After five years, my 9.2A is out of the water. Now what?

[Mark Maulden]

I still have to ask the question...is there a placard on the tank with mfgr p/n etc? For the money you would spend with the welder etc, you could probly just get a new tank, from the same supplier by p/n, and be able to change the drawing for your input/out specs..mine was so easy. And.. Dont "weld up" your polishing holes..your polisher should have some covers to cover any "holes"....then, you can use them again.

 

[bugbitten]

Thanks, Mark. I saw your suggestion along these lines on another thread, but I couldn't find the current manufacturer. The name on the tank wasn't readable, but the part number, I'm pretty sure, is 1418. Do you know the name of the company who makes these now?
I also considered the Sceptre brand of tanks. They make a 14 gallon unit that looks about right. They come with the Wema fuel level sender, which I prefer. The one I put in the old tank is a bit short, and thus only reads down to the last quarter tank or so.

But nothing's quite so simple as keeping the original, and lord knows I've done a good job of complicating things already!

John

 

[Mark Maulden]

I'll try and look up the mfgr of mine in my files. My tank is under the Q'berth so it has some strange angles. If your's is cubicular/rectangular, then "anybody" could make it. I'm just not a fan of trying to " fix" a tank.. Wow, autocorrect didnt pick up on "cubicular"...Must be a word...

 

[woodster]

i think i have already cleared that up in the past ....the tank mfg that made the tank to start with is no longer in business ....but they did sell the plans and the company name to some outfit in colorado.....and i researched them out .....my conclusion was not to bother with them....

 

[Mark Maulden]

Same here except my old and new were from Florida

 

[bugbitten]

My tank was from St. Louis, Mo.

Got the 2" hole for the new speed log drilled this morning. I used Woody's suggestion of using the original hole's 1 1/2" saw stuck inside the new, larger one, to help center it over the existing hole. I wrapped the smaller one with painter's tape to help keep it centered. Worked very nicely.

Also set up a six foot scaffold to make tomorrow's start on the topsides' gel coat issues a bit easier.

Ordered some of the carbide Dremel blades for my multi-tool. I'll try to get brave and cut out the shaft log next week. Woody, would you go about three or four inches aft of where it enters the hull, or farther?

Discovered the main drain on the west side of the house is blocked. Clearing that will put a crimp in the boat work for a bit! It's usually the east side that gets stopped up. I've got a routine for that, but the west side is more problematic. Old houses can be even more demanding than old boats, particularly when it's the admiral's shower that's affected.

John

 

[woodster]

just cut the bonding material off the tube and try to leave the hull in tact as much as possible...don't try to cut a patch out...i am concerned that you may be getting in over your head some....so go very slow and think everything out ....the object is to save the tube and have very little hole in the hull so you can put it back with minimal work ......if your glass buddy is on top of things he should be able to give you some pointers and guidance that tube material is very expensive so try to save the old one for refit

 

[bugbitten]

"In over my head" is my middle name! Okay. I may leave the shaft tube to the pros. It's always nice for my survivors to have someone to sue if the boat sinks.

 

[woodster]

i suspect that is a wise choice..... i got a little cross eyed when i did mine ...not to say i am better than you..... just that i have made a lot of mistakes in my life..... and know how frustrating that can be.....

 

[bugbitten]

Mistakes can sometimes be the funnest (or at least the most educational) bits, but not below the boat's waterline!

 

[BobM]

If you can figure out how to get that tank out without removing a bulkhead you are one up on me! That's why I cut the darned thing in half. I went with a 12 gallon because it fit through the starboard locker. The indents for straps on the tank lined up perfectly too. Plus I still had 5 gallons of diesel in the tank from three years before so I felt I just didn't need the tankage. Sometimes I just have to weigh ease into the equation. It was cake to get the old tank out after I cut it in half!

 

[bugbitten]

What's the opposite of being "one up." I'm afraid I did the Gordian Knot solution and just cut out the bulkhead along the quarter berth and lifted the tank right out! Used an electric pump from a previous engine that was still part of the fuel loop to pump about 15 gallons of diesel into cans. I took the tank to my local aluminum welding shop and they said it was in too good shape to cut, so I guess I'm just going with it as is.

