This was written more for the Krogen owners out there, so please excuse some of the detail associated with the specific installation. Thanks to everyone who provided ideas and advice earlier. ________________________________ Over and under washer/dryer replacement Krogen 42, 1986, hull #99 Well, the 20 year old Frigidaire washer/dryer was about to go out. The transmission sounded like it was going to fall apart at any moment, and the dryer timer didn't work. Time to replace it. I did a lot of searching. They still make over and under washer/dryers, but they are all about 7" too tall for the space, and it can't be expanded upward, since the step to the pilothouse defines the top of the space. There were stackables, but all had front opening doors, so the bottom one would be unusable unless I felt like removing the ladder every time. The current washer dryer is located just to your left as you descend the ladder into the lower companionway, just aft of the amidships head. I was left to search the combo washer dryers, which both wash and dry in the same drum. I had a non-vented Splendide on my last boat, and was never happy with the drying results. Even after a couple of hours dry time, I still had to lay whatever out to finish drying on a berth or couch. I decided I wanted a vented unit that would run off 110V. This left only two units. the Majestic and the Splendide. They were neck and neck. same size, same one year warranty, similar features, etc. Majestic's can be serviced by Sears; don't know about the Splendide's. The Splendide model WD2100 has a 1.9 cubic foot drum. this is a bit larger than their "small" model (WD2000S), which has a 1.6 CF drum. The Majestic did not have a spec for CF, instead advertising it could wash 11 pounds of clothes. This was almost a coin toss, but I picked the Splendide since I had experience with them before. I purchased it from PPL, an RV supplier in Houston, TX. They did not have it in stock, so had to ship from a warehouse. about $140 to ship. Delivery time was 2-3 days from date of order. Getting the old one out. This is not as tough as you might think, as long as you're willing to destroy it in the process. Take the ladder out of the companionway, disconnect everything in the back; electricity, supply water hoses, and drain hose. Remove the back panels and find a skinny kid to climb through the hatch in the amidships head. There are four bolts and a few screws holding the top part to the bottom. Remove all this and cut the wiring from the bottom part and the top will come off and can be easily lifted out. Then the bottom is heavy but also relatively easy to lift out of the boat. If you don't do this, you will have to remove the hand hold on the Port side and reinstall; not an easy task. Once you get it out, you might think about salvaging any good parts to provide to your other Krogen buddies who need spares but can't find them any longer. I scrapped mine out in about 20 minutes max. Installing the new one. Now is the time to clean up, run wiring if you have something to do, and change out those silly gate valves if you have them to ball valves. There is no back to this opening, so you probably want to install at least a partial back depending on what you're installing. If you were putting in stackables, you won't need to do this, but you'll have a problem opening the front opening models with the ladder in place. I decided to put the new combo unit up as high as possible, and have a couple of shelves put in below. Actually only one shelf over the deck. The platform for the WD has to hold almost 300 pounds, so it has to be strong. We decided to put four supports down to the deck to hold the platform up for strength. The platform was plywood, covered with almond high pressure laminate to match the original paint. One shelf was added below this platform, with a teak fiddle in the front to keep things there. A teak board was also added across the opening at the deck, to keep things from sliding out of there. The hoses and vent come out of the back of the machine on its left side if you're facing it from the front. This puts them right about where all the wiring is coming from the engine room and going up to the pilothouse. It's a close fit, but as long as you mount the washer as far forward in the space as you can, it shouldn't be a problem. You may have to remove the raceway holding the factory wiring so that the bundle can be pushed further away from the washer/dryer. The Splendide has some mounting brackets that hold the two leveling legs in the front in place. I highly recommend these. Get two sets so you can lock down the front AND back legs. Be sure to put in some new, high quality water supply hoses and put lubrication on the gaskets and threads, for easier removal later. The Splendide comes with a couple of hoses that have right angle fittings at the washer/dryer end. This is helpful for getting everything to fit in place. Also check the condition of your old drain hose and replace if necessary. The Splendide has a drain hose coming out of the back, with a 1" OD plastic piece on the end. For my Krogen, this fit exactly into the 1" ID drain hose already in place. The heavy hose going to the thru-hull is heavy, and needed to be supported so as not to pull on the washer/dryer drain hose. I roughed up the plastic part so it would hold better inside the rubber drain hose, and hose clamped. For the dryer vent, I installed new semi-flexible metallic hose. Keep in mind you will have to remove this occasionally to clean out the lint. This hose (from Home Depot) needed to be taped with aluminum foil tape at each end to seal it up. otherwise it would have leaked air. It comes shipped with four mounting bolts in place holding the drum. Don't forget to remove these (they're long, about 4") and save them with the rubber grommets and spacers in case you move the unit again later. Since the Splendide is a front loader, I couldn't just place it on the deck, since the door would not open with the ladder in place. I placed the WD as high as it would fit in the space. This caused one minor problem: The little drawer that opens at the top of the WD to put the detergent, etc. in didn't have a lot of clearance between it and the hand-hold on the port side. If I had to do it over again, I would probably place the WD centered vertically in the space, so this drawer would have clearance, and storage would be above and below the unit. This would require putting a back in the space at the top and bottom. Operation Now that it's installed and running, it's great. Only uses 1-2 tablespoons of detergent and anywhere from 8-18 gallons of water per cycle, depending on which cycle you choose. They recommend you use liquid softener with each load, but that's not really necessary. The dispenser will hold pre-wash or bleach in one slot, then the other two are for detergent and softener. They recommend using detergents for high efficiency washers since they are low suds and work better. You can use regular detergents if you like, just don't overdo it. The machine adds just as much water as it needs. When it starts up, it adds some water and tumbles a bit, then adds a bit more water and tumbles some more until it gets it just right depending on the amount of clothes you have in there. It uses so little water, it looks like a pile of wet clothes tumbling around in there, but it works surprisingly well. It will wash twice as much as it will dry though, so you have to be careful there. If you're washing rags or something like that which will dry outside, no problem. If you want it to go directly to the dry cycle, don't overload. Pix available if anyone is interested: keith@anastasia3.com Links: Splendide: http://www.splendide.com Majestic: http://www.majesticappliances.com PPL: http://www.pplmotorhomes.com/parts/rv-pumps-water/splendide-washer-dryer.htm (this link will also take you to the Majestic) Others that did not meet my criteria: Asko: http://www.askousa.com/laundry/index.html Sears: http://www.sears.com LG and Edgestar: http://www.compactappliance.com/ Whirlpool: http://www.whirlpool.com/catalog/category.jsp?cat=123 Keith _____ Gardening Rule: When weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If it comes out of the ground easily, it is a valuable plant.