Tayana 42 fuel tank

[wanabe cruiser]

Calling all Tayana 42 owners of experience...
What is the cost of removing and replacing the black iron fuel tanks on the Tayana 42 please . Who did you have the work done by? When did you have it done? Is the problem better or worse for the centre cockpit version?
Thanks Simon

[Tayana42]


Wannabe, I see in your profile you have a Bavaria 37. Are you asking for a friend or buying a Tayana? I’ve posted about my tank solution before but I’ll try again here. Other people have used various mending putties inside fuel tanks which I did not try. Some have cut the old tank into pieces to get it out and put several smaller tanks in place. I opted to insert a bladder into the old tank.

Like many boats the tanks in a Tayana 42 are installed before the interior is built in place. That makes getting a leaking tank out and a replacement tank in very difficult and requires substantial demolition of the beautiful interior woodwork. I decided to go the route of inserting a high quality bladder inside the existing black iron tank.

I did this after one of my black iron diesel tanks developed a pin hole leak in the lower outboard welded seam of the tank. Fortunately, it was the starboard tank which is under the galley but has some access panels in the sole above the forward part of the tank. On the port side there aren’t any access panels in the sole above the tank except at its forward end by the nav table.

In addition to opening up the top of the tank you have to remove any baffles in the tank and grind them down smooth so as not to have any chafe on the bladder. I also padded the inside of the iron tank with rubber decking tiles before inserting the bladder. You want a high quality bladder tank builder to manufacture one to the exact dimensions of the inside of your existing tank so you need to measure the rhomboid shaped tank very carefully.

I used Aero Tec Laboratories, Inc.
Spear Road
Ramsey, New Jersey 07440
201-825-1400
ATL@ATLINC.COM

Cost was $1296 in 2004. That was in addition to the cost of grinding out the baffles in the iron tank and installing the bladder.

Since 2004 I’ve had zero problems with the bladder inside the old tank.

[wanabe cruiser]

I am considering buying a Tayana 42. Thanks for your reply. Seems a good option. Was this only the starboard tank you tackled? How many hours in involved in cutting and grinding the tank? Did you do this? Do you have any issues without the baffles? What about your port tank?

[Tayana42]

Only my starboard tank had a leak, so I have not needed to tackle the port tank.

The person I hired to cut, grind and measure the iron tank was a plumber who had just finished a years long project building the systems on a sail training ship in Los Angeles harbor. He put in a good week of full days in the uncomfortable work of cutting open a large enough portion of the top of the tank, laying with his head down inside of the tank with a grinder cutting out the baffles and grinding the remains smooth. Then more time upside down measuring the exact dimensions of the inside of the tank. After completing my job he moved to New Jersey to take a regular, steady plumbing job away from boats.

The bladder tank is stuffed with a mesh material from the same manufacture instead of baffles. (It looks like a loofah sponge.) It is the same material they use in aircraft fuel tanks to prevent sloshing and it works fine in my boat. It does displace a small percentage of space in the tank so my old 65 gallon tank now holds a bit under 60 gallons.

I hope it will not become necessary but if it is ever required I would not hesitate to use the same approach on the port tank. It may require some cutting of the sole in the quarter berth to gain access to the top of the tank which will add a small amount of carpentry to the equation.

[threewordphrase]

Originally Posted by Tayana42




I used Aero Tec Laboratories, Inc.
Spear Road
Ramsey, New Jersey 07440
201-825-1400
ATL@ATLINC.COM

Cost was $1296 in 2004. That was in addition to the cost of grinding out the baffles in the iron tank and installing the bladder.

Are you able to share the measurements you sent to Aero Tec? I am considering buying a Tayana 42 and the fuel tank issue is the only thing that's making me hesitate. Having the measurements and a vendor ready to call if I ever need to might held me feel more at ease. Even if I don't buy this boat, I imagine others may find your measurements useful.

