Passage 42 water tank

[Moondarra]

My 1990 Passage 42 port side water tank seems to be leaking.

I have had the dubious pleasure of replacing the aluminum holding tank and this tanks seems to be substantially more difficult to access/replace. It looks like the hot water heater would have to be removed, the port bench disassembled and my fridge and freezer compressors removed.

If anyone has had to replace this tank I would greatly appreciate advice or comments regarding this tank replacement.

Cheers,

Jim

 

[timvg]

Your boat is most likely set up differently than ours, but I thought my 40.5 port water tank was leaking (because of the water I kept finding under the floor boards). Turns out, it was a small leak in the bottom of my 10 year old hot water tank, and the water just happened to drain back to the port tank area.

 

[eianm]

I have just done this on my P42 in December. Not such a bad job, but some tips;
1) to access tank (if you have not already done so) remove the sole ( floor) section in front of the 2 seater settee. 2) After all screws are removed slide it out on the RHS first- you need to do a bit of a twist to avoid jambing on the cabinet for the sink cupboard. Once floor panel is clear of this cabinet then simply pull back and it stand up- I left my floor section standing in the doorway to the front cabin, leaning against the door.
3) You now have access to your tank- centre hull cavity. Mine was installed with that horrible expanding foam- that was a bitch! I found an ordinary wood hand saw worked fine to break the seal between tank and foam and hull and foam. I then cut small sections of foam out progresively using a hand held hacksaw blade until it was pretty much all out. Before you can remove the tank you should empty every last drop out- I used a wet dry vac- unpleasant job, but at least I avoided more unpleasant spills when moving out the tank. The breather hose in the rear is a bit tight to get to , but you must remove this before you can remove the tank.
I used a Ronco Plastic tank- off the shelf and a great product, from very helpful people and cheap! See my post on big boat forum head P42 electric head upgrade for more details.