My Whitby 42 Blog

I finally got up the nerve to tackle to center fuel tank of the Whitby 42.  The dreaded tank.  It was originally put in and packed with expand-a-foam to hold it in place.  Then fiberglassed over.  If water ever gets in past the fiber glass, it pits and corrodes the tank.  From pictures I took through a hatch I cut in the tank, I knew mine was not in good shape.   Another problem was the black sludge in the bottom.  I couldn't clean it out because of the baffles.  Very annoying.  But now the tank is gone. 

If I had to do it over again, I think I could do it in three hours.  If you live in Ontario and want help, let me know.
 
In the end, it took more time thinking and contemplating the entire ordeal than the job even took.  
Here is how it was put in:  Before anything else.  So it can't come out in one piece.

     
Step 1.  Cut off the drip pan.(in ONE big piece.  I did it in three pieces, over time, as I was thinking I wouldn't have to replace the tank.  Then cut the fibre glass tabbing off the tank and get out the black goo!  What is it??......I have no idea but it was the worst thing I have ever smelled in my life. (I was a stay at home dad....lots of diapers...and this was worse!)
 

Step 2.   Cut off the back half top of the tank.  Start at the access opening.  Go all the way.  My picture shows some strange cuts.  I had originally cut an access hatch to see into the back of the tank.   Then clean out the 30 year old sludge.  This pictures shows only SOME of the sludge.  I had done lots of cleaning before I took the picture.  Then I used a 14$ saw from the hardware store.  It is 16" long, and only 1" wide.  Sort of like a drywall saw but much longer.  It was great for going between the hull and the tank, cutting the foam away.  It didn't go all the way, but it did a lot ot help.
 

Step 3.  Cut the tank in half length AND sideways.  Cut out the baffles.
I originally only cut in in half sideways.  Then tried to hull it out.  It wouldn't budge.   Cutting it in half is the hardest part of this activity.  When you get near the bottom it is hard to get the sawsall in the right angle.  To go across the bottom I used the drill and put 15-20 holes in a line.  It was easier to drill as you only have to push straight down.  But to cut across, it is hard to get good angles and leverage.  I did learn that there is 3-4 inches of foam UNDER the tank so you have room to drill through and cut.   Cutting the half length wise is easy.  The back wall is tough however.  There is a thick piece of wood and thick fiberglass behind that.  I only cut half way down the back.  By cutting the tank in half length wise, the tank can twist and collapse in to make it skinnier as you pull it out.
 
In the picture on the left you see the first try I had to pull the tank out BEFORE I cut it in half.  The chain hook straightened, releasing the load,  and shot up and out of the boat.  Then, on the way back down the winch caught on something above and the chain swung back down, angled under the bulkhead I was hiding behind, and hit my face.  If I hadn't had safety glasses on I might only have one eye now (Pirate patches are over rated).  The glasses took the blow and drove up above my eye near my eye brow.  Now I have a nice black eye.  Could have been worse.  In the picture on the right, is the new winch and hook.  A 4,000 lb rated ratcheting wire come-along.  Worked great!

 Step 4.
Winch out the back half
Cut holes at least 5 inches below the top.  Twice I had holes 2 and 3 inches and the winch pulled through the 1/4 inch aluminum.  I had an already made beam (Another boat story for another day) to hook my winch to.  It is a 2x6 flat to spread the load and 2  2x8's.  The red rope is not an ordinary rope.  It is part of my tree climbing gear for removing trees.  It has a SAFE working load of 10,000lbs.  And it is doubled around.  Everything else would have broke first.


 
 Step 5
Cut the font half top off, Baffle, and cut it in half along the bottom.  It is easier to get access to the front half with the back half gone.  You get an extra inch or 2 from the foam being gone.  My cut didn't go all the way to the front.  About 80-90% of the way.  I used my skinny saw to cut anywhere I could between the foam and the tank.  This saw was great. About 16 inches long, but only 1 inch thick.  Like a drywall saw, only much longer.
In the picture below you can see the cut and the hole where the hook will go.

The foam is annoying and get in the way.  The front half of the tank is wider than the back half so make sure you cut the oil drip pan as wide as you can.  (Something I learned for next time......yah ...next time??)

 Step 6  Worlds Greatest Daughter !

