Last summer, we noticed that our drinking water became undrinkable very soon after filling the tank. Water that tastes like earth is simply not to our liking…
- Inspection
- Water tank: removing the sealant
- Guess it’s time to take the water tank out of the boat…
- Water tank welding work
- Do the grinding work on the water tank today after all
- Water, welding, water, welding, water…
- Water tank watertight
- Thinner does the magic
- Drip… drip…
- Make it neat
- Tidying up!
- The water tank: final episode!
Inspection
feb 18, 2018
So, it was time for a water tank inspection. Dealing with all those bottles isn’t ideal either—you keep refilling them, and they roll around the boat 😉
The inspection didn’t exactly make us happy. There are just some things you’d rather not find in your drinking water tank:
Rust, for example…
The inside of the stainless steel (RVS) water tank has been ground in various places, and after several years of use, these areas have started to rust. The weld seams were sealed with a brown sealant that no longer looks very fresh… and rust is seeping through it as well.
The solution? Sanding, polishing, and pickling the rust spots. Plus, cleaning, smoothing, pickling, and, if necessary, resealing the weld seams with a drinking water-friendly sealant.
To start, we unscrewed the baffles so we could reach everything properly. To be continued!
Water tank: removing the sealant
march 4, 2018
Guess it’s time to take the water tank out of the boat…
march 10, 2018
Water tank welding work
march 11, 2018
Do the grinding work on the water tank today after all
march 17, 2018
It’s sooooo cold this weekend. What a disappointment! Last week we could work comfortably, but now it’s freezing again. The temperature is just -2°C, so it’s not too bad, but the wind… brrrr.
We’re putting on our brave faces and going to grind on the water tank anyway. It has to be done… Testing with water isn’t possible right now, and welding isn’t either, but at least we’ll have this part done.
Water, welding, water, welding, water…
march 25, 2018
The downside of weld seams is that they’re hard to make truly watertight. REALLY watertight, that is. So that no tiny drop of half a millimeter appears after just 10 minutes…
With each “round,” we’re getting closer to the desired end result 😀, but it’s quite a job. At first, little streams still leak out of the tank, then thicker drops, then smaller drops… We’ll continue next week. Then, we’ll also pickle and finish it off. Maybe even add a layer of paint on the outside. That should help keep things sealed without getting it in our drinking water.
Water tank watertight
march 30,2018
It was a long day.
Thinner does the magic
march 30, 2018
Finally, we’ve found something to remove the sealant!
Drip… drip…
march 31, 2018
Oh nee…
Make it neat
apr 02, 2018
It’s Easter, so we have an extra-long weekend.
We’re pickling the water tank, but unfortunately… a few tiny leaks are “cleaned open” in the process. Pfff, will this ever end? Luckily, after two rounds of filling and welding, the tank is finally watertight.
Now that it’s sealed, we’ll pickle the last welds and let everything passivate for a day.
Tidying up!
apr 06, 2018
The water tank out of the boat = doesn’t fit, so the partition has to go = the bench and the wall need to come off = a huge mess in the boat.
But now… now the water tank can go back in! 😀
The water tank: final episode!
may 8, 2018
The water tank has been back in the boat for a while, but… it still needs to be screwed back in place.
For that, there are still some spots and screws that need to be “de-sealed”… luckily, we’ve learned the trick with the thinner by now.
We’ve also been thinking about what kind of gasket we want to use. Everything was sealed with sealant, but every time you need to open the tank, you have to remove the sealant… which means cleaning it and resealing it again.
Long live the internet… we’ve ordered a meter of food-safe silicone gasket and we’re going to give that a try!