TC255 hot water tank

[C-Wolfe]

I have a ’08 TC255 with the hot water tank under the helm seat, I would like to remove it to make that area usable for extra storage. Anyone have done this? It is smaller than the cabinet door and it has a drawer with divider above. I am not seeing any way to remove it without a good amount of disassembling of the cabinet. Just wanted to check with the C-Brats gang to make sure I’m not missing an easier way.

It is extremely rare that I have a chance to use it since I spent most night at anchor and don’t have access to power. I am planing to move the plumbing for it under the berth so when (not if) I got on a longer cruise I can easily put it back and have hot water available. If anyone wants to poke a hole in my plan, go right ahead.

This is phase one of a bigger project. I will be moving the house battery bank and as much electrical as I can under and inside the galley cabinet and the area currently occupied by the hot water tank. I will start another tread for this part later on.

[colbysmith]

No idea about the Tomcats, but I'd toss it once you get it out. You can get a nice 2.5g bosch on Amazon for under $200. Only about half the size of those old 6 g units.

[thataway]

I agree with tossing the water heater. I was one of the first ones to put the Bosch right under the sink--that takes space which was not used. It frees up other areas, like your cabinet. In my tom Cat and C Dory25 the water heater was under the aft dinette seat, and easy to remove from there.

As Colby noted, no real reason to save that old water heater.

Here is a photo of the Bosch behind the sink and under the counter.

[C-Wolfe]

Thanks Colby and Bob, I look at that bosh and it look nice and also pretty cheap. But first I need to figure out how to remove the current one.

[Gulfcoastjohn]

Hi Stephan,

We removed it years ago by taking off the cabinet door and sold it at a yard sale. We don’t have a ‘drawer’ above it. I plugged the labeled hoses with a bolt and clamp in the bilge (access panel in the cabinet under the sink). If anyone wants to replace it, the plumbing and electrical is ready to go back. To us the most important advantage was re-purposing the now unused 110v wiring to a GFI receptacle behind the helm seat for all our galley appliances, which sit on a board (stored under the nav seat) supported by the throttle handles and folded-down helm seat. Without that, there are no 110v receptacles on the starboard side of our boat. But we are cruisers, not fisherpersons. On the other side of the heater are all the helm control binnacle cables and wiring bundles. I placed a removable Lexan panel so no stored items can be pushed into that area accidentally.

As I recall, the only inputs were cold water from the supply line from the water tank on the port side, the 110v wires, and the outputs were hot water to the galley sink and head shower manifold, and the pressure relief/safety valve output into the shower sump box under the access panel under the sink. There was some trick to draining the tank before removal which I forget. There were some tight access spots, but overall a half day job for me and less for anyone competent. Go for it!

Hope something here is helpful.

John

[C-Wolfe]

Thanks John. Did you install a different system or do you just not have the option of plug in hot water on your boat?

Unfortunately for me, the door to access the hot water tank is smaller the the tank, so it won’t come out without some dismantle of the galley/helm seat cabinet. I’m just not quite sure yet what part I should start working on first. I’ll post a picture soon.

[Gulfcoastjohn]

Stephan,
It so happens that getting in our two hour walks six days a week is a priority in our cruising lifestyle. We want a marina shower with unlimited hot water, or else you could smell us all the way over on ‘A’ Dock. That six gallon heater won’t work unless you’re plugged into shore power at a marina (we choose not to run a portable generator, although many do). Sitting on the head with a hand shower over your head while the soap suds are pumped out into the slip next to ours seems a bit disgusting. So are the contortions needed to access the shower sump to remove the hair from the filter after removing every damn thing in that double cabinet. While you’re at a marina with unlimited hot water and no hair filter. When anchored out, we heat water on a Coleman propane stove for a ‘basin bath’ (ask any RN).

Others make it all work out fine. 31 flavors of Looping and cruising, that’s just not our flavor.

If you have a ‘drawer’ above the smaller cabinet, why not remove the drawer and replace the door with a larger one that covers the entire opening? Our boat doesn’t have a single drawer..we use Sterilite plastic drawers from WalMart bolted together.

Cheers!
John

[C-Wolfe]

The shower head was move to the cockpit, I do like it that way but there is no way I will be using it at a marina, and I can’t picture a situation that using the marina shower will be less appealing then the shower in most boat this size. There is also the fact that I don’t spent many night in a slip and don’t cary a generator so I don’t have a way to run my hot water tank anyway. I could use the storage for all the other stuff I carry on board.

[C-Wolfe]

Had a little time to mess with my hot water tank removal project. Turns out removing the top of the cabinet was not that hard or time consuming, its all put together with corner brackets so it’s just a matter of removing a bunch of screws, and a little caulking. I haven’t put it back together yet since I want to move my house batteries and move some electrical around. I’ll start another thread for that.