Water Tanks.

[kohaku]

Had to hi tail it back to Dubai after almost getting out of the Gulf.
Problem is water tank leaking on my Sigma 33.
Will have to use local construction. Possibly stainless steel or epoxy ply composite.
Any advice on materials, construction and, if epoxy, what internal coating might be needed.
Also find that pressure build up is enormous when filling. Breathers are clear. It looks to me as though the tanks need to be massively constructed especially in heavy weather.

 

[dickh]

Can you get the water tank out, locate the leak and then fibre glass it? I have done this successfully on a small tank(10 gallons) but still had to cut the bunk about to get it out. Or cut a large access hatch and put a purpose made flexible liner it it.

dickh
I'd rather be sailing... /forums/images/icons/smile.gif

 

[kohaku]

Hi Dikh
I got the water tanks out and had already welded the polythene together with a glue gun. I then epoxy glassed outside to take the strain. On inspecting the other tank, the seam was also out of alignment and an obvious source of weakness so I decided to have two new ones. A boat engineer assured me the way to go was epoxy. He charged me an arm and a leg for them and assured me they were perfectly safe and extremely strong. I put to sea and found they were leaking. When I got back to Dubai we found the leak was the inspection hatches which were just glued in with Sikaflex. A shop assistant told the guy that Sikaflex doesn't stick to ABS plastic. At this point I realised that I am a victim of the thick brown stuff and put out the enquiry. At the moment I'm gonna put to sea with them but I am worried about long term contamination. Do I bin them and get some stainless ones put in when I get to my next port of call.
It is wonderful to be able to call on the collective wisdom of the sailing community when being so isolated and relatively inexperienced. I hope to have a few more replies when I next get to my e-mails in about three weeks time.

 

[spark]

Have you considered fitting flexible tanks inside your existing tanks? Could be the quickest/cheapest solution. You might have to cut the tops off the old tanks to remove the baffles (if any are fitted) but you can easily glue them back on again.

You can buy flexible ones online and get them sent to you, e.g.

http://www.seamarknunn.co.uk/catalog/subcat171.htm

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.qei.co.uk/spark>http://www.qei.co.uk/spark</A>

 

[harvey]

Are those tanks polyethylene? ... sort of greasy white plastic? If so then I've a feeling that they can only be repaired with heat. Best bet as a temparary measure has got to be to fit flexible tanks even if it means cutting tops off the existing tanks and then repair properly when you hit civilisation. Hope you've taken some portable water tanks with you as well!!
Good luck
John

 

[poter]

Hi,
I was in Dubai up to 4 years ago, where you sailing to???
I still have some contacts there if you need some help?

poter.