When it comes to my leaky water tanks, "Out with the old and in with the new."
I recently discovered that one of my aluminum water tanks has a leak. How did I discover such a thing? Easy, I filled both tanks to the brim and within 24 hours, one tank was empty... hence, leak!
So, instead of taking out the thirty-two year old leaky tank, locating the leak, having it welded, replacing the tank, and hoping it doesn't spring any other leaks, I ordered two new polyethylene tanks from Bud Talpin at Westsail Parts Company.
Surprisingly, removing the old tanks was a breeze. After siphoning out the water from the good tank, removing a few retaining straps and fittings, Jesse and Don (thanks guys), and I simply lifted them from their long-time home, loaded them into Jesse's truck and we were finished. It was amazing how much dirt and crud was under the tanks!
I cleaned up all the crud, pressure washed the bilge, and tomorrow, I will paint the bilge and prepare it for the new tanks.
I will install a pressure pump, accumulator tank, filter system, PEX Plumbing lines and fittings, and two single spigots (one in the head and one in the galley), and Annie will have pressure water. Hooray!
Fair seas and God bless!
Nice big tanks under there. How many gallons?
ReplyDeletesounds like how I found out my fuel tank was leaking. Filled it up all the way then saw fuel seeping through right away so I had the tank pumped. Now planning on the new tank. Moving in a couple months from TN to VA so that project will be done there.
Last weekend, I visited the boat and found a bilge full of water. The most recent snow was followed by a lot of rain and the snow covered the cockpit drains so the rain got into the boat through the engine control panel. manual bilge pump still works fine.
Never a dull moment with these old boats.
Now that it's warming up for everyone, I'm sure the projects/sailing will be in full swing.
Take care.
Hey Dan,
Delete40 gal. per tank. Now that you mentioned fuel tanks, I'm wondering why the port tank was full and the starboard tank almost empty? Hope there are no surprises when I fill the starboard tank.
Getting back into swing on the refit... two bouts with the Flu has slowed me down.
Congrats on your move to VA.
Thanks for following.
David
For me, the biggest pain of replacing the fuel tank would be getting to it in the first place. I'll have to remove the engine to get to it as it's under it in the keel. Hopefully you don't have any issues there.
DeleteI hope not. I'm not sure if I could get my tanks out without removing the engine either. Just praying no leaks... there is a little amount of diesel in the starboard tank, (5 or 6 gal), so I know there's no leak at the bottom 5 or 6 inches of the tank. We'll find out when I fill both tanks in May. I plan on having 5 diesel jugs (5 Gal each) on hand so if I locate a leak in the seams of the tank high up, I can siphon out the diesel and deal with the problem then.
ReplyDelete