Removing SeaWater Stink

Getting Fresh Water into the Head Intake Lines

As sea water sits in a hose for long periods, between the head being used, it breaks down and starts to smell bad.   This is another kind of stink and No Fecal matter is required.  In other words, even a head with a completely empty holding tank or even one which directly discharges without use of a holding tank,  can stink.  This foul odor problem is more of an issue in summertimes as warm water temperature promotes the decay of organic matter in sea water.  Once the oxygen in the seawater is depleted by aerobic decomposition, the anaerobic  bacteria will get to work producing smelly hydrogen sulphide as a byproduct.

Flushing with the intake line with fresh water will eliminates the sea water odor problem.  One way to do this is to eliminate a separate sink drain seacock and tee the sink drain hose into the head inlet seacock. Both the sink drain and head water inlet will work fine.  When leaving the boat for an extended time, flush the head intake line using fresh water from the sink.  Just close the seacock, add water to the sink, and flush the head.

This is actually the method suggested by Peggie Hall, The Head Mistress.  A rare issue to be aware of, there could be a concern about dropping large debris in the head sink drain as it could clog the internal head pump valve.  This problem can be nearly eliminated by use of a sink strainer and/or by plumbing the drain straight to the seacock and using a 90 degree tee at the seacock for the head water inlet. In the later option, any heavy debris will fall straight out of the seacock thru-hull.

Seacocks under the head sink.  The 3/4" seacock with the white hose
supplies the head water inlet. The black hose at the 3/4" seacock above is
utilized for the sink drain.  In this photo, the 1-1/2" seacock was not utilized,
but at a later time it became utilized by the macerator discharge.

Seacocks under the head sink.  The top 3/4" seacock is closed off and not
 in use.  The bottom 3/4" seacock is tee'd to supply the head water inlet via white
hose with a straight plumbed sink drain via the black hose.  Here  the 1-1/2"
seacock is utilized by the macerator discharge (1" hose).  An option not utilized,
would be to connect the 1" macerator discharge hose to the unused 3/4" seacock
via Groco FF-750 which has 3/4" NPT threads and accepts 1" ID hose.  This
would free up the 1-1/2" seacock for a direct offshore discharge option.

New V-Berth Side Panels

The V-berth showing bare to the fiberglass side walls with
v-berth shelving removed.

Plans and Materials

The old V-berth side panels were removed and discarded by the previous owner. Original plans for finishing the V-berth entailed constructing side wall panels with teak or cedar batten strips.  On both sides of the V-berth is a full length self which is located about 1/3 down along the side walls.  This divided the side wall regions into 4 panels: two top and two bottom for each side.

Initially this project was low on the priority list but as the list grew shorter, more time was spent exploring various design options.  One day at a local Lowes Home Improvement, I noticed a decorative beaded wood wall panel.  Most wall panels readily available are constructed from pressed particles.  This panel was appealing as the beaded style was similar in appearance to the original batten design, and more important, the panel was 3-ply plywood rather than a pressed panel.  

While not designed for a marine environments, I originally shied away from these panels. I eventually convinced myself that the simplicity and ease of effort coupled with the virtual zero cost of material was worth giving it a try even if the project needed to be replaced in a few years with a more permanent solution.  I purchased two of the 4x8 panel which had some damage to the edges.  This was fine since I did not need the whole panel and Lowes discounted each panel by 50%. To improve the longevity of the material, each panel was coated with thinned epoxy allowing the side edges to soak epoxy in well inside. This was followed by two coats of polyurethane (left over from refinishing the teak and holly sole).  

Materials

• 4-ft x 8-ft Beaded Ann Arbor Birch Wood Wall Panel
• Lowes Item # 10003 Model # 344281   $39.97 (damaged price $20/panel)
• Glue sticks for ordinary glue gun
• Epoxy & some isopropyl alcohol for thinning
• Polyurethane 
• 1" wide scrap Luan strips and strips cut from excess panel.

