`Funny you Should Mention It ....
I am now in the process of doing a mock-up of a tank to be made up of welded 3/8" poly. There are two companies that I've found that can do it. Dura-Weld in Jupiter Fl, and C. C. Tech in Rhode Island. (Bert, 401-784-6168) who seems to me to be preferable because of better process and they are willing to be flexable. The custom tank, which will be a squeezed wedge shape, will be mounted UNDER the floor of the cockpit sail locker. In my case all that was in there was the fresh water pump, which was easy to move, and the inlet sea-cock for the head, which took a wee bit more work to move. The through hull went to the area just opposite of the engine cooling water through-hull, which is more convenient anyhow. All sea cocks are shut off any time I'm not on the boat, and that location allows me to get both at the same time. There was a triangular piece of 3/4" plywood glassed in at the bottom against the hull that I removed to get that little extra bit of volume and a simpler shape. (Picture a spinning carbide tooth saw blade 1/8" from the hull with the boat floating in icy water!) The floor of the sail locker has been cut away, again to a shape I can't describe, so the tank will drop all the way down against the hull, thereby using about 25 gallons worth of space that was otherwise totally wasted and is actually close to perfect for the waste tank on a 33. It's close to the boat's centerline, not so far aft as to add to stern squat, is close to the toilet (just on the other side of the bulkhead) and on the same level so as to require minimal pumping to clear the hose while flushing, and once the floor is back in place is virtualy non-existant as far as lost space. Size and shape of the tank are to a good extent being determined by the sail locker opening. I had intended to pull the fuel tank to slide the tank across and drop in, but available depth that way would be only 11 1/2", where the locker opening will allow about 14". The new tank should measure in the vacinty of 37" long, 22 1/2" across at the forward end, 14" across at the aft end, 13 1/2" deep at the front, 5 1/2' deep aft. Remember, this is a wedge shape that NONE of the stock makers like Ronco have in their catalogs. Nothing they have comes even close to fitting. The bad news is that the custom tank ballparks at about $400.00. That's not so terrible for not having to loose otherwise useful space, and not having to sleep over a sloshing tank of poo! If you're looking for me this weekend I'll be down in the sail locker cutting and measuring and plotting! I may even take pictures.