 

[woodster]

What's the opposite of being "one up."

that's called an automatic two down press

 

[bugbitten]

Here's an update of sorts. I've lined up a pro (who has, I think, a well-deserved, solid reputation) to resolve the alignment issue. I have to order a new prop shaft (since I cut the old one to get it out), then he's going to cut out the shaft log, loosen the strut, set the engine properly in the mounts, and then bring it all into alignment. I think I'm probably going to owe him about what the boat cost originally. He plans on putting in a new log, rather than use the old one. Oh, woe is me.

I had the local yacht club gel coat expert spend much of one recent Saturday showing me how to repair all the gouges, chips, and scrapes. I've got all the ones that were down to the fiberglass done, although there are plenty of minor ones I haven't touched yet. I decided to sand the entire hull, mostly focusing on getting the topsides smooth(ish). There were three rows of dark brown, adhesive pin striping that were failing, so I scraped those off and sanded that area. The brown gel coat boot stripe had black paint over it that was also failing, so I've started sanding that, too. The port side is just about done with the rough sanding with 120 grit. I've decided the yard owner will be a lot happier with me if I have a good solution for containing my sanding dust before I proceed with the 220 grit. (I made one of those dust traps from a 5 gallon bucket that was mentioned, I think, in Practical Sailor, but it screams like a banshee in the most embarrassing and excruciating way. I ordered a professional version from Rockler. Hopefully, it'll be less painful in operation.) The repaired gel coat areas look much better, but the color is not a great match, so I'm leaning toward (cover your ears for the cries of shock and outrage) painting. The current plan is to fully prep the transom, paint that, and see how it looks. As long as I don't get carried away with the sanding, I should be able to get back to gel coat, buff and wax that, and have the boat looking much better than it did (and be better protected) even if the gel coat isn't a perfect match, should I decide self-applied paint is not the way to go. I'll have to reapply the name after the transom's done, of course. It'll be a coin toss whether I go with silk purse or sow's ear.

There's more, of course, but them's the highlights.

John

 

[woodster]

add a little brown to your gel coat and see if you get a better color match and if you can stay away from painting if at all possible if i had not had so much black paint on the hull i would have done gelcoat restoration that factory gelcoat is relatively thick ...give that a chance first ...

 

[bugbitten]

The gel coat maestro mixed lots of yellow, and then tiny amounts of blue and brown. It came out too blue. I'm tempted to try yellow and brown and skip the blue to see what happens. It's getting so warm that the gel coat tends to harden very quickly, making the whole process not a ton o' fun. But just getting the shabbier bits taken care of and those old stripes off has helped the old girl quite a bit. Makes me more inclined to paint the spars and pedestal, as they are shabby, too. And then there are the port lights. The fun never ends!

John

 

[bugbitten]

Oh, and I was going to order the new turnbuckles, mainly because I needed to take advantage of no boat-related packages appearing on the doorstep for a bit. I was happy dealing with the Hayn folks when I redid all the lifelines, so I was going to go with their 1/2" 20 TPI open bodied, chromed bronze turnbuckles. They're only about $40 for the bodies, although about twice that if I want to replace the toggle jaw. I guess, since I'm assuming all the standing rigging is 36 years old, I should replace the toggle jaws, too, eh?

 

[BobM]

I'd replace it all.

Regarding painting. I'd suggest putting your effort into the prep work but paying for a professional to spray it. You can read all the roll and tip articles in the world. If you can't control the environment you are painting in you are unlikely to get a good result.

 

[BobM]

Regarding color match. We have my Great Aunt's 1964 Dodge Dart GT. From the factory it was ivory...almost a post it note yellow. My Great Uncle had the cheapest work done possible on the car over the years. I swear I never should have bought the darn thing them, but I always wanted it. Anyway, the last paint job has a greenish tint to it. I needed touch up paint so I took it to a paint shop that read the paint color with a spectrophotometer. It should have been an exact match. It wasn't even close. It is because color is all about perception. I told him "it always looked a little green to me". He added a touch of green and it was perfect.

 

[woodster]

i reused all my toggles as they were fine with no signs of damage and threads were in good shape