Morgan 44 Holding Tank in Lazarette

[konakoma]

Read about an owner of a late 80s Morgan 44 adding a custom holding tank for aft head in the lazarette behind the aft cabin. Interested in doing same with ours and would like to hear from someone who has done this re size, composition etc

[Driftwoods]

I have a late 80's Morgan 43 (hopefully similar enough to give you an idea here) and the previous owner turned the aft locker behind the aft stateroom into a spare fuel tank (still not quite what you're doing but close). They just glassed in the locker about halfway-ish down, ran the fuel line from the bottom to the engine room and that was it as far as I could tell. The marine surveyor estimated they added about 35 gallons of fuel.

I can tell you that this was a very bad idea or bad execution of it. I don't think they were really able to seal it properly and it got contaminated pretty badly. Badly enough they simply disconnected it - I think water was in it constantly and it was a pretty nasty mess to clean up and restore it. We had some diesel intrusion into the aft cabin too. Not much, you could just catch a faint whiff of it if you were messing with the steering.

I'm not sure I would go this route based on what I saw of it but I think the previous owner did not properly seal it so you may be able to get better results. If yours is like mine, you'll need to hire a midget or a contortionist with a high tolerance for tight spaces to get in there and do the work with any degree of quality or attention to detail. I think I would cut into the locker from outside somewhere and then seal a "real" holding tank made from polyethylene or something in there if I were to do something like this which would be pretty pricey.

I put a new holding tank for the aft head under the aft berth. It's awfully small, something like 22 gallons, but that's all I could fit in there and even then we had to cut up the bed a bit to get one that large in there but after reassembly it looks like nothing ever happened.

[konakoma]

Yeah, not a great idea for extra fuel tank, let alone execution. We have 2x50 gals diesel under each side settee for our 66 HP Yanmar turbo. Our lazarette is huge-I can fit in it myself and it's over 4' deep. Plan on a custom polyethelene tank around 30 gals, configured to just fit thru the hatch, and offset to starboard where the lines are. Port side we have a shelf with 2 x 10 lb alum propane tanks, on a dual regulator, 2 vents. Still leaves enough room for spare anchor, air compressor and misc stuff. Also deck mounted Sirius XM audio and GPS antennas on either side of hatch with cables running below. Think Charley extended the 43 transom to create the 44, resulting in the mega storage, which we sure need. We are avid divers so I had a custom swim platform built to my specs, and it folds up for a passage or slip.

Communicated with another Morgan 44 owner few years back about his holding tank in the lazarette, but don't remember their contact info. Thanks for your input.
Go Aggies.
Beat 'Bama

[Driftwoods]

Very similar, I wish I had that extra foot!

But you know what I really want? That swim platform. Where did you have that done?

Gig'em, can't wait or this weekend.

[konakoma]

Designed the platform so it had the same continuous lines as the hull, 18" wide and about 4' across with a telescoping swim ladder mounted underneath. It had to hold 2 divers plus gear, say 475 lbs max., so had it constructed to hold 1000 lbs.
The platform itself is teak from Craig Casey and the mounting brackets are 316 Stainless Steel, the good stuff, from Derek's machine shop and I fabricated backing plates myself (critically important) from half inch starboard per the pic. Then 3 coats of Cetol and it looks fabulous and works better. Easy to install, with my wife (Swabbie) in the lazarette torquing the nuts, and she even used red and green color coded safety lines on the pins for quick, error free hook up!.
Use a template for the platform itself, to get the perfect shape and matching lines. At $2275 all in, it's expensive, but diving is primarily why we have the boat, and it had to be first rate so what the heck. Sure there are guys in Texas who can do the same work for you local, but if not can have a duplicate made for you here. Good luck.