[Tayana42]

Threewordphrase, I’m sorry I do not have the measurements any longer so I think you will have to take your own measurements of the tank in question. Or, you might contact the builder, Ta-Yang Shipyards tayangco@ms15.hinet.net. If you have the hull number Mr. Wilson Chang at Ta-Yang may have the specifications for your tank.

[Scubaseas]

You should be aware that Tayana V42s were semi custom builds and the interior layouts vary from boat to boat. Some boats will have three fuel tanks, some only have two. From the boat's I've seen the fuel tanks on the center cockpits are relatively easy to access. The side or saddle tanks on my boat can be removed in about two hours. They are under the settees and do not require cutting of cabinetry to get out. Before you go slicing up the boat consider using a coating first. Works fine on pin holes if properly applied. I slosh coated a fuel tank on my Pearson over 25 years ago and it's still fine. I am in the process of refitting a center cockpit (1985 V42CC hull #98) and will prophylactically coat all the fuel tanks with POR15 fuel tank sealer. The center tank on my boat could come out if you remove the table and cut the floor and timbers. I do my own work having seen pretty much nothing but crap work by "experts". But then I was a master mechanic and repair shop/body shop owner by profession, own a dive shop that beats up fiberglass boats that I repair and an avid wood worker for hobby. I believe the aft cockpit fuel tanks are a bit harder to get to but could be wrong. If you look at Tayana Owners Group "projects" you might glean more info. The water tank on my boat has a leak and will be a major project to replace or repair. I'll have to cut it up in place and have two tanks made up to replace it but they at least will be removable. Once I get the one tank out the other tank will be "easy" to move over and pull out. Think of it as Boat Yoga.

Check to see if the hoses have been replaced. There is about 100' of hose or more in my boat and it ALL needed replacement. The center cockpit with aft head has the holding tank up forward along with rubber hoses that run all the way from aft to forward of the mast and went in before they built the interior. Replacing every hose on my boat was a long, difficult and expensive job but doable if you're really determined. I added an aft holding tank and eliminated the need for the aft head to forward holding tank hoses. And eliminated the holding tank to aft manual bilge/waste pump out hoses. Dumb design.

Be aware some V42 Tayana rigging have 3/4" lower pins which makes buying turnbuckles problematic. Replacing the standing rigging which I hired someone to do was over $8K.

[off-piste]

Originally Posted by threewordphrase

Are you able to share the measurements you sent to Aero Tec? I am considering buying a Tayana 42 and the fuel tank issue is the only thing that's making me hesitate. Having the measurements and a vendor ready to call if I ever need to might held me feel more at ease. Even if I don't buy this boat, I imagine others may find your measurements useful.

that boat is overpriced

[threewordphrase]

Originally Posted by off-piste

that boat is overpriced

off-piste, what do you recommend as a comparable boat at a better price?

[Scubaseas]

Originally Posted by off-piste

that boat is overpriced

What, where, how much? Got a link to a listing? There are no cheap V42s right now. 5 years ago the prices were more...realistic. Keep in mind they only made 200 V42s and only 75 Center Cockpits.

[off-piste]

Originally Posted by Scubaseas

What, where, how much? Got a link to a listing? There are no cheap V42s right now. 5 years ago the prices were more...realistic. Keep in mind they only made 200 V42s and only 75 Center Cockpits.

Median sold price on YW for the past two years is $63,500

[Scubaseas]

Originally Posted by off-piste

Median sold price on YW for the past two years is $63,500

Apologies to the OP for the drift but may I ask how you got that data? I look on YW occasionally and rarely see a listing for V42 under $90K. Is your data from BUC or some other service? Not being argumentative but if there's a way to know past sale values I'm sure prospective buyers would like to see it.

[off-piste]

Originally Posted by Scubaseas

Apologies to the OP for the drift but may I ask how you got that data? I look on YW occasionally and rarely see a listing for V42 under $90K. Is your data from BUC or some other service? Not being argumentative but if there's a way to know past sale values I'm sure prospective buyers would like to see it.

YW soldboats