Stuart

Hi Robin, Good to hear from you again. I found your postings fascinating over the time you've owned Indy and will miss them. Best of luck with your new adventure and with selling the boat. I don't know what their rates are but, from what I've seen recently, Berthon seem to have the best approach to advertising 535s. All the best, Stuart.

Hi Robin, Good to see you back on form and out and about on Independence. I've noted that you're changed your Vimar sockets for UK style. If you haven't thrown out the old ones I could make you an offer as I could do with a couple more for my 535. All the best, Stuart

Hi Robin, Good to see you're making progress with the freshwater system. Just a thought as I see that the pipes leading to and from the pump are translucent. That's not the usual Trader style and leads me to wonder whether the current siting of your pump was the original one. Normally the pipework is opaque and colour coded for hot (red) and cold (blue) water. The pipes are plastic on the inside and outside with a thin layer of metal sandwiched between. They can be bent into a suitable shape quite easily and they then hold their shape and position. I would be interested to see at what point the translucent feed pipe to the pump begins and whether there are signs of a pump having been fitted in that vicinity. It may be that a previous owner extended the pipework and, if it is the case, you may be able to deduce why that was or what other changes may have been made in that vicinity. All the best, Stuart

Hi Robin, Thanks for the tour of the engine room and good to hear you found a leak in the system. My Trader has Volvo engines and the layout of the engine room is very different. I've been in several Trader engine rooms and they all had Jabsco water pumps. Yours seems to be rather quieter than a Jabsco and it may be a replacement. There could be tell tale screw holes where a previous pump was fitted. I tried to focus on the strainer next to your fresh water pump. Is there a crystalline residue where the clear plastic top screws on to the base? It can be the case that, although the strainer doesn't leak water out, it can suck air in to the system if there's a hairline crack in the top or the screw thread isn't adequately sealed. This can cause intermittent cycling of the pump. Sometimes a crack is caused because the top has been screwed on too tightly. How do I know this? It happened to mine! All the best, Stuart

Hi Robin, It would be surprising if your fresh water system was designed without an accumulator tank. Mine was high up in the engine room as far from the pump as it could be and where I least expected to find it. The original technical drawing of the plumbing system doesn't show it although it looks as if it was installed when the boat was built. It would be worth following the pipework around the boat to make quite sure there isn't one that has been closed off before making any alterations. In the attached picture of the rear port side of my engine room the accumulator tank is the grey object high up at the back with two blue cold water pipes attached. Above it and to the left is the pressure guage. On the right is the pipework with the two valves that isolated the tank. They are both closed in the picture which was taken before I discovered the problem, which also explains why the pressure guage is showing zero pressure. Hope this helps. All the best, Stuart

Hi Robin, The water pump on my boat is a Jabsco Par-Max 4. Model 31620-0092. It's a 12V pump that cuts in at 20psi and cuts out at 40psi. It produces 16.3 litres per minute, consumes 6 amps and needs a 10amp circuit breaker. It sits next to a 1 litre accumulator tank and when I first bought the boat the output at the taps was not smooth. I then discovered a 7.9 litre accumulator tank high up in the opposite corner of the engine room. This was isolated from the circuit by a couple of valves, presumably to allow maintenance or replacement of the tank. When this tank was switched into the circuit and pumped up to the correct pressure the water supply was transformed. It appears that two previous owners had not enjoyed the full benefits of the system. The performance of the taps and showers is now similar to a domestic installation. The pipe runs on a 535 are long and I suspect the system needs to operate at higher pressure than most leisure craft. However, the pulsing you are experiencing would seem to suggest either that the accumulator tanks in the system have lost pressure or you need more accumulator capacity. Or there's one that, like mine, is hidden away and needs to be connected into the system. Regarding the leak from the flybridge, your professional friend is no doubt correct that taking the whole teak deck up and re-sealing it would be the Rolls Royce solution. However, there would be a substantial labour cost. You may have already counted the number of teak plugs and screws that would have to be removed and replaced. I'm also not sure if the teak is glued as well as screwed to the grp. You obviously need to stop the water penetration before further damage is caused but the big issue is how to effect any repair if it's done in the outdoors in winter weather. A weatherproof cover for the flybridge in the short term is a possibility. I support mine down the centre line with telescopic alloy poles to allow the water to run off. They have a sort of plastic mushroom at the top to support the canvas. However, it's not perfect! Windboats are not far from you and may be prepared to advise and offer to quote for work on the teak. I look forward to hearing how you get on. All the best, Stuart

Hi Robin, My 535 is the Signature version so slightly different from yours up top. From your video it would seem that the starboard rear area of the flybridge floor is able to move up and down, squeezing water out. This must mean that the screws fastening the teak have become loose and water is able to penetrate the deck moulding through the screw holes. It may be that some of the caulking has become detached which would allow water to penetrate between the teak panels. If that is the case, sealing around the edges may make the problem worse. Given the weather, I would suggest covering the whole of the flybridge to make it rainproof until warmer and drier weather sets in. The chances of either stopping the leaks or making a good repair in the short term would otherwise seem to be unlikely. Without needing to take up the teak deck, the teak plugs over the screws could be removed. They may be glued in with epoxy and may require drilling out. However, they could be replaced with a slightly larger size if any damage to the surrounding teak is caused. Once the screws have been removed and the whole area dried out you could use slightly larger diameter screws and sikoflex to fix the teak and seal the holes. It would be a time-consuming job but not expensive. Water drains from the flybridge through a series of holes around the edge of the floor. The water is then conducted in pipes through the side lockers and other structures to the void at each side of the flybridge that your mate was able to crawl into. This in turn drains to the side decks through a hole under the overhang at each side of the flybridge superstructure just forward of the stern deck. I wonder if one or other of those holes is blocked? You're quite right about not wanting to disturb the ceiling panels in the saloon. They are very strongly glued and there would be a lot of damage if you tried. However, you might get a better idea of what is happening by removing some of the ceiling lights which are spring loaded into position. It's an aquired skill to get them out but gets easier! You can then get a light through into the void above and use a mirror to have a look around. I see from an earlier posting that you were wondering about the blue paint which is a feature of most Traders. The paint is a two component Awlcraft Acrylic Urethane made by Awlgrip and the colour is Aristo Blue. It is designed to be applied by spray but I've had success with a roller. It takes three weeks to fully cure but can then be polished just like grp. Apologies if you know all of this already, and best of luck! Stuart

Hi Rob, They may have changed the system between 2002 and 2004 but the fuel tank sight tubes on my vessel do have self-closing valves as shown in the attached picture. The large button at the base of the tube is pressed to update the level and is spring loaded so it closes automatically. Do yours look anything like that? All the best, Stuart

Hi Rob, I've posted two replies to your query about water pressure in the galley, here and on YBW, but not sure either of them reached you. In any case, please ignore them because I've now downloaded the schematics of your boat and see that the plumbing system is very different from the standard Trader layout. On the standard layout, which my boat has, the galley outlets are much closer to the freshwater pump whereas yours are at the end of the circuit. Diagram of mine hopefully attached. My Jabsco ParMax 4 pump cuts in at 20psi and cuts out at 40psi and there are no pressure problems, even at the end of the circuit which, in our case, is the stern cabin washroom. Provided the pump is a high pressure type and all the valves are open the only other issue could be a blockage. Does the loss of pressure apply to both hot and cold taps? All the best, and well done so far! Stuart Trader 535 - Plumbing System.pdf