After a lot of work getting the 200 odd nuts off by unscrewing them or splitting them with a nut splitter or as in the case of 7 of them shearing them,I finally got the plates off the top of the fuel tanks.They were clean on the topside but rusty on the underside from condensation which I planned to grind off and when we have a nice warm day I shall apply 2 coats of epoxy.The keel bolts are covered by thin glass cloth which I think has been covered with a resin of some sort,I feel I should remove at least one keel bolt as after 50 years they could have suffered dezincification and be in danger of snapping,has anybody done this and how difficult was it?I should hate to drop that great lump of lead somewhere and try to sail home.
I am reasonably happy that the epoxy resin will adhere to the tank insides as it must be a least 10 years since Blackstar has had fuel in them and they are quite clean and odour free under the debris from the tank tops and I feel the epoxy will make them more impermeable to both fuel and water leaks.
Then hopefully I shall manage to get beyond the mouth of the Connecticut river this summer as I lay on a buoy last summer and only motored into a dock to take on water and charge batteries,but I was onboard during Irenes passing.
Philip Dann
I am reasonably happy that the epoxy resin will adhere to the tank insides as it must be a least 10 years since Blackstar has had fuel in them and they are quite clean and odour free under the debris from the tank tops and I feel the epoxy will make them more impermeable to both fuel and water leaks.
Then hopefully I shall manage to get beyond the mouth of the Connecticut river this summer as I lay on a buoy last summer and only motored into a dock to take on water and charge batteries,but I was onboard during Irenes passing.
Philip Dann