• Registered: 2005-07-02
  • Posts: 8

Topic: Water Tank

Christopher ...
The water tank on my 1973 Contessa (#61) was pumping out tiny chips  of white stuff, like old flaking paint or perhaps chipping fibreglass. I could've re-epoxied the inside but I hate working inside with all those chemicals, not to mention working upside down trying to insure that everthing was coated.
      So  I installed A FLEXIBLE WATER TANK -- Plastimo, 6 gallons purchased on the web for about $48 I think (www.plastimo, etc), their smallest. They also have a 10 gallon but I don't really need that. These water tanks are built of very heavy material and have a heavy duty outer cover that keeps the chafe away from the rubberized tank. The fittings are also impressive -- good quality, nicely fitted heavy plastic. I was persuaded when I learned that Alaskan fishermen routinely use Plastimo flexible tanks for their fresh water supply ... and sometimes for spare diesel supply. (hmmm)
The six gallon fit fine inside the old tank. I cut the existing 6" diameter inspection hole to 10" (ooops, was it 12"?) and installed a new plastic inspection port, readily available from any marine store/supplier, the kind that screws into a base that, itself, is screwd into the top of the water tank. I rolled the flex tank tightly so it could get into the tank, unrolled it once inside and flattened it out. I then attached the intake and output hose fittings (should've done that before I inserted the tank, sigh). Then I attached the input and outflow hoses (using stainless hose clamps), filled the tank and watched for leaks. I used the existing deck mounted fill hose since it was handy to fill the tank via a deck plate  from a gas dock hose. The Plastimo fill-fittings accomodate only a 3/4" hose, I believe, while the old deck fill hose was about 1 1/2" so I pushed a new 3/4" hose thru the old hose.   
     The flexible tank has worked fine, sans leaks.
Don Chambers (captnemoATku.edu)

  • From: Montreal
  • Registered: 2005-04-22
  • Posts: 259

Re: Water Tank

On my 1976 JJT, the polyethelene water tank was under the forward end of the port quarter berth.  However, water was frozen in the tank before my time with the boat and the area around the hose fitting was badly split.  I tried to repair with goop but only succeeded in flooding the quarterberth.  I sourced a replacement but (wisely) tried to remove the old one first.  After dismantling most of the the galley and berth area I came to the conclusion that it would not pass out the hole under the sink so I cut it into about half a dozen pieces and removed it.  (Aside:  having fought with the tank for a day it was a most cathartic and satisfying bit of deconstruction!) 

Right now I sail with bottled water but at some point I should install some sort of a tank system.  Last year I tried 5 gallon water cooler jugs but found that they were too awkward to handle.  My latest idea is to build a bin to securely hold 1-2 litre drinking water bottles and carry as many as needed.  The downside is that it takes a lot of bottles to make up the 20 gallons that the tank held.

Any thoughts on water tank arrangements?