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Post by lollygagger on Jun 9, 2017 9:21:02 GMT
I have a tank built into the front of my narrowboat that holds 300 gallons. Pretty damn good!
But that's about all I know about it. It's 29 years old and the water comes out clear and untainted.
I can find no way to access it, theres no "lid" to remove to paint it inside (if it needed paint) and no record it's construction.
Is this normal? Perhaps it's stainless steel?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 9, 2017 9:37:29 GMT
In my experience (3 boats had built in tanks) there usually is a bolted down plate in the deck for access.
Who's the boat builder?
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Post by tonyb on Jun 9, 2017 9:50:06 GMT
Can you remove the steps or whatever that give access to the well deck and the remove whatever forms the "bulkhead" behind them. You should then see what the tank is made from.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 9, 2017 9:57:49 GMT
I have a tank built into the front of my narrowboat that holds 300 gallons. Pretty damn good! But that's about all I know about it. It's 29 years old and the water comes out clear and untainted. I can find no way to access it, theres no "lid" to remove to paint it inside (if it needed paint) and no record it's construction. Is this normal? Perhaps it's stainless steel? A stainless tank will often make a distinctive 'thump' sound as it nears empty - does yours do this? As for a hatch are you sure there is nothing in the well deck floor?? Ours was quite hard to spot when we first got the boat as it was well painted over, but as the paint wore away with use the screw heads gradually became visible followed by the hatch edges. |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 9, 2017 9:59:08 GMT
Maybe a magnet on a string would work? If it is a plastic or stainless tank it would not stick to the bottom (may stick a bit with stainless to be fair) if it was steel it would obviously stick happily. Another advantage is that if the bottom of the tank is rusty the magnet will come back up all cakky, giving a general indication of the condition. This assumes the filler is directly above the tank. Never tried this as I only just thought of it  |
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Post by Gone on Jun 9, 2017 10:03:23 GMT
Was stainless used for water tanks 29 years ago? You could get an endoscope (£30 give or take on ebay) and have a look inside for crud etc.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 9, 2017 10:13:43 GMT
Was stainless used for water tanks 29 years ago? You could get an endoscope (£30 give or take on ebay) and have a look inside for crud etc. Not sure about steel Narrowboats but we have hired cruisers older than that with stainless water tanks. |
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Post by lollygagger on Jun 9, 2017 10:15:56 GMT
In my experience (3 boats had built in tanks) there usually is a bolted down plate in the deck for access. Who's the boat builder? That's what I expected to find but it's definitely not there. Gary Gorton was the builder. |
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Post by lollygagger on Jun 9, 2017 10:19:53 GMT
I have a tank built into the front of my narrowboat that holds 300 gallons. Pretty damn good! But that's about all I know about it. It's 29 years old and the water comes out clear and untainted. I can find no way to access it, theres no "lid" to remove to paint it inside (if it needed paint) and no record it's construction. Is this normal? Perhaps it's stainless steel? A stainless tank will often make a distinctive 'thump' sound as it nears empty - does yours do this? As for a hatch are you sure there is nothing in the well deck floor?? Ours was quite hard to spot when we first got the boat as it was well painted over, but as the paint wore away with use the screw heads gradually became visible followed by the hatch edges. 300 gallons...I've never emptied it completely but no thumps. |
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Post by lollygagger on Jun 9, 2017 10:21:48 GMT
Can you remove the steps or whatever that give access to the well deck and the remove whatever forms the "bulkhead" behind them. You should then see what the tank is made from. Possibly and I think this is my only hope. I'll have a dismantle later. |
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Post by lollygagger on Jun 9, 2017 10:24:47 GMT
Maybe a magnet on a string would work? If it is a plastic or stainless tank it would not stick to the bottom (may stick a bit with stainless to be fair) if it was steel it would obviously stick happily. Another advantage is that if the bottom of the tank is rusty the magnet will come back up all cakky, giving a general indication of the condition. This assumes the filler is directly above the tank. Never tried this as I only just thought of it The filler isn't directly above and that's a potential problem in the making as I can't find access to the tank end of it if it ever needed attention. |
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Post by lollygagger on Jun 9, 2017 14:07:09 GMT
The bulkhead looked favourite, I was hoping to find fixings hidden under the brass threshold, but there's nothing... So I tried a bit harder to follow the filler pipe rather what turns out to be my bad memory. Oops. After unloading the locker of chains and the like what shouldn't have been a mystery is solved. Thanks for your ideas, I promise to look harder next time. Here are some pictures, everyone likes pictures. Filler...  Inside front cupboard...  Inside the chain locker, the missing link (see what I did there?  ).  So I have a plastic tank, I can get to both ends of the filler pipe and if the tank ever needed replacement I'd be stuffed as the boat shell is built around it. |
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Post by JohnV on Jun 9, 2017 14:19:29 GMT
If you had to replace you would need to do it big ship style.
Drydock, cut open hull and remove tank from outside. Replace tank and weld hull back up ...... job done.
Probably a lot quicker and cheaper than trying to get to it from the inside.
(I know that if I ever have to replace my tanks it will be, cut out the deck, crane out the tank, crane in new tank and weld the deck back)
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