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zeehag · 01-03-2014, 07:50

good luck. when they replaced hahaha mine, they did so with a tiny useless wonder..... i wish they had lined tanks with fiberglass instead of having removed the entire thing.

dsteinfeld · 01-03-2014, 08:09

I was considering 3 alternatives:

Rip out the galley and replace the tank
Cut a hole in the sole, cut up and remove the tank, replace with 3 smaller tanks (David Bereznai's method)
Cut a hole in the sole, cut a matching hole in the tank, remove the baffles, insert a bladder.

After cutting out a piece of the subfloor and finding it saturated with diesel (my fault from a number of years ago) I decided to "do it right" (#1) so that I could replace the entire subfloor. Hopefully it will get rid of the diesel smell. If not for this 2nd primary goal, taking the galley apart would be grounds for being institutionalized...

dsteinfeld · 02-03-2014, 16:27

The tank came out today. As it was bedded in foam I was expecting to have to slice through the foam to get it free, but before threading the bandsaw blade I bought for the purpose around the tank I just pried with a crowbar. It popped free almost instantly. However prying after that wasn't effective for getting it out, so I rigged a hoist from the overhead.

Now the challenge is getting it out of the cabin and down 13 feet or so to the ground.

dsteinfeld · 21-03-2014, 08:38

The tank is now out of the boat. The long dimension (inboard forward corner of the tank) just barely made it out the companionway. I did have to remove the companionway slider to get a few extra inches. We hoisted it out using a block on the end of the boom, and lowered it down an extension ladder to the ground.

I removed the bedding foam and so have a nice clean nest for the new tank. However I probably should have temporarily left some of the foam in to use as a model for the wood I intend to glass in as support for the new tank.

So on to a few "improvements" while waiting for the new tank.

dsteinfeld · 14-04-2014, 07:57

The new tank has arrived! Luther's Welding in Bristol, RI did a superb job.

I've been vacillating on whether to fabricate mounts, "glue" the tank in place a'la Pascoe's recommendation, or prime and foam in place. I don't much care for the permanence of 5200 (the location would make chemical or heat removal difficult), and mounts would need to be curved on both sides (to fit the hull and the tank. Also, if there was any water incursion into the mount then the wood core would rot. So, I've elected the coal tar epoxy / pour foam solution. Hopefully I (or someone else!) will get 30 years out of this new tank as I did out of the old one.

By the way, the old tank (in sections) can be seen in the background. I cut it up so I could easily put it back in place to see what it would take to fabricate wood/fiberglass mounts.

Cuttyhunk · 14-04-2014, 12:32

Luther's is the best!

dsteinfeld · 20-04-2014, 19:33

The work continues. I used most of the gallon kit of coal tar epoxy, reserving a bit for touch-ups if needed. So now there's 4+ coats where the tank will be in contact with foam, and 2+ in other areas.

Today we hoisted the tank on board (still on the hard for the winter) and lowered it below.

Maneuvering it into position was the hard part, but not quite as nerve-wracking as hoisting...

Tomorrow I'll raise it up and check to see if today's work did any damage to the primer and touch it up if necessary. Otherwise it's time to play with 2-part foam.

dsteinfeld · 28-05-2014, 13:16

As always, life gets in the way of boat work. In any event, the tank is in place, the new subfloor installed over it, and the cabinets are almost all in. A few more cleats need to be replaced followed by the counter top. The old counter top was tile on top of 3/4" plywood, but the new counter top will be Corian over 1/2" plywood (to keep the overall height the same). This time, though, the plywood substrate will be fastened from underneath in case it ever needs to come off. Originally the plywood was screwed in from the top, meaning the tile had to come off for the disassembly.

Lots of other opportunistic repairs/improvements happened as well, including replacing the holding tank deck pump-out hose, re-routing plumbing and wiring, etc.

dsteinfeld · 10-06-2014, 08:50

It doesn't look like much, but the subsurface for the countertops has been completed (except for the sink cutout). The new counter is corian which is 1/2", while the old was tile (1/4"). To maintain the same overall height (to avoid replacing the fiddles), the 3/4" subsurface was replaced with 1/2" plywood. However to avoid changing the height of the sliders in the end cabinet, that surface remains at 3/4". Anyway, drawer tracks and glides, bungs for the screws, varnish, and screwing the doors back on is all that's left on the cabinets.

Despite saying that, the checklist seems to be growing, not shrinking!

Ready for the corian install this Friday.

Cheechako · 10-06-2014, 09:05

Great job and pics!

dsteinfeld · 30-06-2014, 11:31

Well this project is substantially done. A bit of fuel (13 gallons or so) is in the tank, and the low end of the gauge calibrated. The engine is hooked up and run for 10 minutes or so. Being that it's a new tank I have a stock of primary and secondary fuel filters on board just in case. Not to mention sails...

There is some progress beyond what's shown in this picture -- I'll post a final picture when the floor is done and we're in the water on our mooring!

DeepFrz · 30-06-2014, 14:01

Well done. Thanks for the thread.

dsteinfeld · 06-07-2014, 18:45

Other then a few square feet of finished flooring that I didn't have time to get to, this project is done.

We met our launch date of 2-July and were in the water in time for the long holiday weekend. Of course with the nearby passage of Hurricane Arthur we mostly hung out and got things ready instead of sailing, but it was good to be afloat.

Before heading off from the winter yard to the summer mooring we stopped at a nearby dock for....FUEL! I put in a total of 105 gallons out of the 113 gallon capacity as (a) I hate to spill and (b) we won't use 105 gallons during the season anyway. Stopping every 10 gallons we got the fuel gauge calibrated. Given the shape of the tank it's highly non-linear, with the most sensitive readings below 1/2 or so.

Naturally there was one more gotcha: we dropped the hook and were relaxing when we discovered fuel in engine room.

A couple of posts ago I mentioned putting a bit of fuel in the tank to begin calibrating the fuel gauge and test running the engine. What I hadn't mentioned was that the sender installed by Luther's when the tank was made (a swing-arm type sender) hadn't read anything when 9 gallons were in the tank. So I replaced it with my 2 year old straight rod/float sender which was well off the Empty mark with the same 9 gallons. I used the gasket and gasketed screws from Luther's sender. What I didn't do was pressure test the tank after installing the sender which was a big mistake. I'd been afraid of tightening too much as the gaskets on each screw seemed to be squeezing out. After tightening them a lot more I shut off the fuel and return valves and pumped air (dinghy foot pump) into the vent, checking the sender flange and screws with soapy water. No bubbles. A couple of hours of sailing later and all looks clean.

So, unless I come up with another stupid mistake or someone posts a question, consider this project finished.