Whale System 15

bcooke · Post by **bcooke** » Fri Sep 15, 2006 11:21 pm

Anyone familiar with the Whale System 15?

The hose is cheap ($0.50 a foot), safe, and colored (no algae growth). The fittings designed to go with it are some sort of push on type with o-rings which sounds pretty dubious to me.

Other than the fittings the only other drawback I see is that everything is designed around a 15mm hose; bigger than 1/2" and smaller than 5/8". Otherwise I would be tempted to use the hose with standard barb and clamp connections.

-Britton

Post by **Tim** » Sat Sep 16, 2006 6:21 am

It's not hose; it's semi-rigid tubing. This is the same general product as the household-based PEX tubing--cross-linked polyethylene.

You can't use traditional hose clamps with it because it is non-compressible in that manner, and must use the proprietary fittings from one of several manufacturers.

We talked about this in the other thread on hose, and one member indicated he had the Whale tubing on his boat and was happy with it.

bcooke · Post by **bcooke** » Sat Sep 16, 2006 10:45 am

We talked about this ...

Oh yeah, short term memory issues I guess.

BTW, I made a list last night. This plumbing thing is going to cost a lot more than $100 worth of hose. My fresh water intake hose is going to cost me that much. I think total plumbing outside the tanks and toilet are going to run ~$1500. That makes for an estimated $3500 plumbing system. Where does all the money go...

Just whining a bit to a sympathetic audience :-)

-Britton

Rachel · Post by **Rachel** » Sat Sep 16, 2006 1:10 pm

Tim wrote:It's not hose; it's semi-rigid tubing....... must use the proprietary fittings from one of several manufacturers.

Is this the same type of tubing/fittings as the grey "Qest" fittings? A number of boaters use those here (along with grey, semi-rigid tubing), and I'm curious if it's the same system. Sounds similar.

R.

Post by **Tim** » Sat Sep 16, 2006 4:20 pm

The tubing is the same. I don't know about the fittings, but the "Qest" Pex fittings are a compression style as well and might be suitable. These are the ones available at Home Despot and others. They might be worth a look and a comparison to the Whale fittings.

The Pex tubing is normally availble in blue, red, and clear/semi opaque.

Rachel · Post by **Rachel** » Sat Sep 16, 2006 4:49 pm

Tim wrote: the "Qest" Pex fittings are a compression style as well and might be suitable. These are the ones available at Home Despot and others.

I wondered how they rated on the nautical-acceptability scale. I've noticed that a number of hardware items that would not be considered proper in salt water find their way onto boats here (Great Lakes), where you can get away with it. (Something to consider when buying that "pristine" fresh-water boat.) Wasn't sure if "Qest" fit into that group - since you can buy them at the local hardware store - or if they were an example of something that's nonetheless just as good as the solely-nautical version.

Of course I could never use them anyway because of the way they spell "Qest." ;-)

--- R.

Post by **Tim** » Sat Sep 16, 2006 5:03 pm

Rachel wrote:Of course I could never use them anyway because of the way they spell "Qest." ;-)

Yes, that bugs me too. I used a few "Qest" fittings (but not the compression type) in my house plumbing; mostly, I used Zurn Pex and fittings, though. It took me a while to notice the lack of a "U" in the "Qest" name, and from then on I couldn't help but notice, much to my chagrin.

Rachel wrote:I wondered how they rated on the nautical-acceptability scale.

I don't know, and my comments don't constitute an endorsement--merely the fact that these other versions exist and may possibly be similar or identical in function and suitability. I have never used, nor compared, either type of compression fitting for Pex tubing.

Ceasar Choppy · Post by **Ceasar Choppy** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 10:15 am

This stuff is similar to the stuff you can get at Home Despot. The trick is, you don't have the nice red and blue colors.

The Whale fittings are known as "John Guest" fittings. If you do a search you'll find it. The problem is that most of the stuff in the US is small <3/8" and the Whale stuff is 12-15 mm or almost 1/2"

This stuff is cheap! I did my whole 39 foot boat for under a few hundred. The Whale fittings are expensive, but they gotta be cheaper anywhere other than Waste Marine.

As an example, this guy sells these great manifolds on e-Bay that work with PEX. I got them integrated into my water system on the boat.
http://stores.ebay.com/Golden-Touch-USA