Project Log: Thursday, October 28, 2010
Now that the old water tank had drained out completely,
it was time to get it out of the boat.
Fortunately, the tank did fit through the narrow opening
into the forward cabin--until the welded pipe nipple to
which the supply hose had connected hit the door frame.
I couldn't see how maneuvering the tank in any other
manner would allow this 2" projection to pass; the tank
itself barely slipped through with only millimeters to
spare as it was.
So I had to cut off this welded nipple; this sealed the
tank's fate: replacement. Not only did I not
like the location of the supply fitting, but now I'd had
to cut this off, meaning the tank couldn't be reused as
is. I figured by the time I had the old supply
fitting repaired and/or moved, installed an access port,
and cleaned the tank thoroughly, I might as well start
fresh. And so it goes. I also thought I'd
spotted a leak in one of the welded seams during
yesterday's removal; certainly the tank's construction
was inelegant at best to begin with.
In any event, once the nipple was gone I was able to
remove it to the cockpit with relative ease from there.
The tank, welded from stainless steel, was heavier than
one might think, and eventually I moved it up to the
foredeck before sending it out the door to the ground
below. I'd take some detailed measurements of the
old tank so that I might have a new one built of similar
size. |
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Next, I removed the poured-in expanding foam that had
surrounded the tank, an easy task. The minimal
plywood platform also came out with ease, leaving me
with yet another empty, clear space ready for whatever I
wanted to do with it. |
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Soon, I'd continue the bulk sanding efforts, and looked
forward to cleaning up the forward cabin. It
looked like replacement tankage would be this winter's
big expense for this project, as the new tankage for
fuel and water would have to be the first thing to go
back into the boat before I could truly begin rebuilding
the interior.
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Total Time Today: 1 hour
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