There was a large pile of foam in the bottom of the bilge.  I couldn't reach it well, but my 11 year old daughter fit just right.  She scooped out all the insulation that was left.  A great helper.
 

THE TANK IS GONE  !!!!!!!  

Things I learned for the "Next Guy"

1.  Tools needed:
         Sawsall with 10-15 (make it 20??) blades
         Drill with a SHARP GOOD QUALITY  about 1/2 inch drill bit.
         Pry bar.  For getting foam off and prying sides away to loosen things up.
         Hammer.  Because every good job needs a hammer.
                     (if you get frustrated you can always just start pounding on the tank to feel better).  
         Good quality Winch / Come-along.
         Safey gear.  Glasses, Gloves, Thick pants and shirt. Shirt is key.  
                              You will be rubbing the top a lot as you cut the bottom.
         Patience

2.  Get everything else out of the way.
         My boat is completely gutted.  Nothing in it.  No wires, wood, plumbing, etc... so it was ideal.  

3.  The front and back of the tank are up against solid wood.  My tank really stuck to the back piece.

4.  Get a good helper for the last bit.

5.  If I had to do it again, with what I know, I would predict 3 - 4 hours to get the tank out.  
 Assuming:  Engine is already gone, hatch is gone, fuel tank is empty.

 Always wear your safety glasses.

  Nice eye shadow eh?

 

I almost left the seacocks alone and was just planning on adding some lube and away I go.  Glad I did not.  I have now taken all of them out.  12 of them, plus one other through hull fitting.  The Seacocks are the original 30 year old all bronze seacocks and they are in good shape.  A little green, but that is just cosmetic.  A few had steel pipes attached to them and have filled with rust over the year.  WHO DOES THAT!  Put a STEEL pipe BELOW the water line on an intake valve?    I removed 10 seacocks today, 4 bolts each.  Of the 40 bolts, 20 could not be taken off.  Either the nuts were frozen, or the heads were so stripped I couldn't grab them. I HATE SLOT SCREWS  WHY ARE THEY EVEN STILL MADE!  I will NOT put them on my boat.
 They are counter sunk into the hull so there was not way to get them.  So I had to cut off 20 bolts....or the nuts....or both.  Getting the flange off the bottom was also a challenge.  I tried drilling them out from the bottom, but it was too easy to slip and drill into the fiber glass, so a drummel it was and about 15 cutting disks.  
              I finally used my metric set of wrenches...by jamming one into the opening to catch the 2 small bumps on the outside of the seacock.  Then with 2 large wrenches I was able to twist them off.  Well all but three.  One was stripped and needed to be cut off...2 still need to be done.  I got tired.


Here is the Steel piece...looks sort of O.K. on the outside...inside is just rust.  Inside of seacock is covered with rust flakes.

 

 
Coming soon:  A picture of them all cleaned up....plus the other three I haven't gotten out yet.

I dismantled all the Barlow 27 winches.  One is missing (broken) main gear and the other lost a small axel bearing.

Both have the self furling upper jaw busted.  So in order to get new parts, You only have to contact Australia!
The Barlow company went under some years ago and this company bought the plans and still makes spare parts.

It is only $500 in parts. Only.  So I am looking at the possibility of just getting some new used winches.
 Not in a hurry on the purchase, but just planning ahead to what I will eventually need.

I finally got the OK from the doctor to not wear my sling and I can start doing more boat work, although slowly for the next month.  I have been spending hours and hours looking up and ordering parts that I will eventually need.  I found a local person to build me a new Aluminum fuel tank once I get the old on out, a somewhat local fabric supplier, to redo the main salon cushions, and lots of little bits and pieces.  I found a place that would sell me a full sheet of Teak vaneer plywood for only 1,200$. I passed on that one.

I have all the wood taken apart and Tara sanded most of it, now its ready to start putting new varnish on.  Just need warmer weather for that.  There is still wood in the boat that also needs to be sanded.  It seems to go on for ever.

I picked up my alternator and start motors.  1 rebuild of each, and 1 new.

I found a really cool product, Aerogels, ( http://www.aerogel.org/ ) the lowest density material there is for insulation.  R value or 30 for 1 inch.  However, it would cost THOUSANDS to do my ice box.  Instead, for $50, I will just use insulation from the hardware store.  The freezer/Ice box will be a bit smaller, but it was too big anyway.  Just have to eat more fresh Seafood.
 
