Those pesky W28 water tanks

  • October 20, 2011 12:26 PM
    Message # 727952
    Deleted user
    Sad to report that the water tank on Siempre Sabado may have finally succumbed to the vagaries of age and sprung a leak.  That's the only source I can think of to account for the water in the bilge (10 gallons or so every couple of days), although, if the bilge doesn't quit filling pretty soon, I may have to rethink this as the water tank only holds 79 gallons.  I tasted the water (YECH!) and it's slightly salty as one might expect since there has certainly been salt water in the bilge at one time or another.  It also tasted oily due to the leaky fuel filter that I've since removed.  Pretty sure this is dirty fresh water I'm dealing with.  I've checked all the thru-hulls and the dripless seal: no leaks.

    So, I know a lot of W28ers have been faced with the same problem.  How did you solve it?  Were you able to remove the tank?  Whole or in pieces? What did you replace it with? If you left the tank in place and just put a new tank somewhere, where did you put it? What kind? Bladder?  Rigid plastic? SS?

    For those of you who don't know, the W28 water tanks are pretty big.  Near as I can see, they are fastened into the empty hull and then the fiberglass liner which forms most of the interior was dropped in on top of the water tank.  Then, the portion of the tank which was still visible was covered with a plywood deck that was glassed to the liner.  The whole shootin' match is located inconveniently under the settee.  Removal requires major liner-cutting surgery.  Why not just cut an access hole and put a bladder tank inside the old aluminum one?  Because the aluminum tank is subdivided into 6 compartments by an internal baffle system.

    I'm hoping someone has overcome this problem and help me get some sleep.

    -Steve

    6/10/2016: since Siempre Sabado is now for sale, I find some of these earlier posts coming back to haunt me.  So, to clear things up, we found that the water tank was just fine.  The leak was from a hidden hole in one of the engine's cooling water hoses, which has been fixed.  Please see my blog entries where the investigation and fix is discussed:

    Last modified: June 10, 2016 11:24 PM | Deleted user
  • October 20, 2011 2:01 PM
    Reply # 728019 on 727952
    Stephen Yoder wrote:Sad to report that the water tank on Siempre Sabado may have finally succumbed to the vagaries of age and sprung a leak.  That's the only source I can think of to account for the water in the bilge (10 gallons or so every couple of days), although, if the bilge doesn't quit filling pretty soon, I may have to rethink this as the water tank only holds 79 gallons.  I tasted the water (YECH!) and it's slightly salty as one might expect since there has certainly been salt water in the bilge at one time or another.  It also tasted oily due to the leaky fuel filter that I've since removed.  Pretty sure this is dirty fresh water I'm dealing with.  I've checked all the thru-hulls and the dripless seal: no leaks.

    So, I know a lot of W28ers have been faced with the same problem.  How did you solve it?  Were you able to remove the tank?  Whole or in pieces? What did you replace it with? If you left the tank in place and just put a new tank somewhere, where did you put it? What kind? Bladder?  Rigid plastic? SS?

    For those of you who don't know, the W28 water tanks are pretty big.  Near as I can see, they are fastened into the empty hull and then the fiberglass liner which forms most of the interior was dropped in on top of the water tank.  Then, the portion of the tank which was still visible was covered with a plywood deck that was glassed to the liner.  The whole shootin' match is located inconveniently under the settee.  Removal requires major liner-cutting surgery.  Why not just cut an access hole and put a bladder tank inside the old aluminum one?  Because the aluminum tank is subdivided into 6 compartments by an internal baffle system.

    I'm hoping someone has overcome this problem and help me get some sleep.

    -Steve


    There is no real easy solution such as on the W32.  You need to cut the top of the fiberglass over the tank to as large a hatch as possibly, but be sure to leave a 2" lip all around so you have something to bolt a piece onto when replacing the lid you just cut off.

    Cut the existing tank into pieces, and replace with two or more polyethylene tanks.  Hook them together, and fit the fill and outlet hoses.  Fasten down the lid with flat head self tapping screws after installing a wood, fiberglass, or aluminum lip around the opening.

