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Old 01-18-2014, 08:45 AM   #15
bglad
Senior Member
 
City: Green Cove Springs, Florida
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 344
What did you have to move out of the way to do this job? And congratulations for getting it done!!!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Seaisleman View Post
To Capt. Waldo

I had the tanks fabricated out of 5052 aluminum, 1/4" thick, by RDS in Perry Fl. I designed three tanks, each different size and shape, stackable, to replace one 300 gallon steel tank. (our final capacity with the three port tanks is 292 gallons) The tanks were drop shipped to me in NC, and I lightly sand blasted to get the mill finish off, then acid etched them. After neutralizing, I coated them with two coats of Macropoxy 646, a Sherwin Williams marine epoxy. A final coat of a two part high solids white polyurethane was the last step before installing.

Cutting the large 300 gallon tank out was one of toughest jobs, as my wife and I did all this work ourselves. Took about 18 hours, and 23 heavy duty sawzall blades to get the old tank out. Ear plugs, face/arm protection, knee pads, and heavy gloves and lots of pads were required. The hole in our port tank came from water/sea water dripping off the 2" freshwater filler hose from the deck plate, down the side of the tank, and rusting the bottom where the tank was bedded to the crossmember. It was a small pinhole less than 1/8" in dia. While the 10" exhaust is directly beside the tank, I am confident in our boat that it had nothing to do with any moisture issues, nor did the engine room vents or other things that other owners have discussed and mentioned. We replaced every fitting and valve, new sight glass, new and larger vent lines, and new filler hose and deck fill plate. I designed a sump in the bottom tank with a valve. I will say the interior of this old iron tank was surprising clean for a 20 year old tank.

Job is complete on the port side, and hoping that I can simply ospho and epoxy the starboard side tank which has some surface rust, to avoid going thru this process again.

Hope this helps.
Chuck
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