Water and Fuel Tanks - Cargo Hold

When we finally removed some of the interior and the unfinished floor out of the cargo hold, this is what lay before us. 2 approximately 80 gallon water tanks. Unfortunately, there was some really interesting holes all throughout them. We have, for the time being decided to go with new plastic tanks that will be stored in this same area.

Looking down into the cargo hold facing aft from the deck. When we removed the closet that is at the top of the picture, we discovered yet another water tank, that had rusted through as well.

Blayde overseeing the removal of the 3rd water tank, to be placed on the ground next to the boat.

There she goes... Over the side!

What lies beneath :-) Here are the exposed bilges...
The boys always trying to make work time as fun as possible.

Another thing that we discovered was that under the water tanks there were 2 fuel tanks and a sump tank. This is an up close picture of the aft most tank.

After a easier than expected removal of a ton of bolts this is what we found under the fuel tank covers. All told we only had to dispose of 6 gallons of this fuel/water mixture.



Tamer devised a system to remove the fuel without too much mess involving a hose, a shop vac, some empty 1 gallon water jugs, and a willing test subject :-) Here is Blayde diligently working to remove the filthy residue that remained.

Tamer testing out the pressure washer for the first time. It worked amazing well for the 'first' layer of dirt, grime & rust...

Tamer, grinding away the 'second' layer of dirt, grime & rust in the bilges...

Blayde, mastering the use of the finger sander for the 'third' layer of dirt, grime & rust :-)

Well, well, well... Now we have learned most of what there is to know about Coal Tar Epoxy!

After much knowledge gathering, we decided that all the bilges needed to be coated with coal tar epoxy. It is REALLY disgusting, smelly, gross stuff, that I have mastered the application of :-) When you open a new gallon can, it is the consistency of thick, organic peanut butter. After stirring with a drill and paint stirrer for about 5 minutes, it is like brownie mix. Coal tar is a 2 part epoxy, like amerlock, and you then have to add the hardener and let it sit for 20 minutes before application. The most difficult part of application is the fact that it is soooo thick and heavy on the brush.

But isn't it beautiful when finished?? This is after the first coat, I applied the second the next day.

After the coal tar had a few days to cure, I was able to get the first coat of amerlock inside the fuel tanks. We believe that they had a coat of coal tar on them when we opened the tanks, but after doing some spot repairs to a little rust, we needed to re-coat them.



Here is Tamer beginning the spraying of the Cargo hold bilge, which we cleaned and painted up to the existing floor level.


The forward most section done! I have not yet taken a picture of the area completely painted, so you will have to use a little imagination.
Tip: If you imagine angels singing again,and the entire area glowing white, you will be close :-)