Water Tanks

[Guy W. Leslie]

If spring ever returns to the north-I'd like to replace my fresh water tanks. I've searched the posts on this topic and feel that replacement is the way to go. I know Ronco makes a size that others have used on their 28 but even those get pricey w/shipping added in. What about the tanks from W. Marine? I'm not sure they come with a clean-out and after reading, I would prefer that method to fill, etc. Also, would there be a downside to Plastimo flexible tanks?
Once I decide, fitting will be another challenge and hopefully not too difficult. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Guy
'82 CD 28

[Ken Cave]

If your tanks are not leaking, why replace them??

I have a CD 28 built in l979 and still have one tank that is in perfect condition.
The other I took out many years ago to make room to store my goodies, like food, etc.

In the Northwest, all one needs is one tank and if careful, that tank will last a week without
a refill.

As the original tanks have an inspection hole that one can put a hand in, I just drain mine once
a year, then with a cloth take out any of the crud that has accumulated at the bottom of the tank.

If you are using "bad" water, you might try just a dab of sweetener for water which W. Marine
sells to make it taste better.

Hope this helps

Ken Cave
Dragon Tale

[John Martin]

It seems that I looked into doing this, at one time in the past, when we had our CD28. Cape Dory used off-the-shelf parts when they made our boats. You may be able to figure out who made the tank, and find a direct replacement. Somewhere in a dark-cobweb corner of my mind, comes the name Groco. Not sure if that is accurate or not. Remove the plywood cover and inspect the tank to see if there is a name on the tank. Measure the tank carefully. Is it off-the-shelf, or is it custom. This will help in your WEB search. I would even suggest, cutting out the existing clean-out port (inspection-port) and installing new one that is larger. You could do this on a new tank or even the old tank.

John

[Terry]

During some winter research, I looked at some options to replace Cassandra's (cd25) original tank. While it's not bad, it's too small for my future plans. I liked the bladder tank that's available that would hold 30 gallons, fitting nicely in the same space the original takes up. The manufacturer's name escapes me, but might be plastimo.

Here on the lake, I have water in gallon jugs, so don't use the tank. Neither did the previous owner. But if I did need to use it, I've seen some write ups on using a cleaner that rocks around to loosen crude, then as suggested, reaching in and cleaning it out seems a good way.

As for making it drinking safe, there's a formula available for using bleach--ounces per gallon--to make the water potable. I don't recall it. It's searchable on the net. My father, while traveling in his RV, always added bleach to each fill of his tanks. He learned the hard way to never trust water sources.

All the best.
Terry

[Jim Cornwell]

Use plain old household bleach to treat water - but use it sparingly or it may corrode any metal fittings in your system. I found that out the hard way! Jim.

[rorik]

I replaced both tanks on Mathilda; they were toast. They were cracked and no amount of cleaning would get the water to taste like water.
Ronco Plastics in CA has a size that fits pretty close to the originals (25gl vs. 30gl) for about 1/2 or 2/3 the price that the OEM wanted.
The only difficult difference is that the original tanks have a groove in the underside to center them on the liner, and Ronco's tanks don't.

http://www.ronco-plastics.com/

[Guy W. Leslie]

Thanks for all the replies. This board amazes me! A couple things I didn't mention: The original tanks have capped ends-forward side of the tank. When attempting to check them out last season, my hand bumped one of these and it easily broke away from the tank. (I'd read where this could be due to pipe sealant used). That's when I thought it was time to replace. The other issue is that I really don't need them so much for drinking water, just to wash my hands occassionally. Since I don't do extended cruising, it's not a big deal to carry a jug of drinking water.
Ken has me thinking though. Maybe if the other side is serviceable, all I'd need is one tank filled at a time.
Anyway, something to entertain me while waiting for this winter to go far away!
Thanks,
Guy

[David van den Burgh]

Hey Guy,

Here's another item to add to your musings: We have a Whale Gusher foot pump plumbed into one of our seacocks, allowing us instant freshwater without depleting our drinking water supply. We use it to wash our hands, rinse dishes, and I've even made the occasional bowl of ramen with it (daring, I know .

If you have an unused seacock (as we did) you might consider tapping into it, if drinking water for extended trips isn't your need.

David

[Steve Laume]

Raven has a pressure water system and a fresh water foot pump. We are always very careful with water consumption but regulate it with the faucet rather than using the foot pump. I always viewed the foot pump as a back up to the pressure system.

The fact that it was there and unused got me to thinking about how it could serve a better purpose. I disconnected the intake line to the fresh water manifold and capped it. Then I teed into the engine cooling water line. I know this is controversial. It was very convenient to tie into a sea cock that was already there with a strainer in place. To prevent any potential problems with the engine drawing air back through the foot pump a valve was installed just inside the sink cabinet. This is shut off when the engine is running and opened when you want to use the foot pump. If the pressure system were to fail it would simply be a matter of switching the intake lines to the foot pump. You could even have them both connected with a tee but I chose to keep the water supplies totally isolated. While we do sail in salt water, I use it for most all of our washing, with a frugal fresh water final rinse and even to brush my teeth. This saves a tremendous amount of fresh water.

Our water tanks are not always as spotless as I would like to see them. A shop vac is useful in cleaning out the last of the dregs before filling in the spring. Even so we could detect the tank taste in our water. Our water line already had a little strainer to pick up any chunks. What I did was to add a small household filter with a charcoal element. This has made a huge difference!

Water management is an ironic problem when we are floating in the stuff, Steve.

[bottomscraper]

There is a solution to dirty tanks and smelly water. "Star brite Aqua Clean" or "Camco TastePURE Spring Fresh" Yes this stuff is a bit more expensive than bleach but it works much better. It is much cheaper and easier than replacing tanks and hoses. Both contain quaternary ammonium compounds widely used in food processing equipment sanitizing.

See my old posts:
http://www.capedory.org/board/viewtopic ... 83#p165897
http://www.capedory.org/board/viewtopic ... Aqua+Clean

[Brian2]

The tanks (port and starboard side) are 30 gallon Kracors. The boat was built in 1987, and we haven't had any problems with cracking. http://www.kracor.com/pages/marinecatalog.html

[Guy W. Leslie]

David,
That's an excellent idea...I wish I had an extra seacock. Let me know if you'll be sailing north this summer.
Guy

[David van den Burgh]

David,
That's an excellent idea...I wish I had an extra seacock. Let me know if you'll be sailing north this summer.
Guy

I suppose you could T it off of the head intake. That's probably the best option if there isn't a free seacock. (I'm not really sure why Ariel had an unused seacock. It's now doing double duty as a wash down intake and freshwater foot pump intake.)

I'll let you know if we head up your way!