Burger 80 - Work in Progress

I used an articulated ladder and 2x4s to make ramps to slide my chillers in place. Quite a job

I thought the 400lbs was high… As I said easy to rig some 2x4s, saw horses etc

Great progress.

for fresh water, a good solution is to have an AC pump and a DC back up. Flip the valves and breaker and you re in business

I had never heard of VF heads using compressed air to create a vacuum… can’t understand how that would work. Maybe time to upgrade the heads? I swapped from VF to Raritan élégance, big improvement! The best are the headhunters which use water pressure to flush. But they re expensive, require minimum 60PSI and gravity drain to the tank.

Sounds like if your heads are using compressed air it is quite possibly a Microphor system not vac u flush. Microphor toilets are very sensitive to any moisture(amogst other things) in the air supply circuit so be sure the filter dryer is maintained / operational.

Agree with Pascal on the AC and DC pumps. Good redundancies.

As far as running the air compressor on the hook what is the HP rating of the motor ?

Air compressor or vacuum generating pump?

I remember working on an old alloy Roamer. She had a DCv air compressor that worked better than its ACv replacement.
Actually, re-installed it. DCv for the air horns to stay nostalgic and the ACv compressor for the air tools.

I have shopped for later DCv air horn compressors but never found anything close to this ole puppy.
I wonder if the ole Burgers had such a compressor.
At least something to look for if you are looking for a DCv air compressor.

DCv vacuum generator needed, I recommend keeping with the original VF poo pump.

BTW, how bad was your old AC equipment? All trashed yet?
I'm shopping for R22 evap stations.

I transitioned from the original VF system to Raritan Elegance as well. Great decision. The old log books aboard were full of maintenance notes regarding issues with the VF.

Note on the black system. I went to the location of the gravity inlet to the black tank and installed a small poly tank, creating a lift station. It's likely a 5 to 7 gallon tank with Dometic floats and switch added. Keeps the black out of the metal hull where sediment is tomorrow's battery conduit. Starboard side I added a sanitation processing system to act as the holding tank as to avoid the interaction between waste and hull metal. I did a similar install within the confines of the grey tank, too. That was an easy retro-fit. In every bilge compartment is a pickup for a very nice dry bilge system to keep bilges bone dry when she's idle. A metal boat needs you to be on and maintain a first name basis with every bilge section of the vessel.

Good time to address while she's a bit barren and open.

Yes, on his layout (more or less) we used 2x4's and set the units on a piece of formica-laminated ply from Depot that we cut to size. Mica-down, and controlled by a long strap, it was an easy process.

The generators, they went and came through a hole in the forward bilge hull. We used aluminum scrap to tac-weld a raceway for those. Felt very Egyptian through that setup and procedure. Gave me a good excuse to update the forward bilge plating where some pitting existed from years of neglect. Hargrave didn't provide us with hatches. The forward cabin deck hatch was the original conceptual access point. That just seemed like it would have been a gymnastic event with the generators, unnecessary for the chillers.

In many ways a metal boat allows far more creativity in this regard as compared to glass.

Given all the refit and upgrades you are doing I strongly recommend you ditch the VF heads and go with the Raritan or similar as Pascal mentioned. I yanked out all my VF stuff and installed two Raratin Elegance units. One of the best upgrades I have done. I significantly reduced the hoses, wires and components and the heads work great. I also went with the option of having the fresh water/seawater switch. When out on multi day trips I switch over to seawater and it’s amazing how much fresh water is saved. I rarely have to run my Watermaker anymore. When back at the slip I just push a button and back on fresh water.

You can't blame the head itself for poor winterization. If you have people clogging a macerating toilet I can't imagine what they would do to a vacuflush system or anything similar.