rusty fuel tanks and ss water tanks

If I were to scrap the fuel tanks and replumb the water tanks to carry diesel and carry milk crates with gallon jugs of water where the fuel tanks were, I might could move the crates out when I wanted to move myself outboard of the engines to do stuff.

It would be fairly easy to remove the water tanks to rework them and coat the interior of the tanks if needed.

Thanks for any and all input,
Mike

Anything is possible.

Probably would work but water supplied in plastic jugs will grow old real fast. Showers? Water source for head? .
Most H2O tanks are under 200 gals so fuel range will also be restricted.
Plus there's no going back. Once fuel hits that tank it's a one way trip.

No plumbed water to wash hands, dishes, or shower? Hauling all those bottles of water can get old very quick. Use water tanks as fuel tanks? Potential integrity, safety and boat balance issues to explore there. Affect on resale? Considerable. IMO, this would be, as dear ol' Dad used to say, penny wise and pound foolish.

I'd rather install smaller fuel tanks that can be expanded later with additional tankage, if desired. It maintains system integrity and provides more room to work while reducing cost and vessel range. If done correctly, it can be upgraded easily in the future.

You should really rethink this.

Is your boat a single or twin? Single would facilitate tank replacement, preferable to current thoughts. Interesting idea, but better to explore alternatives.
Is the boat named after the UK band?

When I repowered, I had to remove my old engines. While they were out, I could have removed the fuel tanks and replaced them. Luckily, I didn't need to do that, but now I know how easy it is to get the engines out of the way, should my tanks ever need to be replaced.
I bought one of these: and figured out how I would lift out the engines, place them on the saloon floor and roll them out of the way. I didn't do it that way, but it would have worked. I hired a truck with a HIAB crane and he lifted the engines out thru the door in a simple operation. In all, to get my engines out of the boat and new ones installed, by myself, (the only help I had was from the crane operator) took only two long days. I sold the crane right away for almost what I had paid for it.
Add to that the tank removal and replacement, but you will have so much room to work with that should not be a huge problem.

That amount of work shouldn't deter you so much that you abandon the proper approach to fuel tank replacement.

MICH MIKE said:

If I were to scrap the fuel tanks and replumb the water tanks to carry diesel and carry milk crates with gallon jugs of water where the fuel tanks were, I might could move the crates out when I wanted to move myself outboard of the engines to do stuff.

It would be fairly easy to remove the water tanks to rework them and coat the interior of the tanks if needed.

Thanks for any and all input,
Mike

Click to expand...

Mike, you do have choices here. However, I didn't, the PO had decided to avoid the cost of trying to remove the old tanks which had some rust holes on the top, (they were larger than really needed here anyway, being 1000Litres each), and he had grabbed the stainless steel water tanks in the lazaret and converted them to fuel before I bought her. I knew what I was doing, and that arrangement has worked well for the last 15 odd years. They give a combined fuel load of 800Litres, (400 a side), which is plenty for most usage, and although he was making do with bladder tanks, I put food grade plastic tanks put in between them forward in the lazaret against the bulkhead, giving me 500L of water, which is also plenty.

The empty sealed off old fuel tanks in the ER are now 'buoyancy tanks' as far as I am concerned, I don't need them removed, being a single there is still plenty of room. Strangely, the more aft and lower weight seems to have even improved the trim and weight distribution serendipitously, as I can literally surf her down large waves, (I've seen 11.4kn on the GPS), with no heaviness in the helm, or tendency to broach.

Just another possibility. I agree the idea of multiple jerry cans for water is not really on.

I would endorse and recommend Kolivers post fully.
A boat isn,t like a truck where you can just pull over if it breaks down;
Consequently there,s only way,
Do it once, Do it right.
Why put yourself through all the mental masturbation ?