Built in water tank

J

josephmoore

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www.josephmoore.co.uk
My Hurley 22 has a built in water tank which is now 45 years old. I've never used it and I don't really ever intend to use it because I'm sure it's probably quite horrible inside after all that time. All my water is the supermarket's finest value 2 litre plastic bottled stuff as it can sit on the boat unopened for as long as it needs to without going manky. This is a weekend boat with no pretentions of being a big yacht in miniature when it comes to unnecessary complexities.

I've already removed the tap from next to the sink as it was old, brittle and generally in the way, but before I rip out the old tank and remove the through-deck fitting (some metal thing - watertightness unknown- to be replaced with a plastic disc of the same size) is there any reason why I shouldn't?
 
If you're determined not to use the tank, even for washing up, then I guess the space is better off as a locker. Can't see any reason not to.

Pete
 
My thoughts entirely. Might as well carry on filling the kettle for washing up. I prefer to do it in a plastic bowl in the cockpit whenever weather allows anyway. The galley sink is tiny and really only good enough for catching spills.
 
I had a Hurley 22 (a South Coast Marine built one - single 'slim' horizontal window each side). The water tank was triangular and between the forward berths.

I was dubious about it and, so removed the top of the tank to take a look. The sides and bottom of the tank are a GRP moulding, and the top (which also forms parts of the forward berths base) is just a flat board (painted ply?) screwed (IIRC) and bedded down into a lip in the top of the tank with adhesive sealant. I cut the sealant along the edges of the board as best I could with a Stanley knife, then managed with a bit of difficulty to prise the board up and off without dmaging it. The tank was absolutely fine apart from a little sand and grime, and some blisters (unbroken) in the GRP). I cut a circular hole in the lid to form an inspection plate (using a circular dinghy fitting) and rebedded the top of the tank back in place. The tank performed just fine for the remaianing years of my ownership (apart from the dinghy fitting leaking a bit of water when the boat was under way and the water in the tank moving about).

I used the water for hot drinks, as well as washing and cleaning. My use - including extensive cruising - was quite different to yours.

If I had my time again I wouldn't try to remove the lid, but just cut an inspection hole in it with a hole cutter (or drill and pad saw) and fit a proper watertight fitting. That would have enabled me to inspect and clean the tank with less trouble than removing the top.

Even if you only used the water for washing and cleaning it would be worthwhile to have it in use (and the more it is used the cleaner it will be). If the inside of the tank really is too far gone to use (and I doubt it), you could fit a triangular flexible water tank inside it.

If you are determined not to use is as a tank, then why not just replace the lid with a suitable shaped piece of ply and use it as a locker?

This recent/current thread may be of interest, if you haven't seen it already http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?392920-Do-you-drink-the-water-from-your-tank
 
Interesting thread that - I hadn't seen it, thanks. I think I might feel more inclined to keep the tank if I had stuff on board which used water like a shower or proper wash basin, but despite how it was marketed for me a boat that small is camping on the water so a bottle, a kettle and a plastic washing up bowl are the most flexible and reliable options. I might feel differently again if I was moored on a pontoon with a hose nearby, but no such luxuries in the middle of a river. Generally I keep a few unopened bottles of value mineral water in a dark locker as they'll keep and take whatever I think I need for the weekend in the form of tap water, then take whatever's left away again so it can't sit there festering.

The description of your tank sounds much like my mk1 tank is without opening it up - a flat lid held down with sealant and many screws. So yes, a new ply lid (or perhaps even just a clean up of the existing lid) would give a bit more locker space.
 
josephmoore said:
Interesting thread that - I hadn't seen it, thanks. I think I might feel more inclined to keep the tank if I had stuff on board which used water like a shower or proper wash basin, but despite how it was marketed for me a boat that small is camping on the water so a bottle, a kettle and a plastic washing up bowl are the most flexible and reliable options. I might feel differently again if I was moored on a pontoon with a hose nearby, but no such luxuries in the middle of a river. Generally I keep a few unopened bottles of value mineral water in a dark locker as they'll keep and take whatever I think I need for the weekend in the form of tap water, then take whatever's left away again so it can't sit there festering.

The description of your tank sounds much like my mk1 tank is without opening it up - a flat lid held down with sealant and many screws. So yes, a new ply lid (or perhaps even just a clean up of the existing lid) would give a bit more locker space.
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+1... 8 ltrs of mineral water for less than 50p in Lidl... storage space worth much more! :)
 
Fantasie 19 said:
8 ltrs of mineral water for less than 50p in Lidl...
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Pretty sure I heard somewhere that very cheap supermarket bottled water isn't of the "mineral" variety at all - it's just 'bottled' water, fresh from the tap. Filtered if you're lucky.

Presumably perfectly healthy for drinking and any other uses...but it ain't from a bubbling Alpine source, nor is it likely to have any beneficial minerals in.
 
dancrane said:
Pretty sure I heard somewhere that very cheap supermarket bottled water isn't of the "mineral" variety at all - it's just 'bottled' water, fresh from the tap. Filtered if you're lucky.

Presumably perfectly healthy for drinking and any other uses...but it ain't from a bubbling Alpine source, nor is it likely to have any beneficial minerals in.
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Worth buying to get cheap bottles to refill from the tap. Dual purpose if you buy fizzy water as get the fizz as well as the bottle.
 
I only buy the stuff for the bottle. If the Osprey doesn't get fixed this year, SWMBO and I will go to France on a raft of Cherry Coke bottles.
 
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