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Water tank repair


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My bow water tank has a pinhole leak and loses water into the bilge. This was found immediately after having the water tank stripped, cleaned and re-painted with standard potable paint. That should mean that the tank was rust free before painting.

I am looking at possible means of repair and have found: Specialist Coatings who have effected repairs on narrow boat water tanks.

Their product is a three layer non-toxic, (sort of) fibre glass loaded paint, conveniently in three different colours to aid application. No toxic or unpleasant vapours during application.

Does anyone have experience of:

Using this product?

Opinions about the product?

 

Thanks Colin

 

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Sounds like an integral tank to me and I very much doubt it was rust free before painting. I think its a rust pit that simply got too deep and the prep unsealed it. I would have thought a welder would be the best option, possibly to over-plate the whole of the bulkhead area. However that ignores the fact the rest of the tank could be well pitted. The question is (if its an integral tank) how willing is the OP to risk drinking canal water?

  • Greenie 1
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1 hour ago, Tony Brooks said:

Sounds like an integral tank to me and I very much doubt it was rust free before painting. I think its a rust pit that simply got too deep and the prep unsealed it. I would have thought a welder would be the best option, possibly to over-plate the whole of the bulkhead area. However that ignores the fact the rest of the tank could be well pitted. The question is (if its an integral tank) how willing is the OP to risk drinking canal water?

 

exactly.

 

by the way, a single hole (not associated with rust) can be fixed with water friendly epoxy putty.  Milliput is one brand that comes to mind.

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Thanks for your comments. I should have stated that the tank is part of the hull. I have not been able to work out exactly where the leak is. I would need to refill the water tank to find out. I might try a hammer test on the bulkhead to see how bad it is. A job for when we can travel after the COVID restriction lift.

 

Colin

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39 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Good old Kettle repair

I can just about remember a tank repair kit which consisted of some washers and screws for just this purpose.  I think they even sold them in halfords-type shops to repair  fuel tanks,  in the  days before the MOT came along and spoiled everything for the DIY mechanic....  

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The problem is that while you can probably fix this leak it is only a sticking plaster solution. Your tank is now of an age where there has been extensive corrosion, so it is probably pretty thin in other places too, and more leaks are likely. And as Tony points out, if the outer plates are thinning you might get canal water contamination of your drinking water (but that might mean you don't need to spend so long on the water point!).

So while you can do a short tem repair now, you should be thinking about a longer term solution. Options could include cutting out and replacing any thin plate (internal and external) - a job for when the boat is next out of the water for survey and blacking. Or perhaps replace the integral tank with a separate plastic or stainless steel internal tank.

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