Prout quasar 50 water tanks

[Happy Cat]

I have a 1988 Prout quasar 50 but the water tanks seem beyond cleaning and are difficult to get in to.
I am considering using the space below the fore deck as a water tank. There must be close to space for 100 gallon in there...however I am concerned about the weight and structure of the boat...is it wise...has anyone done this?

Would it lead to catastrophe?

New to forum lots of work to do on me new cat..

Photos would be useful, wonder if I can add a photo...

[Leadfree]

If you are talking about in the bows… Bad idea. Water is 8lb/gal, plus weight of tank and lines. Structure not made for that, and boat sailing ability will be seriously affected.

You may believe the boat’s designer thought carefully about weight placement.

I am not familiar with the particulars of the Quasar, but I would expect that you can cut inspection ports into the tanks. Suggest making them oval so you can install flange as one piece.

[Snowgoose35]

You do not want to change the location of the tanks. The keel tanks are a pain to clean up but they are there to keep the weight central and low . You have on most of these , fuel tanks up front and the anchor locker etc and the platform over the tramp is over 100lbs alone so there is already a lot of weight up front.

On mine someone had put 450l fuel tanks right up front for extended range and I had to cut them out through the sail locker hatches piece by piece to get rid of the weight - and in fact went down to two 115L tanks which is plenty enough and saved a ton of weight which improved sailing.

The keep tanks normally need quite a lot of attention - they get osmosis (with water inside and out) and a lot of flaking of old gel coat etc . If they're really bad the only option is to lift the sole boards, cut the tops of the tanks out with a grinder (its easy as its thin fibreglass) which is messy, and open them right up. You can then sand, repair and finally paint them with potable water safe (or aquarium safe which is the same but sold cheaper) epoxy to seal them. You can then glass the tops back in . Don't forget to epoxy the undersides of the tops too and its worth adding extra inspection hatches too.

It took me about a week to do all told and I also had to repair a couple of the baffles that had cracked off the sides of the tanks . But once its done right its done forever if you use the expoxy paint to finish . The tops you cut out by the way are not structural - the sole boards sit above them on a frame and that stiffens up the keels. You want to put a lip all around the piece you cut out before you put it back so it will just sit in the hole you cut and the lip holds it on place. You can then stick it down with epoxy and glass it over again at the edges to be double sure its sealed.

It sounds like a job and it is but there really aren't any other good options unless you're prepared to have tiny water tanks under the saloon seats etc - ok if you're not going far and don't intend to live aboard but not for cruising.

Fell free to message me - I rebuilt mine over 7 months full time in 2018 after hurricane Irma and years of day charter neglect left her in rough condition. There is nothing I've not done on one of these fantastic boats. I also dropped over a ton in weight in the rebuild which makes a big difference if you like to sail fast

[Tupaia]

"Saved a ton of weight". Talking of weights a Quasar has a listed displacement of around 9.5T whereas a FP Saba, similar size is 15.5T. I was poking around in the bowels of a Saba recently and was amazed at just how much plywood is involved in the cabinetry and reinforcements, in everything in fact. It makes you realise just how advanced the Quasar was (is).

[Snowgoose35]

Originally Posted by Tupaia

"Saved a ton of weight". Talking of weights a Quasar has a listed displacement of around 9.5T whereas a FP Saba, similar size is 15.5T. I was poking around in the bowels of a Saba recently and was amazed at just how much plywood is involved in the cabinetry and reinforcements, in everything in fact. It makes you realise just how advanced the Quasar was (is).

They have nice fine hulls and will point to 35 degrees in to wind, they have very little windage and are capable of 18 knots or so but nonetheless they were unnecessarily heavy - mine came with 4 heads, each with their own water pumps rather than a central system and 1 inch thick main bulkheads in plywood. Sole boards supported on timber frames etc

Plenty of time with lighter materials in my rebuild helped and had I the money and patience I would go further - the thick heavy bulkheads could all go and be replaced with lighter cored grp, the big steel I beams that act as mast compression post in an inverted y could be replaced with carbon etc. I took around 1500 kg out of the original weight but added some back with a freezer and full sized fridge etc but I think if time no object and a few thousand on materials I could get her to 7 tons cruising weight and then she'd fly

[Jeannius]

Originally Posted by Snowgoose35

Fell free to message me - I rebuilt mine over 7 months full time in 2018 after hurricane Irma and years of day charter neglect left her in rough condition. There is nothing I've not done on one of these fantastic boats. I also dropped over a ton in weight in the rebuild which makes a big difference if you like to sail fast

Is this the Quasar that used to run day charter out of Soper's Hole in the BVI? I did a day trip on that once while my boat was out of action and I was missing being out on the water. I can imagine you had a bit of work to do if it is that boat

[Snowgoose35]

Originally Posted by Jeannius

Is this the Quasar that used to run day charter out of Soper's Hole in the BVI? I did a day trip on that once while my boat was out of action and I was missing being out on the water. I can imagine you had a bit of work to do if it is that boat

Probably the one - I think it was the only one in the BVI and was a **** hole before it was hit by two hurricanes ... but kept the rig up, didn't go under and after around 4000 hours of work everything was changed and perfect and like a new boat - in fact better than new as the technology had improved so far