilge and the fresh water tank is loosing water. I didn’t disassemble the aft cabin yet and will first check if the tank connection to the fresh water pump is leaking. I hope I can see this through the plate behind the ice maker. My questions are, do you have the dimensions of the original tank? I can’t find them anywhere and can’t measure it until it is all disassembled. Also, where did your original tank actually leak? Lastly, what size tank did you finally put in and where did you get it? Thanks Dave

Liberty44140

It’s easy to get to your tank. It is behind the starboard wall of the aft storage compartment in your aft cabin. When you open the mirror covering that storage compartment look left/starboard and you’ll see the wall is screwed in. Remove screws and pull wall down and there is the tank. Opposite side is holding tank. 

dperri

Thanks! I will open that first and check. Is the piping connection on the tank to the freshwater pump on the side of the tank near the aft storage compartment or on the opposite side? 

davidbrooks

All of the lines can be reached if you pull out your icemaker.  There is a plastic tray that has a few screws you can take out and then lift up the corner to see more.  From there the water lines run up to the sink and then over to the port side of the boat and up to the head and galley sink.  You can see some lines if you crawl in the engine compartment and get your head over the generator.  You can also remove the panel in the shower.  I had a leaking fitting on my shower and ended up just replacing it.  The fixture was getting a bit corroded anyway.  You can also get to water lines in the galley by pulling out drawers.  Finally, if you do need to get to the tank to remove it all you need is a screw gun and a phillips head fitting.  The whole aft cabinetry comes out.  I did remove the septic tank this way but i don't remember how accessible the water tank is.  I do know there is a fuel tank in front of it though.

Liberty44140

Agree with David’s comment. I may have it backwards (sold 342 in 2019). David, is the freshwater tank stbd with ice maker as I recall or port, forward of generator? 

I believe there is a lot of space once you remove the walls I mention and you can get to the fittings on top of the tank. 

davidbrooks

Freshwater is on the starboard side by the ice maker and the port side is the smelly side.

dperri

Thanks for the info. The leak does not appear to be on the pressure side of the freshwater pump rather it is on the supply side from the tank to the pump or on the tank itself. I am first trying to see the connection of the supply pipe connection to the freshwater tank to see if it is loose (or a clamp broke) or if the actual supply pipe to the pump from the tank is bad. I assume this connection is near the bottom of the tank but I do not know on which side it is on. (the outboard side of the tank, the aft side of the tank, or the side near where the aft storage cabinet is). A bad connection/clamp would be the best case to fix vs replacing the entire tank. I plan to remove the panel in the aft storage cabinet first to see what I can see. Then I will remove the ice maker and look through the cover plate behind the icemaker to check. If I can't see the connection or leak and can't repair it from there, I will remove the aft walls and pull the tank. I will probably tackle this later in the season and just manage water in the tank since the only thing happening is a little water in the front bilge when the tank is filled. No carpet is wet. If anyone has a picture of the tank from the either the aft cabinet or the plate above, I would appreciate seeing them.  

davidbrooks

I would recommend pulling the ice maker and going in there first. That's the most direct route immediately above all of the lines you're talking about.

DanW

Hi dperri,

I don’t remember where I got the tank from because my mechanic actually did the work. I’m away from home for about another week, but let me know if you still need to know and I can look on the receipt when I return home. And I don’t remember the dimensions. Sorry. As others have said, the easiest way to get to the connections at the top of the tank is to remove the ice maker. 

My tank had a crack in it on the bottom corner behind the starboard wall in the aft storage compartment that others have mentioned. When we had the aft cabin torn apart for replacement, I added access panels inside the storage compartment so it would be easier to see the fresh water and black water tanks. 

I didn’t find it easy at all to replace the tank. The entire aft cabin needs to be disassembled. There’s a YouTube video by someone else that I and my mechanic used as a guide. 

https://youtu.be/W_q8jW_EdZ0

Good luck!

Dan

dperri

Dan, I did watch the video and hope I do not need to do a complete tank replacement. I will remove the ice maker and check it from the top first but I will enjoy the summer before I start that. Interestingly I was away this weekend with dock side water so I didn’t fill the fresh water tank up all the way and I had no water in the front bilge. I also noticed that when I fill the tank I do not get air or water out of the vent near the fill cap. I seem to remember air coming out and when the tank was filling and when the fill line backed up when the tank was full, water also came out the vent. I am wondering if my vent line popped off the tank and now when I fill the tank it comes out the vent on the top of the tank and goes into the bilge. I should be able to see this once I get behind the ice maker .Thanks again