Warning - Forward water tank breather - SO39i and others?

[MalcolmP]

Just had to do some repairs to the hand controller for my Quick Antares windlass as one of the micro-switches jammed on - it was the up one as well so rather panicky run back to the breaker to stop it... but that is another story

but it meant I had to take the headlining in the forward cabin down to get to the underside of the windlass - that is straight forward - but then allowed me to see the 20mm breather pipe that comes up from the tank and goes through the bulkhead to allow air and over-filled water to exit into the anchor well - this plastic skin fitting - 7 years old was totally cracked up and brittle ANY leak would have been over the windlass relays etc - only cost a few euros and 10 minutes to replace - glad I found it, well worth checking

[hoppy]

No idea where my breather tube is

Been there, done that with the windlass jamming on up. Ended up replacing the controller box as the solenoid kept jamming. Not fun fixing a problem like that when you are at anchor, I was worried I'd totally screw up and have no windlass to help me leave ?

[kev]

Found the same issue on my 2007 36i a couple of years ago. The flange on the fitting had seperated from the threaded part which was then only held in place by mastic. In my case I discovered the flange lying in the anchor locker and then spent a long time working out where it had appeared from. I reckon the cause of the failure on mine was overtightening on installation which caused a circumferential crack around the fitting. Unfortunately these plastic fittings are not very robust...or rather, they're fine for the job they have to do, but not if a gorilla installs them!

Kev