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My Sailaway Decisions - Good & Bad


system 4-50

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16 minutes ago, Puffling said:

Laboratory sink looks interesting, rather stylish. A more compact alternative to the Belfast or Butler sinks you see in boat gallies sometimes. Not having an overflow would trouble me.

Would you choose the same again?

Yes, but only after doing a lot of research to ensure that an overflow version does not exist.

By chance I found a plastic bowl that fitted very comfortably in the sink.  Using a bowl is handy as it provides some way to tip waste fluids away whilst using the bowl.  I would check that this was still available before buying the sink again.

The waste outlet was a pain, but that was not particularly the fault of the sink.  The available elbows with hose barb and connection to the sink all seemed to have a lip that was supposed to go inside the sink waste fitting but did not fit.  I cut the lip off the plastic with a craft knife and added some LSX for good measure and it did not leak.  I don't seem to have a pic of this which is a pity as I was pleased with the result.

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15 minutes ago, system 4-50 said:

Yes, but only after doing a lot of research to ensure that an overflow version does not exist.

By chance I found a plastic bowl that fitted very comfortably in the sink.  Using a bowl is handy as it provides some way to tip waste fluids away whilst using the bowl.  I would check that this was still available before buying the sink again.

The waste outlet was a pain, but that was not particularly the fault of the sink.  The available elbows with hose barb and connection to the sink all seemed to have a lip that was supposed to go inside the sink waste fitting but did not fit.  I cut the lip off the plastic with a craft knife and added some LSX for good measure and it did not leak.  I don't seem to have a pic of this which is a pity as I was pleased with the result.

We have a lab sink and use a washing up bowl in it so you can tip liquid down the side.  We also had a right pain plumbing it in and ended up at a plumbers merchant buying a combination of adaptors to go from the waste fitting to the pipe from the skin fitting.

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31 minutes ago, system 4-50 said:

Yes, but only after doing a lot of research to ensure that an overflow version does not exist.

By chance I found a plastic bowl that fitted very comfortably in the sink.  Using a bowl is handy as it provides some way to tip waste fluids away whilst using the bowl.  I would check that this was still available before buying the sink again.

The waste outlet was a pain, but that was not particularly the fault of the sink.  The available elbows with hose barb and connection to the sink all seemed to have a lip that was supposed to go inside the sink waste fitting but did not fit.  I cut the lip off the plastic with a craft knife and added some LSX for good measure and it did not leak.  I don't seem to have a pic of this which is a pity as I was pleased with the result.

This would seem to fit the requirement of overflow.

https://www.labcentral.co.uk/product/belfast-lab-sink-su-05/#

Belfast-Sink.jpg

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2 minutes ago, David Mack said:

Smaller, but more expensive than the standard size Belfast sink!

It's actually only slightly smaller than a standard Belfast sink and as you say, more expensive.

So not the solution to the OP's search for a compact lab sink with overflow.

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1 hour ago, Puffling said:

This would seem to fit the requirement of overflow.

https://www.labcentral.co.uk/product/belfast-lab-sink-su-05/#

Belfast-Sink.jpg

Lab sinks or Belfast sinks are supposed to be mounted under a overhanging worktop( wood or solid surface) which allow the water from the draining washing up vier the draining grooves or a freestanding drying rack. The one it the op picture is just ceramic sink which can be fitted inset into the worktop or undercounted like a lab sink or Belfast. Some of the ceramic sinks just have a normal overflow like a s/steel sink. Can be a bit of a bugger sometimes when fitting into a worktop. Not a problem when underslung. Don’t ask me how aI know.😬😬

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12 minutes ago, Jon57 said:

Lab sinks or Belfast sinks are supposed to be mounted under a overhanging worktop( wood or solid surface) which allow the water from the draining washing up vier the draining grooves or a freestanding drying rack. The one it the op picture is just ceramic sink which can be fitted inset into the worktop or undercounted like a lab sink or Belfast. Some of the ceramic sinks just have a normal overflow like a s/steel sink. Can be a bit of a bugger sometimes when fitting into a worktop. Not a problem when underslung. Don’t ask me how aI know.😬😬

 

Ceramic sinks -- or if you're rich and posh, inbuilt Corian ones -- also have the disadvantage that when you drop a glass into one there's only one winner, and it's not the glass... 😞

Edited by IanD
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2 hours ago, IanD said:

 

Ceramic sinks -- or if you're rich and posh, inbuilt Corian ones -- also have the disadvantage that when you drop a glass into one there's only one winner, and it's not the glass... 😞

But the corian can be repaired. Not the glass. OK if it's been emptied of its contents first. 🍸🤣

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3 hours ago, Rob-M said:

We went with a lab sink because the depth of a Belfast sink would have needed a pump solution for the waste water as the base would have been too low.

So what is the maximum depth of sink (measured from top of work surface) to the bottom of the sink, that can be fitted without need for a drain pump? assuming a skin fitting is 250mm above the waterline.

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12 minutes ago, MrFish said:

So what is the maximum depth of sink (measured from top of work surface) to the bottom of the sink, that can be fitted without need for a drain pump? assuming a skin fitting is 250mm above the waterline.

