Dear Holly, The top on the starboard tank was cut away using an air chisel and cutoff wheel. All suspect areas on the outside were sistered on the inside with 1/8 steel plat welded in place. A new top was fabricated with a 1.5-inch turned down edge all around. This was welded from the inside. An access port 18X18 inches was cut into each of three compartments to give the welder access. All the thru-tank openings were replaced at the same time and a four-inch flange plate was added to one of the three access hole cover plates that were welded in place once the inside and top were finished. After evaluating numerous coatings, I decided to use Hammertite Rust Cap available from Home Depot. It is a great product requiring two coats to attain the proper thickness. Much less toxic than two-part epoxy and slightly easier to work with. The port tank looks to be in much better condition, so I will try the cold welding technique there, if necessary. The Belzona is very expensive, so I am experimenting with JB Weld. In the first test, I used Ospho to coat a scrap of rusty metal from the stbd tank. I then used JB Weld to glue a piece of good 1/8-inch plate to the scrap. It took my 10-year old son about a minute to break the weld at the Ospho boundary. This indicates to me that there is the possibility of water intrusion between the JB Weld and the Ospho-treated surface. Not suitable. I am now testing without the Ospho to see how it holds together. This weekend I will give it to my son for the "acid" test. All in all, I am very pleased with the welding job. No tank could have been in worse shape than this one, but it repaired very well. I have absolutely no qualms about its integrity. The reason for the problems in the first place was two leaks. One occurred where the water shield for the stbd air intake failed,letting blowing rain enter the air intake and fall on the forward end of the tank. Removal of the tank top allowed easy access (a relative term) to re-epoxy the water shield back in place. The other leak occurred at the fuel fill. I believe this leake was caused by a slight rocking of the tank during boat operations that transmitted a bit of upward pressure through the fill hose to the fitting, thus unmooring it. I am solving this potential problem by cutting wooden shims to place upon the tank supports to better seat the tank and prevent it from rocking on its supports. The costs to date are: welder $840 including ss spot repairs to railing and water tank and about $200 in out of pocket costs for tools and materials. The welder is highly recommended if you are in the Ft. Myers, FL area. I will keep you posted. -----Original Message----- From: purcels@attglobal.net [mailto:purcels@attglobal.net] Sent: Wednesday, May 31, 2000 8:25 AM To: Dale Hardin Subject: Fuel Tank Repairs Dale, It's been a while since we've heard how you're doing with repairing those wonderful old fuel tanks that we all have. Did you end up using Belzona to epoxy the new tops to your tanks? We've been replacing the old plastic opening ports in the stern of our trawler. New Found Metals out in Seattle makes a beautiful replacement. It's terrific to be able to easily open and close ports and then not have them leak... Holley Purcell Drumbeat 1985 Island Gypsy 44

Dale Hardin wrote: > > Dear Holly, > > I then used JB Weld to glue a > piece of good 1/8-inch plate to the scrap. For a more economical product get SPLASH ZONE as described in the archives. Does the same wrk as JB WELD but is much cheaper. CCC Charles C. Culotta Patterson, La. 95 Miles West of New Orleans On ICW