I discovered you can buy all stainless steel chain for your anchor for only $5,000.  Passed on that too.  Only because it is not as strong as regular steel.........

For fun, I took apart the rusted engine blower fan.  $172 at West Marine.  It worked, so I sanded all the rust off, painted, cleaned and put back together.  Still works..... for now. (as usual, I forgot the before picture)

I have also been looking up Sound insulation.  I have 3 rolls of it that came with the boat, brand new in packages.  It will not be enough, so I was looking to see what was the best way to insulate the engine room.  I really want as quiet a boat as I can get.  Also, with known Motoring days ahead going down the ICW, it will be nice for everyone.

My new Frigoboat fridge system arrived......and so did a blizzard.  I guess that is a good sign...?
 
Looking into prop locks, vs. New propeller, or prop brakes......??? 

In two weeks, March break for the school, I will be sanding, grinding, cutting, and working like crazy on the inside of the boat.   Trying to get all the prep work done for painting bilges, varnishing, and Cutting out the dreaded centre fuel tank.

Below is a picture of how they installed the 120 gallon fuel tank.....they did it first.  Then expanda foamed it in.  I have heard it is very rewarding once it comes out........ See picture below.



  I had an Algea X magnetic fuel vodoo machine.  But I found a great use for it!!!!

 Nice magnet!

My 9 year old son helped me rebuild the Seaward 11 Gallon hot water tank.  It had sat in some dirty water at some time and the insulation was shot.  So we took it all apart, cleaned it up, rinsed is out and pressure tested it to see that the hot water ex-changer from the engine was sound and the tank didn't leak.  All was good there.  We bought a new pressure valve, Heating element (Should have taken a picture of it, looked like a coral reef with all the calcium deposits on it) and fittings for attaching the water.  The new thermostat and switch are in the mail to be attached later.

Old insulation is Yellow, new is pink.  We didn't take any before picture..oops.



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Dan my engine guy ordered a bunch of replacement and upgrade parts for the engine that have arrived.  Direct from American Diesel.  They have various parts that they have changed, modified and improved over time.  
Included are new barrings, rings, all the coolers and exchangers.  The old ones will be back up.  The Bright red parts are old engine parts that have been sand blasted, scraped, etc...and then repainted.  The entire engine will get the same treatment.  More pictures on this page:
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Still not allowed to use my arm much because of the broken collar bone, I am doing small projects to keep busy.
I took a look at the Hart Tank Tender, 10 tanks, and other than being a little dirty, it all works.  Tested it in some buckets of water.  Works great.  Didn't realize how expensive they are till I started looking up new tubing.  Much was lost when the boat was deconstructed and I don't know what went into what tanks.  So now I am looking for 1/8" nylon tubing.  It works with simple air pressure, no electronics.  But costs about $1,000.  Now I just need tubing.

This was actually in mid August.  Every hole was filled, as I am assuming I am putting in new things.  Every hole was drilled out with at least 1/2 inch, and if water damage I went further. Then all filled.  With holes I know I will need to redrill later, I put a small dimple so I could find them again after painting (thanks Paul for that super simple genius idea).  I painted with 2 coats of a 2 part epoxy paint.  A friend of mine is an avid sailor, Canadian Olympic sailor, and has been in the paint business for 40+ years.  Now retired.  He knows that some paint that are "Marine" just have a different label and a higher price.  This stuff was still expensive, $180 for the 2 gallons.  
I broke my collar bone soon after finishing the paint and forgot to take pictures.  Once the snow melts and the shelter comes off the boat I will post pictures.  I will be using Kiwigrip non skid paint.  Light blue.

I stole this idea from a few pictures and places on the web.  I built up small tubes that will house the chain plates to keep water out.  I made them by taking thin cardboard (cereal box), wrapping around the the chain plate.  Then a layer of wax paper, then wax.  On top of that I added 3 layers of fiberglass and used epoxy.  Then cut it to length on a chop saw.  Drilled out the holes bigger (A router would have worked much better....live and learn).  Epoxied them in and was done.  I did install them with the chain plates bolted in, wrapped with wax paper to make sure I didn't epoxy anything in.