Long Term Hard Standing Storage. Fuel/water

[Scotty_Tradewind]

A friend of mine asks........

With long term storage ashore ( approx 18 months )would it be better to :-

1. fill diesel tanks full to avoid condensation or leave them empty to reduce the weight on the hulls pressure ponts from the supports? If left empty I was considering then blowing through prefilling, to dry out.

2. Drain both the raw water and fresh water systems to avoid having stagnant water left in the systems? I was concerned about having the seals dry out.

The engines are Perkins 4 236. All tanks are easily accessible and could be removed without too much difficulty.

thanks for your reply 'Moonshiner'. I put my posting onto the PBO Forum as it was poss' the best place for it
ta
Sotty

 

[Moonshiners]

Personally if the fuel tanks can be removed ("all tanks accessible and can be removed") with ease and stored in a "cool/dry" place then I would do that.

Water system, leave enough water in the pipework (sealed with some kind of treatment) to prevent drying out the seals and take the tanks home, cleaned and stored. then you only have to worry about flushing through what's left in the pipe when re-installing, and bleeding diesel system once after 18 months shouldn't be that big a problem, you'll probably be changing filters etc... anyway

Raw water system, not sure what the best thing to do engine corrosion wise.