Hauling boat

Well the week after Labor Day NODROG my 44' TD Vinnett is being hauled out on the rail.* Bottom and side painting.* Also got to replace a section of bottom plate.* Anybody want to come and help.* That thing is at least 144' long when its on the rail.

Ah, gee, I'd sure love to be there, but there's this country in the middle between us....

In preparing for the haulout I've stripped out the floor of the galley removing the 34 year old refrigerator and none working trash compactor and a 55 gallon stainless holding tank which was mounted under the galley floor. That thing must a weighed 600 lbs and my back feels it. Sure am glad it was empty. My problem stems from not being able to clean under that tank and rust happened along the longetudals under the tank. I don't think any of those items will go back in. Smaller refer that will work off inverter and a small cabinet to galley and a 35 gallon polly holding tank. I don't think I need to carry around 55 gallons of s--t with me since I only make short river cruises right now. As best I can see I've got a section of approximately 2'x6' to replace. Should be a piece of cake, I hope.

So wish me luck, at my age I'm sure I'm going to need it.

I'd highly recommend Ronco for the new holding tank. http://www.ronco-plastics.net/*Reasonably priced, VERY sturdy, easy guys to work with. They have hundreds of stock sizes. I had an inspection port put in mine, and all the penetrations are through the top. Two outlets... one to the pumpout fitting, one to the overboard diaphragm pump. That way, no need for a Y valve. The pumpout fittings include dip tubes to reach the bottom of the tank.

I'd also suggest putting a big one back in. You can never have too much holding tank capacity, and it'll be something folks will look at when you sell your boat someday.

point taken on size. I'll check on them as soon as I get a chance.

" That thing is at least 144' long when its on the rail."

Back in the mid 60's I has a 45ft Hedly Nichol Voyager tri built in then , British Honduras.

A few years later , after painting the waterline my arm was really tired.

45 x 2 + 4 (transom) + 4 x 38 , adds up to one heck of a waterline.

BTDT.

Don't forget heighth. When on the rail the bottom is at knee level and the top of the bow is 15'.

I finally put NODROG my 44' Northshore by TD Vinnett back in the water last weekend. I'm now ready for some down time on my body and friends. I now have so many new projects started just from the haul out that I may spend the whole winter just trying to catch up. I have a really good friend in the welding shop at work to thank for the welding of some plate in the bottom and box keel. Holding tank replacement and final clean up is yet to come.

Whatever you do don't replace your old stainless holding tank with a new stainless holding tank. Stainless is a very poor material for a holding tank as it will pit and pinhole and leak sooner rather than later. Our boat has a 40 gallon fiberglass holding tank in the engine room that is original to the boat. It is still in fine shape. A previous owner had installed a stainless 20 gallon holding tank in the lazarette for the aft head and it started leaking around the seams and pinholing not long after we got the boat. That's when we learned that stainless is a terrible material for a holding tank (as is any metal for that matter). So we replaced it with a 25 gallon vacuum-formed plastic holding tank.

I have no intentions of replacing it with a stainless one. I'm leaning toward one of the 35 gal Polly tanks like I had on my other boat by todd. I'll put one in place of the old one under the galley sole where the old one was and then another smaller one in the back closer to the rear bathroom. Maybe then it will work better. It won't have to flush and push the poop through the engine room to the old holding tank position.

While I'm at it I have to replace the hot water tank since it doesn't work. I'm going to pull it out and take it home for the winter, maybe I can find a heater element for it. That way I can do a little engine room cleaning and painting. I figure if I can keep it clean and painted it will be easier to spot rust problems better.

maybe I can find a heater element for it.

Most marine heaters use house junk for parts. Any plumbing supply or Ace Hdw should be able to fix you up for about $15 , for a pair.

FF

Thats kind of what I was thinking. I need to pull it out anyway to do some cleaning and painting under it and I may relocate it up about 2' so I can install a holding tank there to service the rear throne. The hot water tank itself is stainless and should last forever, its a short one about 6 gallons and only has one element so I'm hoping it will not be a big deal.

Its just that once you move one thing it always involves 2 or 3 others. Like battery boxes. I need to remove two boxes that are welded to the cross member and move them a couple ft forward into the space where I removed an old pump which was used to empty the holding tank. It was an old Jabsco pump with big AC electric motor attached, didn't work, that took up valuable space. I'll be using the deck pumpout for the time being. This should give me enough room to put in a tank for the rear throne. Then I'll be able to move the batteries forward to a location where they can be service and checked a lot easier instead of standing on my head to look in them to check levels. Which includes moving my Racor filter for the main engine to a location where it is better serviced. Need I say anymore.