    Bud

  • October 23, 2011 6:37 PM
    Reply # 730438 on 727952

    Steve, sorry to hear you may have a leaky watertank.  Just a thought...  Have you confirmed that it is not one of the freshwater hoses?  I had a hose chafe thru and as it was below the height of the tank it began slowly siphoning the tank into the bilge. 

    Does your 28 list to starboard when the watertank is completely full?  Both of the 28's I've owned have listed slightly with a full water tank.  I have thought that if I ever developed a leak that rendered the factory water tank unusable, I may consider installing a new water tank in the bow under the Vberth.  This would eliminate the need to remove the old tank, address my list issue and help offset the heavy stern my 28's always seem to have.  The old water tank could then be made into a storage locker accessed from under the settee. 

    Kevin 

  • October 23, 2011 9:59 PM
    Reply # 730588 on 730438
    Deleted user
    Kevin Donahue wrote:

    Steve, sorry to hear you may have a leaky watertank.  Just a thought...  Have you confirmed that it is not one of the freshwater hoses?  I had a hose chafe thru and as it was below the height of the tank it began slowly siphoning the tank into the bilge. 

    Does your 28 list to starboard when the watertank is completely full?  Both of the 28's I've owned have listed slightly with a full water tank.  I have thought that if I ever developed a leak that rendered the factory water tank unusable, I may consider installing a new water tank in the bow under the Vberth.  This would eliminate the need to remove the old tank, address my list issue and help offset the heavy stern my 28's always seem to have.  The old water tank could then be made into a storage locker accessed from under the settee. 

    Kevin 

    Kevin,

    OK, this is weird but I may not have a leaky tank after all.  Or any other leak for that matter.  Granted, while we were up in Puerto Escondido, I pumped the bilge a couple of times and got a lot of water out.  However, since we've been tied to the dock in La Paz, after I pumped some water out a couple days ago, the level in the bilge has not risen AT ALL!  Even though we pumped 40 gallons of RO water into the fresh water tank day before yesterday.  While cleaning the bilge, I inspected the bottom of the tank as well as I could using a flashlight, a mirror and a dry paper towel.  I couldn't find any evidence of a leak.  And the water that id pumped out before didn't show up in the engine compartment so I suspect it's not cooling water or water getting past the dripless seal.  I'm stumped.  As long as the bilge isn't filling up, I'm happy but I'm still stumped.

    Yes, when my water tank is full I definitely list to starboard.  I've also entertained the idea of a below V-berth tank.  Sounds like the best idea yet.  Hopefully I won't have to think about it for awhile yet.

    Still a mystery as to where that water was coming from though.

    -Steve
  • April 12, 2016 2:29 PM
    Reply # 3949741 on 727952
    Deleted user

    Well I've got her up on the hard cutting the blisters out and next thing there's water in the bilge. So I take Buds advice and cut the water tank up into pieces and take it out. Some feat this was as the damn thing is in there pretty good. Not to mention the previous owner has glassed the inside of the tank so I'm getting all kinds of itchy dust going on. After two weekends work ( did I mention I'm lazy) I have it out and guess what.... I return to find fresh water in the bilge. Bugger I have no idea how its getting in as she has no deck fittings to speak of. I'll get some plastic water tanks anyway and at least the water will taste better but can anyone point me to where I am getting in the boat? She has a fail angle on the deck and the water runs off pretty quick

  • April 12, 2016 5:50 PM
    Reply # 3949986 on 727952

    Rob , did it rain while you were hauled out . That happened to us once , the yard had the bow down a little in the cradle and the rain water came in through the anchor chain pipes .

    A little W28 humor... My buddy and I were sitin' in the cock pit of lil' ol' "Patricia A" the other day and he asked me , how do you know when your water is empty ? I said we list to port . Then he asks how do you know when it's full ? I said we list to starboard......  

    OK now for some W32 folk lore and I'm quoting Bud . A guy commissioned a W32 , he had a special monel  tank installed . Bud asked him what that tank was for , the guy said Vodka ...

    Last modified: April 12, 2016 5:52 PM | Anonymous member
  • April 13, 2016 8:10 AM
    Reply # 3951563 on 727952
    Deleted user

    I re

    I removed my 28's water tank as well. The inside was gross and it leaked. I have yet to replace. I would love to hear what size tank someone has successfully got in place. 


    Nick


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