 

I might well be wrong, but I think the 250mm isn't required if the other end of the fitting is sealed into a sink which is watertight to levels higher than this, it applies to things like air vents into engine rooms where water can flow in and fill up/sink the boat -- leastways, that's what I thought the rule actually said...

 

 

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1 minute ago, IanD said:

 

I might well be wrong, but I think the 250mm isn't required if the other end of the fitting is sealed into a sink which is watertight to levels higher than this, it applies to things like air vents into engine rooms where water can flow in and fill up/sink the boat -- leastways, that's what I thought the rule actually said...

 

 

But no push fit wastes,  must be solvent welded, compression or threaded.

If using screw up plastic with rubber olives I put a stainless self tapper through the outside to bite the inner pipe.

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42 minutes ago, Jon57 said:

But the corian can be repaired. Not the glass. OK if it's been emptied of its contents first. 🍸🤣

 

I was advised not to have a kitchen sink with a Corian bottom -- even if it had Corian sides -- because cutlery being dropped in gradually leads to the bottom getting covered in little nicks, and it's then difficult to keep clean.

 

Having Corian sides and a stainless steel bottom -- one suggested solution -- seems pointless, a triumph of appearance (and cost!) over common sense -- a stainless steel undermount sink made much more sense to me...

 

 

5 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:

But no push fit wastes,  must be solvent welded, compression or threaded.

If using screw up plastic with rubber olives I put a stainless self tapper through the outside to bite the inner pipe.

As so often, the devil is in the details... 😉

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11 minutes ago, IanD said:

 

I was advised not to have a kitchen sink with a Corian bottom -- even if it had Corian sides -- because cutlery being dropped in gradually leads to the bottom getting covered in little nicks, and it's then difficult to keep clean.

 

Having Corian sides and a stainless steel bottom -- one suggested solution -- seems pointless, a triumph of appearance (and cost!) over common sense -- a stainless steel undermount sink made much more sense to me...

 

 

As so often, the devil is in the details... 😉

Yep to s/steel sink. You can wash your paint brush in it no worries. All my sink have sea cocks on them incase of emergency. Exhaust is on the roof 😉

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9 minutes ago, Jon57 said:

Yep to s/steel sink. You can wash your paint brush in it no worries. All my sink have sea cocks on them incase of emergency. Exhaust is on the roof 😉

<koff koff>...


(but probably not as bad as a Bolinder...)

Edited by IanD
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ADDITIONAL:

I find that most conventional sinks are too low down and doing a washing up gets to be uncomfortable.  I don't notice this in a house as I never washup where there is a dishwasher available.  I went out of my way to mount this sink at a good height for me personally.

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Decision 043.  GAS.  GOOD (mostly).

The configuration:

4 gas bottles as 2 pairs, through an autoswitchover regulator [AR] with OPSO to 2 bubble testers to 2 pairs of valves to FOUR  3/8" lines going down through the bottom of the locker via an upstand through the engine bay and then down the RHS (starboard) of the boat in the gunnel space to each of the tumble dryer, the cooker, the FF, and, via an arch over the ceiling to the Morco D61B instant water heater, with each appliance having its own local valve.

The 4 gas bottles gave great supply security, I never ran out of gas while in the shower.

The AR was a pain.  The OPSO feature required extra height that was difficult to find, and the indicator that showed which set was in use or empty was invisible, maybe defective.  But the device did its job.

The total gas demand was too great for 1 bubble tester so I installed 2.  My BSS tester never used them, he used his manometer(?) and he said I could have installed just 1, on a bypass.  But that would have looked untidy.

Putting a separate line through for each appliance was a personal quirk and created lots of extra work.  I created a platform suspended from hangers so that I could work on my back over the engine/weedhatch to bend all the pipes into shape.  Revisiting, I would ask for bigger and more smoothly rounded holes from the engine bay through to the cabin gunnel cavity to make passing pipes and cables easier.  Rough holes are a right pain for sleeving etc.  I would also use conventional piping and joints, seperate lines was fun to do but once only.

It was convenient at times to be able to isolate a single appliance in the gas locker.

The gas bottles were padlocked to the boat and each other with a heavy motorcycle-type chain.

Problems:

The lack of height in the gas locker and maybe other unknown issues caused gunk to travel from a bottle into the pipework to the Morco.  This first manifested itself as difficulty in getting the Morco pilot light to light and then by black fluid in the respective bubble tester.  I disconnected the pipework and blew back through it and rearranged the high pressure hoses and that cured the problem.

Comment:

I never had problems with lifting 13Kg Calor Propane bottles.  Ever.  I never did it, the fuel boats or marinas always did it for me.  i don't understand these people who say that lifting gas bottles is a serious impediment to living on a boat in old age!  Lifting cassettes is much worse.😆  (how do you make an emoji bold?)

 

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Just now, David Mack said:

Or suitable hose fixed onto proper hose tails at each end and secured with two stainless steel hose clamps at each end.

I thought that's the rule (or is it a recommendation?) for anything that exits under the waterline, like a raw water cooling system?

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There's not much working room in a narrowboat.

 

IMGP4511.JPG

The passage beside the bathroom and then bedroom (full of junk).  In the distance is the pipework, later reconfigured, for emptying and venting the PO tank.

IMGP4632.JPG

Edited by system 4-50
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