I left the alternate fill pipe and vent for the second tank in tack so that if the primary leaks we can shift it to the secondary tank fill and vent.
A good day at the shop.
Captain Al Lorenzetti
Babylon Boat Works |
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The almost finished product. Tank coffin cover on and epoxy with cabosil layered to fill the void. We decided to lock it in as all sealants like silicone, 4200 etc all shrink with time and let water in. This will keep it all out and if we ever need to remove the hatch we can do it with a skill saw and a pry bar. You can always fix what you messed up on the first time. There is always a way. Here is Pete drizzling some epoxy slurry into the void of the coffin cover and the main deck Pete the chemist mixing the West System epoxy and fluffing with cabosil. All tank fittings and hoses connected and ready for the cover. The only one remaining is the pick up tube but that can be done later after painting. We engineered a pressure test kit to check the integrity of the full pipe. On my boat one of the pipes running from the deck fill to the tank was ruptured and gas would leak. We wanted to make sure that it was not broken so George made up a system of plugs and air pressure to make sure the fill we are using is not cracked. I left the alternate fill pipe and vent for the second tank in tack so that if the primary leaks we can shift it to the secondary tank fill and vent. A good day at the shop. Captain Al Lorenzetti
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We foamed the tank into place with 4 pound foam from U.S. Composites. This foam is hard as a rock and will not absorb water. It is locked into place and we are now ready to install the coffin cover. Pete Johnston will do that tomorrow and seal the seam with cabosil filler. We will counter sink the coffin screws and also seal them with epoxy so that no water can enter the tank area. Here is Carlos working his butt off scraping the bottom of the boat by hand. This is the only way that all old paint can be removed without damaging the gel coat finish. He uses a hand scraper to remove old layers of paint and then sands with 80 grit to get it down to the gel coat with no voids. This is the business end of the tank all organized to be within the opening of the inspection hatch of the tank coffin cover. Fill pipe, pick up tube opening, sender opening and vent pipe left to right. All connections will be made with top quality components. Tomorrow I will install the vent and fill hoses and sender. I will complete the pick up plumbing when the boat is back from painting. Today we installed the new gas tank. It was a big job but we got it done. The new tank made by Phil at Alloy Welding fit like a glove. It is 115 gallons and powder coated. Here it is nestled into the coffin and screwed into place waiting for the foam bedding. Today we got Pete Johnston into action. He is the master of fiberglass. Pete sanded all the dings and holes and then applied cabosil and began plugging all holes. Tomorrow he will continue the process. I sanded what teak will be put back on the boat, the anchor locker hatch, console hatch, console radio box and the trim for the console glove box. The outside fittings for the lower drain, the Garboard drain plug to empty the bilge when out of water and the upper drain farthest to the right. All through hull and through bait well mushrooms were bedded with 5200. The two fittings on the upper end of the well for incoming and outgoing are Marelon. 1/2 inch for incoming water from the pump and 1 1/4 outflow for the top drain. This is a shot of the two drains for the live well. The one on the left is the passive drain from the bottom of the tank. It is 1 inch diameter. I installed a one inch extra length through hull bronze mushroom with full flow Groco ball valve and full flow nipple and connected the hose to the bottom drain of the tank. On the right is the passive top drain. This drain keeps water from flowing out of the lid of the bait well under pressure from the pump. I did it in 1 1/4 inch to make sure the water would flow well with minimum pitch. It works great on my boat so I am sure it will work on Tony's boat as well. For the water pick up I installed a clamshell South Bay Strainer through the hull with a half inch sea cock ball valve and 5/8 high pressure tubing. I did a bunch of work on Tony's boat the past few days. It was all about plumbing. Here is the bait well pump installed in the aft battery box on the port side. This pump has served me well over the years. I run it all day and it lasts for years. It eats up seaweed so there is never a plugged up pump. Removing the gas tanks from Tony's boat or any boat is a tough job. They are locked in by foam and there is only about one inch of working space between the tank and the coffin. The best tool is a sawzall. We had two 12 inch blades tack welded together to make a blade 16 inches long. This made the separation along the walls. We then needed to pry the tank loose from the foam on the bottom. This is the big tank and it was easier than the small tank. For the small tank we could only work from the top. Once it was removed then we had access to the bottom edge of the larger tank so prying it loose was not as tough. George removing all old wet foam from the coffin to clean it up. Job all done, tanks out and ready for a new single 120 gallon tank. I continue to work on Tony's Mako. Today we accomplished a major feat. We removed the main tank and finished the boat deconstruction. You can see that the tank coffin is in great shape and ready to receive the new tank from Alloy Welding. There is a lot less to do on this job as compared to my boat last year. Tony's boat had solid floors, transom and bow casting platform. Now what remains is for Pete Johnston to do all the fiberglass patch work which is pretty extensive and then sand everything to make it ready for Awl Grip paint. When it comes back from paint at Perfect 10 paint shop we will put her back together. It is a tough job to remove the tanks but we came up with a new innovative tool. We spot welded two 12 inch sawzall blades together to make a total of 16 inches. This blade was able to cut all the way to the bottom of the tank coffin and free the tank. We just had to pry bar it to break it free from the underlying foam. I then cut two access hatch ways in order to get at the fill lines and vent lines. It was a tough job but worked out using a saber saw and the never outdone sawzall. When I chipped away the foam it revealed badly corroded and brittle hoses. I removed the hoses and fills and vents. Cleaned up all the area so that we are now ready to install the new fill cap and vent. We will only use one of the two sets of fill pipes and vents. We will replace the 80 and 40 gallon tanks with one 120 gallon tank, one fill and one vent. We will leave the other set intact in case the connected ones ever fail. We can always switch to the other leads. These openings will be covered with deck hatches and they can also serve for storage of small items. Vent tubes and vents to outside of hull. fill pipes with grounding wires. We will use the aft pipe or the one on the left. I had to cut the long rod storage tube for access but will patch it back together. We will pressure check the fill pipe and hook it all up. This is a shot of the main tank. I had signs of extensive pitting and we were able to smell gas odor. I believe there was a pin hole somewhere that was just seeping a little gas but the foam was keeping it to a minimum. We are having Phil from Alloy Welding in Farmingdale making the new tank along with the new bow rail and console handrail. Another great day at the shop. This is the forward 40 gallon tank sender unit with the vent hoses around it. Water and rust. Really ugly. This is the main aft tank sender unit submerged in water surrounded by wet foam. Today I got into the gas tank work. I removed the coffin lid and discovered a really ugly mess. The senders were rusted and covered with water that was trapped in the foam. The foam was soaking wet especially in the aft area. I probably removed 150 pounds of wet foam just from the top of the tanks. I removed all the foam which was tough work, so as to expose the fill and vent piping etc.. Fill hoses, clamps and foam was in bad shape with lots of corrosion. I had to hand cut the old original rubber hoses which were steel reinforced. This was a tough job and took a while. We started the boat project. We have another 23 foot Mako 1979 to refurbish. The boat belongs to my friend Tony Daidone and he wants it restored and looking good. The boat is in real good shape structurally but just needs some finishing and updating.
We are into it pretty good with all hardware, wood and console removed. |
23 Mako Dec 2010This boat was a complete reconstruction. New fuel tank, all fiberglass repaired, new wiring, all new hardware and plumbing, starboard replacement of almost all original teak, new console new rub rail, grab rail, trim tabs, live well system, leaning post, complete bottom sanding and painting with Micron Extra and a complete Awl Grip paint both topside and hull. New Lowrance electronics and a new Mercury OptiMax engine with new gauges and harnesses were added to finish the job. Archives
March 2011
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