Purchasing an older yacht can come with problems. Some of these deficiencies might be positively alarming. However truly understanding that purchasing a vessel which comes with issues can be addressed economically is welcomed.

Several weeks back our 300 gallon stainless water supply tank started leaking; the problem was initially found at 3AM when the aft bilge pump continued to run. Despite the fact that the real leak has yet to become visible, we realize it's on the top surface. Our used trawler is 27 years old; what exactly do you expect! Things like this just wear out.

Mike did loads of research with both custom aluminum tanks and made the decision we'd order a 130 gallon polyethylene tank. Polyethylene tanks are formed into one section; and plastic-type material won't decay. He sent a schematic to the retail merchant, Plastic-Mart revealing where all fittings were required to be placed. The retail merchant had the manufacturer get in touch directly with Mike to make sure that our fitting areas were right. The tank came on a truck a couple of days later and all of the fittings we bought fit flawlessly into the manufacturer openings.

The day of installation was all of a sudden here. Our close buddy and marine surveyor, Mike Hagan of CYA Surveys had offered to assist us with this huge endeavor. We began doing the job at 9:00 a.m. Saturday morning. Mike and Mike were the workers; Nadine and I acted as assistants. They operated a Sawzall to slice the stainless water tank so we could get it off our trawler. As a consequence of its bulk, the tank was placed into our used trawler before the super structure was constructed. The guys made use of approximately 15 metallic saw blades. Just chopping the first tank up took roughly five hours. It was a huge task. They ended up sawing it into four different sections. I was adamant they have on leather gloves so they would not slice their fingers on the jagged edges. They carefully lifted each section out and put it onto the boat dock. Thankfully - that was finished with little damage to our teak interior.

Second step was building a new casing for the brand new fresh water tank to rest on and be strapped in. The new tank is roughly three quarters the size of the old water tank. The guys utilized 2 x 4's and manufactured a sturdy framework for it to sit on. At that time it was time to haul the new water tank into its new dwelling. Our new water tank is composed of plastic so it didn't turn out to be nearly as hard to lift as the old stainless steel tank. Every one of our custom made openings were drilled in the correct spot - my Mike did an exceptional job.

The next step was to connect the brand new hose to the water tank……whoops…we purchased the incorrect dimension hose. At this stage Mike and Nadine called it quits. They needed to return home. It was late afternoon and we all ended up being drained.

The next morning Mike and I returned the old hose and went in search of the right hose. We decided to go to Home Depot and Lowe's, neither of which possessed an adequate amount of the correct size. We finally finished up at Ace where they stocked plenty of plastic hose. We went back to our used trawler and needed to bore an opening in the bulkhead of our head to snake the new plastic hose through. Making a hole in a trawler is a frightening thing. We ran the plastic hose from the new fresh water tank completely forward to the freshwater pump. We were required to prime the clean water hose to get the air out, and then we began to fill the tank. I was a little nervous doing this so Mike kept a watch on all the fixtures to make sure nothing leaked. And nothing did … thank goodness!

The whole cost of this project was $1,002.00 and it took us an entire 11 hours to finish it. Our close friend declined any money but I can promise you if you had a yard do it the cost of the labor alone would be in all probability close to $1,000. So we installed a new water tank at half the sales price you are charged at a yard.

Our vessel ought to be set for life now with the new polyethylene tank. After all is said and done this project turned into something less complicated than we had predicted. So if your boat requires a new water tank, here is my advice. You'll definitely need 2 men to deal with the large tank. Make certain you have a high-quality Sawzall and approximately twenty saw blades for thicker metal. Make certain you have several rags to clean up the blood…you probably will slash your body. Keep several work gloves close by for when you need to move the cut tank around. Keep some towels to preserve the teak that might be near your work.

Our next task is replacement of our diesel tanks. Goodness!