Procedure

1. Construct simple pattern for each panel with Luan strips and hot glue gun.
2. Cut wall panel to patterns on table saw.
3. Seal the back and edges of each panel with epoxy.
4. Scuff front of panel factory finish with 3M pad and apply two coats of polyurethane.
5. Install panel sections and secure with shelves and front/back support strips.

Making the Panels to size

A pattern was built by hot gluing scrap Luan plywood strips
to form a frame in the actual v-berth panel location.

A frame pattern is used to mark out the exact size for one of the
upper V-berth panels.  Each cut panel was coated with thinned
epoxy allowing the side edges to soak epoxy in well inside and
then finished with two coats of polyurethane.

Placement of the lower starboard V-berth panel.

Final Panel Installation

Portside V-berth panels installed with original self. 

First Mate installing rope lighting and decorations in the V-berth.

Refinishing the Teak and Holly sole

New Cabin Teak Doors

The Old Plywood Doors

The Landfall 38 comes from the factory with 3 interior doors.  One for the v-berth cabin, a second for the head, and another separating the aft cabin from the main saloon.  Some Landfalls are outfitted with rather nice teak faced doors whereas others came with a cheap wood-patterned formica laminate.   The ones which came with Johanna Rose was the later.  In both cases, the doors are constructed from marine plywood with a small cutout section for teak louvers.  The photo to the right shows a laminated door for the head compartment.  It looks much better in the photo than in reality.

When I first purchased Johanna Rose, the original doors were in ruff shape and were not even installed. At the time, I looked into purchasing new teak panel doors.  I found a place in the Tampa Bay area which fabricates custom teak woodwork.  The price for two new teak panel doors, compared to prices I found at other companies, was somewhat reasonable at $1,630 delivered.    But the reality was that I had a lot of other items to get and more important projects to work on, so I made due with the doors I had.  

Attempt to refinish a laminated door

Laminate Removal and Attempted Refinish

Due to aging, the glue for the laminate of v-berth door was severely separating and started to flap open on the bottom.  Looking closely behind the laminate,  revealed what looked like nice teak facing on the marine plywood below.   I removed both laminate faces and then tried to remove the old glue with chemicals, heat and a scraper, and finally some sanding.  The clean up did not work well, and It looked like I might have been a bit aggressive and sanded through the teak facing. I tried to match the underlying wood faces with the outer layer by using lighter and darker stains, and as seen on the photo to the left, was not that successful.  In reality though, the refinished door looked better than the cheap looking formica laminated door.



Teak deal on Ebay

While searching for some teak on Ebay I came across a listing for several new marine teak doors. The listing stated they were originally made for a yacht interior.   The dimensions were a about an inch wider than needed which was fine as I wanted to trim the doors and add rounded top corners.

I purchased one door, and when it arrived, I ordered two more doors.  The price $125 each and under $50 for shipping all three.

Installing New Teak Door

I'm the kind of guy that never throws away anything which may be useful down the line.  And while I removed the old laminate from the v-berth door, I keep it.  It turned out to be a useful pattern for marking the a new door for trimming.   The sides of the door were trimmed on a table saw by removing 5/16" on each side.  A jigsaw was used to trim the rounded top corners, and an orbital sander was used to smooth the edges.  I reused the original door hardware save for the hinges which were replaced with a 48" long stainless-steel piano hinge purchased from Home Depot online.  The photo below shown the new doors for the v-berth and the head.   The first one on the left shows the new unfinished v-berth door installed whereas to its right is a photo of the door after two coats of Helmsman Spar Urethane.  The bottom row shows photos of the new door to the head.  In addition to 

trimming the door width and rounding the top courners, a strip of teak was added to the bottom to increase the door height.

The new door to the v-berth shown unfinished.

The new door to the v-berth shown finished.

The new door to the head shown finished

The new door to the head.  In addition to
trimming the door width, a strip of teak was
added to the bottom to increase the door height.

Installation of the new aft teak door.  The
doorway joining the aft cabin to the main saloon
required fabricating all new teak molding and
header board. This photo shows the dry fit before
 final installation, hardware mounting, and finish.

Making Lazy Jacks

Write up in progress

Components

• Dyneema 
• Purchased on Ebay