Doug,

I am in for much of the same.  Ground out old rotten plywood sole supports which were tabbed into the hull.  I am going to use COOSA tabbed in around Moeller poly tanks in the center and ss custom fabbed water tanks in the wings.

COOSA is a fiberglass composite which never rots and tabs well.  only you cant screw into it so teak blocks will have to be throughbolted to hold the cabin sole together.  It is pricey but it doesn't need the labor of sealing with epoxy so it probably costs the same.

Fun stuff eh?

I was on Harmony yesterday and removed all three water tanks.  while the tanks looked passable at first glance, a more thorough inspections revealed failures at the baffle weld points, as well as heavy corrosion at the corner weld points.  Unfortunately, I had to pump a goodly amount of water out of the tanks, which indicates they were not properly cared for over the years:  New England freezing winters and all.

I was able to remove the tanks from their spaces and pull them up through the companionway by myself.  I was also able to lower them down to the ground with little trouble. I will use the existing tanks as templates for new tanks.  That construction begins next week, and the investment, while not slight, will be worth the price as I don't want to replace or remove them again!

While out, I will cover the existing floor members with epoxy/glass.  However, they are in very good shape for some 36 years of doing their job.  Per the recommendation of the tank maker, I will "glue" neopreme spacers under the tanks to prevent them from having direct contact with the hull:  this will also allow for some air movement.  Additionally, I will use neopreme cushioning on the topside hold downs to keep any hydrophyllic wood from making contact.

I am staying with the 3 tank / 200 gallon tank set-up as was originally designed:  2 @ 50 gallon saddle tanks, and 1 @ 100 gallon central line tank.  while we may add a water maker down the road, our sailing plans should be comfortably accommodated by the original set-up.

Ed, our W42 suffered a significant amount of internal water damage.  Thankfully, all of it can be fixed.  I believe most of the problems staredt small, but through neglect over the years blossomed into a serious issue.

The leak areas are many.  First, the deck fills were not maintained and lost all of the bedding compound and were basically just sitting in the deck hole.  Fortunately, no damage to the plywood deck core.  Second, on the stern deck there is a round teak plate which covers what may be on many W42s an access to a locker.  Well, on Harmony it is just a round plate that needs to be rebedded.  Third, several of the dorade boxes leak as a result of bedding compound failing:  an easy fix for a minor issue.  Fourth, and the biggest culprit is a leaky caprail.

During a rain storm the other day, I witnessed water dripping off of the self-tapping screws used to secure the caprail onto the hull/deck flange.  I can see both self tapping scres and through bolts with the through bolts being the hull deck fasteners.  On the aft quarters, sailtrack was through bolted, but I only saw dripping from the self taping screws.  This is good because it is nearly impossible to reach the sailtrack through bolts without a creative fabrication of an extension wrench or removing furniture.

Anyway, the caprail leaks destroyed the forward freezer bulkheak, the salon berth and ceiling, the aft galley bulkhead by the chart table, and a portion of the aft dinette bulhead.  Thankfully, all of this is a straightforward fix.

However, fixing the leaky caprail will take a little more work.  I have noticed a sizeable gap, say up to 1/16 of an inch between the caprail and the hull/deck flange plate on the inside of the bulwark:  there was some bedding compound, but it was spotty.  On the outside of the bulwark, the gap is not as wide.  The fix is two parts.  Part A is to chaulk the gap with a good urethane sealant:  I will be using a new product from SystemThree called SA 2100, which is a two part urethane adhesive chaulk.  This should both seal the gap, as well as provide some flex when the boat moves.  Part B is to rebed each screw that attaches the caprail.

Since I need to refinish the caprail, Part B is pretty much part of the deal.  I will drill out the bungs, unscrew, rebed with urethane sealer (perhaps not the tenacious adhering SystemThree product, but 3M 4200), re-screw, and re-bung.  The re-screwing with sealant should plug whatever leaks are not covered by the chaulking under Part A.

If that doesn't work, I will try to design an aquaduct like the Romans had in order to make a more positive usage of all of the dripping water!  Well, it must be the epoxy fumes!

Well, a long winded answer I fear, but I hope it helps.  The outside water seems to roll around the rounded edges of the caprail and follows the path of least resistance into the boat. I would suggest looking at the caprail for a gap like mine, as well as looking up into the bulwark:  you may see signs of water leakage.

One other area for leaking may be the stanchions which are bolted on the inside of the bulwark.  Although, I have not seen any leakage from those areas.

I will let you know how the Part A and Part B work.

Doug

 

Progress update:  All dividers for all tanks removed.  New dividers/floor supports maunfactured of Fiberglass laminated COOSA board with Alaskan yellow Cedar stringers to screw new plywood cabin sole into.  I am currently starrting the tabbing into the hull of the tank dividers.  ill take pics after everything is tabbed in.  Used polyester resin for the COOSA (much cheaper---$125/5 gallons vs. $450/ 5 gallons for epoxy).  Using the epoxy to tab to hull (stickier, easier to use, not as volatile---safer, and seals better as well as will tolerate moisture while curing unlike poly resins.

Fun project.  Lots and lots of hours.  Used plastic tanks---no rot.  Coosa no rot.  epoxy no rot.  Materials about 10k labor, well endless I suppose....

Hi Douglas and Edward, I have been following your H20 and fuel tank issues and just read the caprail notes. I have a W42 and  I am resealing the caprail. I am removing the the old calking which is a bear.. It is still very playable almost like gum and sticky. Do you have a good method of getting the old calking out. I am using a utility knife, screw driver, pick and chisels.. I am scraping the underneath outboard edge with the chisel, will sand, put some penatrating epoxy and rebed with polysulfide. I am using polysulfide b/c it is probably what was originally used, can be sanded and painted.