Integral Water tank into Settee's

[CoolBeans]

I've read up about how and what epoxies to use when glassing in a portion of a settee to use for potable water. I haven't read anything about the exterior of the settee then sweating when filled. Maybe I haven't read anything about it because it doesn't happen?

Just curious. It's a lot of work to find out I have an unexpected water maker in the boat after the fact

Thanks!

[Orion Jim]

I have two poly tanks installed under my settee's. Perhaps you have room to install one? No sweating issues, but tanks are certainly more expensive than epoxy. Maybe a bladder would be cheaper than a tank. Worth consideration anyway.

[Terra Nova]

Order plastic tanks from Ronco.

[UNCIVILIZED]

A good number of Dudley Dix's designs are spec'd to have the settees function as integral water tanks. Especially the Didi 38' "Black Cat" & it's spin offs Didi 38 radius chine plywood sailboat With quite a good number of them having been built. So you might put in a polite query with him, as well as with some of the folks who've built the boats. He's a very easy gent to interact with.

Also, most of his boats with integral tanks, Didi38's anyway, have been home built. And I'm sure that a number of these builders would be happy to share their experiences. Especially as many of them even having build blogs linked to Dudley Dix's website.

BTW, I gather that you're well aware of; food safe epoxies, post-curing, & steam cleaning, etc. It just seems worth mentioning, to confirm that you know of such tools & practices.

[SVTwilight]

Originally Posted by Terra Nova

Order plastic tanks from Ronco.

Second that. They have just about any size and shape you could imagine for a boat!

[Sailorman Ed]

The Polynesia 12m cats have the 400l tanks molded in as the seat with 6 large inspection /fill ports and the pickup in the center. They had a mold for it so the exterior is finished. My only complaint is the difficulty in running lines from the Bimini to collect rain water.
Ed

[CoolBeans]

The portion of the locker I wanted to convert to tankage is a odd wedge shape. Roughly 27" X 14" X 30" long. With some deconstruction I might be able to squeeze in a Ronco tank that is a long prism shape, 20 gallons. The built in volume should be 25+. I'd prefer plastic tanks, but trying to find them that maximize the available volume isn't always possible. Like the tank in my boat already, 20 gallon rectangle. When I pulled it to clean it, the cavity volume was closer to 35 gallons. It's just that the settee where it sits is just a little too oddly shaped for off the shelf tanks that size Can you get small custom bladder tanks made? And how awful expensive are they?

thanks!

[CoolBeans]

Originally Posted by Sailorman Ed

The Polynesia 12m cats have the 400l tanks molded in as the seat with 6 large inspection /fill ports and the pickup in the center. They had a mold for it so the exterior is finished. My only complaint is the difficulty in running lines from the Bimini to collect rain water.
Ed

Sweet! Since they are built in, have you had any issues with sweating on the outside when the weather turns?

[lonesoldier0408]

Originally Posted by CoolBeans

The portion of the locker I wanted to convert to tankage is a odd wedge shape. Roughly 27" X 14" X 30" long. With some deconstruction I might be able to squeeze in a Ronco tank that is a long prism shape, 20 gallons. The built in volume should be 25+. I'd prefer plastic tanks, but trying to find them that maximize the available volume isn't always possible. Like the tank in my boat already, 20 gallon rectangle. When I pulled it to clean it, the cavity volume was closer to 35 gallons. It's just that the settee where it sits is just a little too oddly shaped for off the shelf tanks that size Can you get small custom bladder tanks made? And how awful expensive are they?



thanks!

I saw, the use of previously prepared, fiberglass panels used to construct an odd shaped fuel tank, in a fuel tank topic of the forum.