Nauticat 52 Refit

[minaret]

Tank gets coated with 6 coats of Interlux 2000e.

[minaret]

It really sucks applying 2000 inside a tank. Comes out nice though.

[minaret]

Schedule 80 PVC elbows being bonded in to the inspection plate with methacrylate.

[Cherp]

You're The Man Minaret.

[minaret]

Inspection plates coated.


I wouldn't wish this job on my worst enemy, but it sure did work out nice. It took me a little over two weeks of straight twelve hour days with no breaks to do this job. The alternative was spend tens of thousands to approach it differently. I'm very happy with the result, and I know I can do the same for any other tank I might have a problem with. After all, I've already done the worst one! This tank should last indefinitely, until the outer steel shell just rusts away.

[minaret]

Whew, that takes a painfully long time to do by iPad. I'll post more of the tank project finale soon.


How about some more pleasant pics? Here's our awesome steam box setup. Projects like this make me wistful about the simplicity of wood construction...

[minaret]

Über boiler. This thing is powerful enough to steam big beams into noodle like consistency.

[minaret]

Setting up to sister some frames. No ceiling removal, this is the remove the gunwales and sheer clamp and insert from the top method. The temporary oak frames are to keep from blowing planks off the side of the boat as the new frame sisters are driven in from the top.

[minaret]

This whole boat is Port Orford and White Oak. Just had to post something that smells good after that last round of pics.

[minaret]

Originally Posted by Exile

I had to replace an aluminum 55 gal. diesel tank last year so I feel your pain . . . errrrr . . . uhhhh . . . not quite. Now I know it could have been worse, much worse!

Now what??

Lol! Yea, worst nightmare right? You couldn't pay me enough to do this to someone else's boat, but it's my boat and it had to be done. I'm not asking anyone else to climb into a poo tank I won't climb into...

[minaret]

Originally Posted by Cherp

You're The Man Minaret.

Yeah, the poo tank man, apparently. I can't recommend it for fun, but it sure is a great fix.

[Exile]

Minaret -- your photo essay on restoring your "poo" tank was quite valuable to me & I'm sure many others. I admire not just your skill-set, but also your COURAGE, for cryin' out loud!

When I was trying to figure out how to deal with my leaky aluminum 55 gal. diesel tank last year, I looked into different ways to coat it -- either on the inside or out -- but ultimately wound up replacing. I found a less-than-fully-employed boatbuilder (quite a few of those guys around these days, regrettably) who used the old tank as a template and made me a new one using fiberglass. He did it outside the boat, however! Still, the new tank -- tapered to conform to the hull -- fit back into the hull perfectly. Still not entirely sure how you guys pull stuff like that off.

Anyway, I had no idea you could also accomplish this while a tank is inside the boat, and am astonished you can use the old tank as an outside mold. In my ignorance, I always figured for whatever reason that one would glass over the existing structure & not the other way around. Whodathunk?! Of course, in your case it didn't look like you had much choice.

My interest is piqued because I have another diesel tank that was abandoned long ago by the PO since it is under the galley sole and would be a big PITA to gain access to. It is also rather small, so maybe not worth it. More importantly, I also have 3 f/w tanks that I believe are also original (1986). They are either SS or Monel (don't know how to tell the difference), are not leaking (yet), but do show some surface corrosion on the welds.

So a couple of totally noob questions about building your new tank:

1. You mentioned that this could be done with any sort of tank. I know there are certain epoxy coatings to use for diesel, but are there reliable products for potable water? The West Systems manual seems sort of equivocal on this. What coating, if anything, will/did you use for your black water tank? Or will the 2000 itself suffice?

2. Similarly, are there certain resins you want to use or avoid, depending on tank usage?

3. Why not leave the original tank structure in place like you presumably had to do with the tank bottom? What sort of release agent did you use for the walls so you could cut them away?

OK, enough for now. Thanks again for taking the time to post this stuff. Can't wait for the next episode . . . .

[Exile]

Originally Posted by minaret

The crew in question. They are hard to argue with...

Looks like trouble to me . . . DOUBLE-trouble in fact!

[cpa]

Minaret:

Wow this tank segment has got me thinking. The aft section of the Compass's keel has two tanks. The aft one was a diesel tank of about 35 gallons. The forward was a gray water tank and holds 25 gallons.

The forward one is in great shape, but the aft fuel tank is rough. I always thought that it would be nice to figure out a way to re-glass it, but have always wondered about getting the surface sanded well enough to re-glass. The tank is very thin and very deep. It would be nearly impossible to get any type of sander in there. Do you have any advice or should I just throw a water bladder in there and call it a day?

Thanks

[SVTatia]

Originally Posted by minaret

Schedule 80 PVC elbows being bonded in to the inspection plate with methacrylate.

Excellent Minaret. Thanks for this, very interesting and smart.

I have one question:

1) How is this about bonding PVC to fiberglass with methacrylate. Where do you get the metha? Looks like you did a layup using matt?

I will need to increase the cockpit drains and was thinking of using PVC pipe but not sure how to bond it to the fiberglass.