David, Annie, and Garth, this is good feedback. 

Annie: I like the barrel pump idea. Simple and effective. How do you keep the cylindrical shaft from turning as you screw/unscrew the handle?

Garth: I'm assuming that the three way valve closed off the bilge side of the intake when it opened the sink side?  Was it a manual pump or electric, and if electric, did you have a float switch bypass along with turning the Y valve?  Did the bilge output run through the transom above the waterline?

And rest assured - if it can get below the emergency waterline, I'm putting a seacock on it.

My choice would be a barrel pump, with the body under the counter and a small hole drilled through the counter for the handle's leg to pass through (the handle will unscrew).  They are super expensive new, so I'm on the lookout for a second hand one.  (Subtle hint for people to look through their sheds!)  The plumbing is simple - a short pipe to the intake, a slightly longer one to the side of the boat.  A skin fitting and, if you want, a sea cock just in case.  The non-return valve in the pump is usually adequate to stop water coming back up - at least from my experience.  This is a neater arrangement, to my way of thinking, than a diaphragm pump and requires less room both to fit and to use.  Pumping uphill never appeared to be a problem.

The ultimate simplicity of a bowl/bucket that empties over the side, as well as being a good way of losing cutlery, also loses its appeal when it's pouring with rain and cold outside. 

Because the contents of the sink come out under pressure, most of it doesn't go down the side of the boat.  Being a vegetarian, I don't have animal fats to worry about.  If you were concerned, you could always insert a small pipe into the skin fitting on the outside.  Better just to go sailing more often and get the topsides well washed.  You don't need to put the pump outlet up at toerail height.

David Thatcher:  I'd like to avoid the grey water, too. Maybe Annie's approach to going above the WL through the side? 

Annie: Do I understand that you drain the sink directly by pumping it out? Do you use a simple skin fitting, or some trick to keep the sink contents from leaving a nasty trickly stain down the topsides?  I'm also guessing that when healing, you don't get the toerail in the water much.

This weekend saw another bulkhead go in - the forward galley.  1/2" meranti marine ply - it was only 5% more expensive than the Douglas fir, and so much more lovely to look at.  After much squinting, I decided to extend this into the bilge so it runs vertically along the complete inboard end.  The rest of the galley will be framed as David mentions in his post below - sole first, then the lockers above.

The forward side of this locker will also serve as the aft side of one of the two integral water tanks under each settee.  The forward head bulkhead will do the same thing on the port side.  With these two bulkheads in place, I can start laying out those tanks and mocking up the whole saloon layout. I'm having trouble visualizing what the whole thing will look like more than 4 steps in advance, so I have to design my way forward in some cases, crossing my fingers that I'll need to tear anything out due to a planning mistake.

Here's an unexpected bonus- that little corner cut off on the galley bulkhead - that's to accommodate the end-cap-hand-hold I mentioned in an earlier post.  And it was also exactly how much bulkhead I needed to cut off in order to get the thing through the companionway in one piece.

Scott Dufour wrote:

Sink and drain:

Huh.  I thought for certain that both Annie and David would favor the, "no hole below the waterline is better" approach.  But I get that a standpipe is certainly KISS.

Compared to the original boat, I lowered the counter top 3 inches to accommodate my diminutive cook, and deepened the sink from 4 inches to 9 inches.  That puts the bottom of the sink about even with the top of the boot stripe.  The drains are about 2 feet from the centerline.  Is this enough for me to feel confident that I'm above water? Is that enough drop to ensure that gunk doesn't just hangout in the standpipe, freshwater being less dense and all?

And no seacock?  I can imagine an emergency scenario where the boat has taken on enough water to lower it below the waterline, perhaps enough to get the top of the sink also below the waterline. That would be, oh - maybe two feet?  Am I needless concerned?

Having either owned or operated a lot of boats, (charter yacht fleets), my experiences with grey water sumps is that they are smelly and troublesome. I see nothing wrong with a good modern plastic thru-hull and sea cock. If well installed and made from quality materials they are unlikely to fail, unlike traditional bronze seacocks and through hulls which are prone to all sorts of problems. I once had a bronze thru-hull fall apart as I was trying to pull the engine cooling water inlet hose off the top of the seacock.

When I first purchased Footprints the sinks drained into 20 litre jerry cans whch had to be emptied when full. I hated the system but put up with it for a couple of years in the interest of KISS and no tru-hulls below the waterline. However at my first proper haulout I fitted a thru-hull and seacock for both the sink drain and the galley saltwater inlet. I also fitted a thru hull drain for the vanity basin but that exits the hull above the waterline. In New Zealand we have available some very good plastic plastic valves which I think were probably designed for agricultural applications. These are 'Hansen' brand ball valves. Of course you also need good quality hose and hose clips.

Annie Hill wrote:

Is the bottom of the sink below the waterline?  If not, an alternative is a simple standpipe down through the bottom of the boat.  Done properly, this is structurally sound, simple and fool proof.  David Tyler has fitted them in both wooden and fibreglass boats.

They are made by selecting a suitable size of copper tube and wrapping it in glass cloth and resin, increasing the thickness substantially near the hull; then filleting and glassing in.