Water heater replacement

Looking for help. I have a 1998 290 sundancer. Looking to replace the hot water heater. It has a atwood ehm6 tank in it now. Its a 120volt 6 gallon. Been loooking for one for a bit and they all seem to be discontinued. Has any one replaced this and with what.
 
Thanks. Been looking for awhile. Saw then just was not sure if they were good or not. Tight fit and only want to do once
 
Next question. My old unit does not have the heat exchange hook up to the motor. Should i just replace with same style or hook up to motor. Any thoughts on pro or cons
 
Absolutely it is so nice to have hot water after about 15 20 min run time . Even if you only use it for washing grubby kids with worm fingers . I did not have a water heater at all on my previous boats and i am astounded at how much i appreciate it
 
Thanks. Shocked that they did not put that on this boat. 1998 290 sundancer. Easy enough to add. Just a couple nipples and some hose. Hope it works for washing grubby wife too
 
My 6 gal Atwood was shot too...stank like a thousand rotten eggs..people would run off the boat in droves if I ran the hot water. All rusted on the outside, etc (there's a thread in this forum from last fall w/pics).
I put off purchasing the heater until Defenders big spring sale last week.
https://search.defender.com/?expression=kuuma 6 gallon&s=1

Sale price was ~250. I wanted to get a nice stainless Isotemp model but...figured we'll see what the Kuuma does for 1/3 the price of an IsoTemp.

I'll probably be trying to distort myself and hang upside down and swap out the heaters in a couple of weekends. Not sure how I'll get it done, they seemed to have built the boat around the water heater.

My tank is mounted transversely. Hookups facing port side. And mount tabs on front and back of tank so on port 'n starboard side for access to the screws.
 
I just bought mine last night with free shipping. Side mount tabs and front hook up with frnt heat exchange. Should be a easy swap from the atwood
 

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YeOldeStonecat said:
My 6 gal Atwood was shot too...stank like a thousand rotten eggs..people would run off the boat in droves if I ran the hot water. All rusted on the outside, etc (there's a thread in this forum from last fall w/pics).
I put off purchasing the heater until Defenders big spring sale last week.
https://search.defender.com/?expression=kuuma 6 gallon&s=1

Sale price was ~250. I wanted to get a nice stainless Isotemp model but...figured we'll see what the Kuuma does for 1/3 the price of an IsoTemp.

I'll probably be trying to distort myself and hang upside down and swap out the heaters in a couple of weekends. Not sure how I'll get it done, they seemed to have built the boat around the water heater.

My tank is mounted transversely. Hookups facing port side. And mount tabs on front and back of tank so on port 'n starboard side for access to the screws.
Click to expand...

I did the same thing last season, but didn't put it in yet. I plan on doing in this month. My old one is still in the boat what the PO didn't have it hooked up to the water lines. So my big project will be tracing out the lines. The good part, is it's hooked up to the engine already, so that should be easy.
 
I just replaced with an Isotherm. It was easy to get in place due to the cylindrical design.
 

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Question about the pex fittings...and it sounds dumb at first.

I used 1/2 shark bite on the new isotherm. The old 1/2 pex tube leaked against the new fitting. I bought a new 1/2 pex tube. It fits in the new fitting but is so tight in the old fittings that I don’t think it is hitting the oring.

Was old (17yr) pex different size than the stuff Sharkbite uses?

I can only replumb so much.
 
LUnaCY said:
Question about the pex fittings...and it sounds dumb at first.

I used 1/2 shark bite on the new isotherm. The old 1/2 pex tube leaked against the new fitting. I bought a new 1/2 pex tube. It fits in the new fitting but is so tight in the old fittings that I don’t think it is hitting the oring.

Was old (17yr) pex different size than the stuff Sharkbite uses?

I can only replumb so much.
Click to expand...
The original stuff Sea Ray used was metric... 15mm
 
I wouldn't use shark bites, I used them last year when I replumbed my hot water tank with a by-pass and noticed this year while getting the boat ready that I had 3 of the fittings leaking. Spent yesterday afternoon replacing them all with pex fittings and valves. Just seems shark bites don't hold up to vibration in a boat. Never had a crimped pex fitting leak yet.
 
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