Well its been one of those “simple’ projects that only took weeks to complete. We have never had water tank gauges on a boat in all of our 15+ years of sailing. Therefore we wanted to have them on this boat before we set out. But to do that we had to remove the old access ports from our tanks which live below our salon floor. They have not been opened I am sure since the 80’s.
Once we managed to get them opened, we removed them and then had a shop drill out for the new KUS 13.5 SSL Sensor in both access caps. However trying to make new tank gaskets was a challenge. After a couple of trials of different products we managed to make new gaskets that worked and were water tight from 3/16″ commercial grade 60A rubber sheeting material. In addition we began replacing some of the old water lines to the tank control manifold and to the vented loops.
Then life got in the way with some surgery and recuperation and the project sat for a little while. But a few weeks later we were back at it and managed to get them wired back to a switch at the nav station that then connects to a directional switch that allows us to check each tank individually. POWER on and TADA!! ….. it doesn’t work! After trying for hours and re-checking everything we were almost ready to admit defeat!
But one last review of the sensors we bought ( they measure @ 240 ohms -33 ohms output) and the “recommended” gauge we bought ( measuring @ 0 ohms -190 ohms ) we realized that this was where our problem was. A quick $30.00 gauge re-order and we now have the ability see how much of the 166 gallons of water we have left on our boat!
Very pleased with our work and the next steps in the plumbing projects is to finish replacing all the old water lines ( easy job right) and then install a water maker! ( not so easy job).
Cruising Logbook 