Holding tank Quantity

[Dustoff44]

Looking to add a quantity indicator to my 58YF holding tank. It only has the one aproximately 90 gallons under the crew stateroom floor. Does anyone make a 32 v system or a battery operated one ? What works and lasts a long time. I do not want a unrealiable unit that requires frequent maintenance or changing. Any suggestions

 

[Nonchalant1]

I added the Snake River Electronics "Accu-8" Accugauge system to my 2 holding tanks in a 1978 53MY. I think the 58YF had the same tanks (100 gal forward and 60 gal starboard). You simply unscrew the "3/4 full" senders, leaving the original 1" NPT pipe thread hole and measure the depth with a stick. Call Snake river with the measurements and they make up a sealed tube sending unit which you screw right back into the same hole. No moving parts, no contact with the tank contents, measures in tenths from empty to full. All disital, so it should last indefinitely.
It's a 12 volt unit so you have to run 12 volt power to the display panel (I out mine in the sb engine room on the galley stairs side panel so it's right at the door). You also run wires from the display panel to the tank senders, which is easy because you go under the sb battery bank along that trough.
The Accugauge system can be set up to measure your diesel tanks and all 3 water tanks too if you want, up to 8 tanks total.

Doug Shuman

 

[Dustoff44]

Where exactly is the starboard tank. Mine is well hidden without any plumbing going to it ?

 

[Nonchalant1]

The starboard tank is in the genny bilge outboard and above your starboard battery bank. The hoses and fittings are accessed through a cutout under the rear galley bench seat. The hoses enter the tank basically under the staircase from the salon to the galley. The cutout is on the back wall of the outboard compartment under the seat. It's hard to reach under there, but possible. I got the specific size of large socket that fits the "3/4 full" sender head, clipped the copper tube off and unscrewed it with the socket wrench. It took a big breaker bar on the big socket wrench and a day of letting PB Blaster soak in, but it worked great.
The inlet hose to the starboard holding tank comes only from the mid-stateroom head, with the head pump in your starboard engine room. The forward head and the aft stateroom head empty into the forward holding tank.
BTW - Depending on the age of your boat, you may want to replace the bronze pumpout tubes inside the holding tank too. They're bronze tubes and eventually they rot out near the top, so when you pump out, you only pump out about 10 gal of the 100 gal tank. Then your tank is full and your heads backing up and you wonder why. To replace, you unscrew the old bronze one and make an identical one from PVC bought at Home Depot. Hatteras is now using PVC for this on new million dollar boats. It's relatively easy to do the forward tank, but a major PITA to do the starboard tank. I did it, but it took many hours.

Doug Shuman