[phboujon]

Hi All,

During my process of understanding what is the best boat to buy for sailing ~2 years in the Pacific ocean, I have been looking with interest at the PSC37.

Bearing in mind I am still learning what define a bluewater sailboat through reading dozen of books (Currently, The Voyager's Handbook, Beth Leonard), one concern I have is about tankage.

Comparing the PSC37 with other boats of same reputation (Valiant 40, Tayana 37, Cabo Rico 36/38, Shannon 38) I am concerned about the small tankage of PSC37 (~50 G of water, ~40 G of fuel).

Can additional fuel or water tanks be added? Are those volume actually enough and I shouldn't be worried? How do current owner of PSC37 that have gone sailing long-term deal with these small tanks?

Thanks for your input,
Philippe

 

[SecondWindNC]

Water tankage should be more like 80-85 gallons for the PSC 37. Some examples may have been set up differently or altered after leaving the factory, though.

 

[JohnRPollard]

... I am concerned about the small tankage of PSC37 (~50 G of water, ~40 G of fuel).

Philippe,

I don't have the water tankage figures for the PSC 37 in front of me, but I'm confident the figure you quote above is incorrect or incomplete. I would expect that the PSC 37 tankage approaches 100+ gallons. What you may have there is a figure for only one of two tanks.

By way of comparison, our PSC 31 carries 70 gallons water (65 + 5 gallons in hot water heater), and the tankage for the PSC 34 is in the neighborhood of 75-80, while the PSC 40 carries around 140-150 gallons.

The 40 gallons of diesel fuel is also not too shabby, but I seem to recall an optional second tank may have been offered as an option (?)

 

[billbalme]

Phillipe,

I have a 37 - with the standard 80 gals water and 40 gals of fuel.

It's a little low, so when we leave for a circumnavigation we will be installing a watermaker probably - though the boat is well set up to catch rain off the decks to refill tanks (I've not had need to try this yet).

Fuel is limited. We decided to supplement with 10 gals in jugs when traveling to Bermuda. Crossing the Pacific I think I'd carry more like 30 gals extra.

In my opinion, tankage is an issue with the 37 - but there are solutions.

Happy boat hunting!


Bill
s/v Toodle-oo!
PSC37 #148

 

[BirdBrain333]

The Owners Manual for a late 1980's vintage PSC 37 lists the following tank sizes
Water Fuel Holding
PSC Brochure 85 37 16

Jay, # 171, Kenlanu

 

[phboujon]

Thanks all for the replies, and the exact tankage figures. Yachtworld figures are quite imprecise! Bill, thanks for providing the figures you carry/plan to carry.

Philippe

 

[fishtrip]

tankage

Hi, I'll throw my .02 cents in on this one. We are a cruising couple, On our PSC 37 we tank approx. 80gal. fuel and 80gal water. we also carry an additional 24gal water and 12 gal fuel in jugs. As far as fuel tankage is concerned the 80gals (plus 12) seems enough in most cases, but I sometimes wish I carried more in situations where taking on more fuel at the fuel docks is a "hostle environment" to the boat. I guess if I was sailing in an area where fuel docks were plentiful and more boat friendly, more fuel wouldn't be an issue. If the winds were always favorable, but reality is they are not, we burn a lot less too. We sometimes motor long distances. I seem to use the fuel in my jugs often mostly because it postpones having to fuel up that much longer.
Water is altogether another issue, can you ever have enough? We wash dishes and clothes in Salt water (rinse in fresh) when we are someplace where the water is clean, but again that is not always the case. How about bathing? We tend to shower in salt water on deck when possible and use a "sun shower" with fresh water to rinse off. We try to be as frugal as possible, but it all adds up. Water seems to be more of a hassle to get than fuel as sometimes the sources are questionable, and sometimes harder to obtain. We use a filter when we fill the tanks which helps, and treat the water with small amounts of bleach in the tanks. I am seriously contemplating a water maker, with my main reservation being that it is one more system to deal with.
Lastly, and most important..... I wouldn't trade our PSC 37 for more fuel and water capacity, lack of storage space or almost anything else for that matter. The PSC's are great boats and worth the small compromises.

David
Cloud Messenger
PSC 37 #293

 

[johnbanfield]

Hi,
We crossed the Pacific in an Allied Seawind 32, which had 80 gallons in two tanks. We carried 4* 5 gallon Jerry cans on deck for emergencies.
This was plenty, though our showers at sea only involve 1 gallon of fresh water. We didn't bother catching water on the trip across to the Marquesas, but there were plenty of squalls if we'd had to.
Our recently purchased PCS37 came with a water maker but we never depend on anything mechanical if I can help it, so we will be re-installing our front water tank.

Fuel? Don't really use it on passage. We only filled up 4 times in 2 years: Antigua, Venezuela, Panama (for the canal) and Fiji. We were only totally becalmed for 2 days total. Jogging along at 2-3 knots in the light stuff gave us time to clean, cook, relax, fix stuff etc. It is important to fix slatting sails- we will have twin nylon jibs or a nylon main next time around. We think our slatting Genoa caused our broken forestay 1/2 way across.

We used more petrol in the dinghy going surfing and diving.

BTW, all those boats you mentioned are great.

Cheers,
John
'Liberty' 1981 PSC37

 

[johnbanfield]

Sorry, forgot to mention - we were only two on board. We planned that you should have 1/2 - 3/4 gallon per person per day to drink for your worst-case scenario time at sea. For us we said this was 50 days, giving 75 gallons.

Cheers,
John

 

[SVArgo]

Tankage Modifications

I'd generally agree that I wouldn't change much on the 37, it's all trade offs, and while the water and fuel can get a little low, it has not been awful for us.

We spent 4 months in the Bahamas this winter and before leaving were discussing water capacity with an old cruiser in Key West. My friend thought that the PSC's ~80 gals was not near enough. The old timer chimed in, that in the Bahamas, the 500 gals he carried, or however much you could carry was never enough, it's just too dry there. And he was right.

So, water wise, our plan is to install a water maker for extended cruising in remote, arid environments. But, for one-off ocean passages, you can buy flexible bladders that fit in the storage compartments and just plumb into the existing system with hose, and remove when you get where you're going.

These are also sold for fuel in the commercial environment, but I haven't looked around to see if they exist in small boat capacities.

 

[teejayevans]

Sorry, forgot to mention - we were only two on board. We planned that you should have 1/2 - 3/4 gallon per person per day to drink for your worst-case scenario time at sea. For us we said this was 50 days, giving 75 gallons.

Cheers,
John

I average about 1 gal/day in moderate temps and clean raw water available,
that includes showers. I have a raw water spigot in the galley, so I can use
raw water to soak dishes and visually clean them, then use fresh to actually
wash/rinse the mostly clean dishes, using very little water.
Also can dive in to bath and just rinse with fresh water.

So unless you don't plan on showering and are going to eat nothing
but pop-tarts, I would plan on a higher water usage rate.
Tom