The ongoing removal on one of the water tanks has been mainly taken up with removing all the foam infill and other junk chucked in the space around the tank . We also found the what i taught was a GRP tank is actually a galvanized steel tank just it had a GRP sheath over the top. So far we have removed 12 bin bags of foam and timber out with another 3 - 4 to come out , then we can hopefully remove the tank so we can start work on the timber repairs and working out what to reinstall for a new tank We are just looking up if we can fit flexi tanks or just to go for new rigid off the shelf tanks After getting the top of the tank of we could see just how bad the internal condition was The problem now was that due to the fact it was foamed in to place with the hydraulic steering pipes passing through the foam we were going to have to remove bit by bit . I didnt want to use an angle grinder due to the flammability of the foam and also being right next to a battery bank and also one of the 400 ltr fuel tank's. so out came the jigsaw and metal blades and on went the slow painstaking removal section by section . In all it took me about 25hrs over 6 weeks to finally get the tank out but not after going through 3 cutting disks , 3 packs of metal blades and breaking the inverter on 2 occasions . After getting the tank out there was a good old cleanup job needed in the aft cabin , there was some black spray off the angle grinder fro the internal sludge - foam to remove where i could not get to beforehand and to remove all the rot in the bulkhead ready to be replaced . On top of this everything that was stored on the bunk is now piled up at the back of the cabin and this needs resorting as the contents of this stuff is our spares - materials and tools for the work on board . After good clean up it was the task of putting the jagged parts of the tank in the tender and getting it to the slip without puncturing it on the way ready to add to the scrap pile So the plan was to get the measurements of the space and find a tank to fit , ready for the christmas holidays to start refitting . This was put off thanks to finding out the only way we can get the fuel tank out is back through the aft cabin , otherwise we would need to remove the engine to get it through the engine bay . So now instead of refitting the aft cabin and water tank we start on the fuel tank removal which commenced the week after completing the water tank removal on Christmas eve . So 2 weeks of odd evenings out on the river chopping away boarding and boxing , removing cables and cutting access holes and even more foam removal . Finding there was not much holding the tank in appart from a few brackets [which were not accessible] and the foam i thought this may be a easy job compared to the water tank . How wrong could i be ?? To be continued !!
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Jasper Monk
12/31/2017 02:32:20 am
Hi Roy, I have Kaline a 34.5 CW, I have been working on it for the last 5 years, regarding water tanks I put an additional one 90 ltrs I think so that we could keep out of marina's during the summer, as it had one before the copper pipe work and isolators were in place so it was only a matter of connecting up, it leaked! Out of the filler connection on the top of the tank. I think I have now fixed it by gluing in an other layer of PVC to give it some more material to make the connection more robust.
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Hi Jasper
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AuthorOne family renovating a Colvic Watson and preparing for an epic adventure Archives
April 2018
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