Seeking recommendations for adding a new diesel tank

[sv_saillavie]

Hello

I have a Tartan 4100 with a single 50 gallon diesel tank. I'd like to double the fuel capacity. Id love to hear about what other folks have done and what to consider before starting the project. I don't want to carry Diesel portable tanks on the cabin top.

As an FYI, the boat has 2 water tanks (one aluminum and one polypropylene, about 50 gallon each). I plan to add a water maker so taking one of the water tank might be an option... But i don't like the idea of being dependent on a single water tank either....

Thanks for your help

Pierre



Pierre

[DougR]

Convert the aluminum tank to diesel, because aluminum doesn't make good water tanks anyway.

Call the engineering guys at Tartan and ask about suitability of the tank for fuel, or if the tank has a manufacturer label call them and ask the same thing. Of course the tank will require return fuel fittings, grounding wire, different filler cap labeling, etc.

DougR

[DeepFrz]

What he said^^.

[laika]

Re: the reliance on a single watertank, you might consider a katadyn 06 hand held watermaker for storage in the ditch bag. If your primary watermaker fails and you only have one tank, at least you'll have a temporary fallback. It's one more thing to have to maintain on an annual basis tho.

Used on ebay they go for about $100 and a new membrane is $340. New they are $900 or so. Buying used would force you to get to know it.

An option I am considering myself.

[delmarrey]

What DougR said + you could add another water tank. I have 3 water tanks, all plumbed together with cut off valves to each so they all run together or seperatly. One supplied by the watermaker only, for back flushing but can be used as normal.

[sv_saillavie]

All make sense to me... Much appreciated. What getting to the same conclusion as well (convert water to diesel, add water tank).


Pierre

[sv_saillavie]

Delmarrey, can you please tell me more about your setup.... Thanks in advance


Pierre

[delmarrey]

I have three water tanks. Two 17 gal and one 30 gal. The two are under the settee and the one is behind the settee back, under a side bunk.

The two are fed with a single deck fillet with a valve between the two so I can shut the second one off to keep from filling (not in the picture). I call them tank #1 & #2. #3 can only be filled from the water maker (Spectra 150-T) unless I manually remove the cap and run a hose into it. But it takes a bit to get access.

The Spectra only comes with (1) two-way valve and some other fittings so I found duplicate valves and fitting through a plastics supplier.

The small black outlet line goes two places, one is to the dump hose at the galley sink for pre running, and filling small water containers. Two is to the second two-way valve. The second two-way valve, in one position, supplies the two smaller tanks, and in the other position supplies the #3 tank.

Later on, after taking the first picture, I installed a valve between the #2 tank inlet and the T-fitting, which shuts off the flow from the deck fitting or the small black supply line, to the #2 tank.

All the tanks are plumbed into a single vent line, which dumps over board just below the deck level. When filling any of the tanks, the excess runs out the vent fitting, which I monitor when filling. When filling with the water maker, some of the over flow will run back down the vent into empty tanks, but not much due to the pressure build up in the tank from the vent being plugged at the source.

The #3 tank has a shut off valve just before T-ing into the main line. So when I'm back flushing the membrane I can open that valve and use just RO water. The #3 tank sits higher then the other two, so its gravity pressure dominates the flow when open. That's just incase the two lower tanks have city (chlorine) water.

I always fill the #3 tank first when running the water maker.

[laika]

Thanks for the details, delmarrey. I just installed a spectra and have taken some notes. Looks like a great setup.