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Unknown tank


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Hi.

 

I'm in the process of ripping out my boats galley for a refit and came across this tank built in under the gunnel. Has anyone any idea what it would have been used for. It's approx 8 ft long and 10 inches high. 

 

Regards

basildefarmer

 

 

IMG_20210420_150424.jpg

IMG_20210420_150431.jpg

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25 minutes ago, Hudds Lad said:

back boiler water tank perhaps? is there evidence of a stove being fitted in that location?

No, stove never fitted there. It's adjacent to the bed which is in other position since built.

 

Thanks for the suggestion.

29 minutes ago, Mike Tee said:

At a guess, that's the outlet point for the tank - rip out a bit more of the wall and you may get the answer you are looking for! But you now have to come back and tell us what you found! With more photos!

Hi, yes the pipe goes from the tank to outside through a now seized gate valve.

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2 minutes ago, magnetman said:

Could it be a sediment tank for some sort of filtration plant? 

 

Take water from canal, leave it in tank to settle then draw contents through your filters. 

 

 

 

Hi that I can't comment on I would say it's part of the original boat construction Inc the late 70s or early 80s and there are no filters attached to it.

 

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52 minutes ago, Hudds Lad said:

back boiler water tank perhaps? is there evidence of a stove being fitted in that location?

 

8ft long backboiler?

Was there no insulation behind that lining or have you already pulled out sheets of expanded polystyrene?

Could it be a ballast tank to adjust the port/starboard trim? Just a wild guess.

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8 minutes ago, Basildefarmer said:

Hi that I can't comment on I would say it's part of the original boat construction Inc the late 70s or early 80s and there are no filters attached to it.

 

Does it take water from the canal directly ie below waterline. 

 

Other possibility could be a way of overboard discharging a toilet at a chosen time not immediately after use. 

 

A sort of holding tank but not in the pump out sense.

 

ETA if it were drawing water in close to the surface that would work well for the filtration idea. 

 

 

One of my boats has a small inlet and a sediment tank (not similar to that one) but filters were never fitted. 

 

I believe the intention was to fit an RO plant but until recently these have been very expensive.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by magnetman
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1 hour ago, magnetman said:

Does it take water from the canal directly ie below waterline. 

 

Other possibility could be a way of overboard discharging a toilet at a chosen time not immediately after use. 

 

A sort of holding tank but not in the pump out sense.

 

ETA if it were drawing water in close to the surface that would work well for the filtration idea. 

 

 

One of my boats has a small inlet and a sediment tank (not similar to that one) but filters were never fitted. 

 

I believe the intention was to fit an RO plant but until recently these have been very expensive.

 

 

 

 

 

Hi. The pipework is above the waterline and does not seem to have a way of taking water in from the canal. I like the idea of a holding water tank but that would require toilet waste to be pumped up into it but there doesn't seem to be any way of getting it into the tank and I would of thought that it could possibly make the boat unstable.

1 hour ago, blackrose said:

 

8ft long backboiler?

Was there no insulation behind that lining or have you already pulled out sheets of expanded polystyrene?

Could it be a ballast tank to adjust the port/starboard trim? Just a wild guess.

Yes lots of badly fitting polystyrene pulled out. The idea of a ballast trim tank sounds good but would that be better at a lower level so as not to impact an centre of gravity.

 

Thanks for that idea.

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As Mike said earlier they could be ballast trim tanks.

 

Seems likely. 

 

Only thing is if it's 8ft X 10 inches X 4 inch deep?  That would be 240x25x10 in centimetres so about 60 -65 litres per tank. Not all that much weight really. Enough to get boat level though probably.

 

If it was someone who was really agitated about having the boat exactly level they might even have had a clinometer on the boat. 

 

Any clinometers around?

 

;)

 

Edited by magnetman
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Hi. It is on the opposite side of the boat from where the pump out tank was originally installed. And the boat did list to port quite a bit when we got it, and less so even after I removed the po tank. I shall post more when I exposed the whole tank. 

 

Does anyone know if water filled trim thanks are common on narrow boats?

 

RussellBa

 

 

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2 hours ago, Basildefarmer said:

Hi. It is on the opposite side of the boat from where the pump out tank was originally installed. And the boat did list to port quite a bit when we got it, and less so even after I removed the po tank. I shall post more when I exposed the whole tank. 

 

Does anyone know if water filled trim thanks are common on narrow boats?

 

RussellBa

 

 

 

I hired a boat from IML at Anderton back in the 80's, that had a secondary poo tank, for use in the event that you filled the main poo tank before the end of your holiday.

 

I didn't need to use it, but recall being given the instructions in case I did.

 

Perhaps this boat had similar?

Edited by cuthound
Phat phingers
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FWIW: I don't think a long thin tank like this can be related to toilet waste.... it's on the opposite side to where the poo tank was, seemingly relatively high up, with quite a narrow pipe, exiting through the hull side.

 

Strange that, with all the experience, nobody here seems to have seen anything exactly like it before, to the point of knowing exactly what it is.

 

 

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Finally exposed whole tank. It's actually 10ft long. There are no other internal connections other than the pipe and valve down in the picture. However outside on the gunnel approx 1 ft along the tank away from pipework is what appears to be a water filler cap. Tanks seems to be empty. So maybe it is a trim tank.

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1 hour ago, Basildefarmer said:

So maybe it is a trim tank.

 

Could be handy... I have 3 x 56lb weights and a couple of old 28kg batteries on the starboard side to counter all the stuff that comes on board and seems to end up fitted, or stored, on the port side.

 

I wonder if there is a matching tank on the other side .... presumably, if there is, you would be able to tell by matching holes in side and gunnel.

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My mum's narrow boat had the pump out tank on one side, under the bed. 

 

We put a large (50kg) crane weight in the front well and moved it across to help a bit with the trim. 

 

Those water tanks look like a very nice solution. 

 

Any idea who built the boat? 

 

 

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18 hours ago, Basildefarmer said:

 

 

Does anyone know if water filled trim thanks are common on narrow boats?

 

 

Never heard of it before myself apart from some Aluminium Sea Otters which had below waterline water filled ballast tanks, but not for trimming.  It seems like you'd have to fill yours with water + corrosion inhibitor if it was ever used. Something like Ankorsol.

Edited by blackrose
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