The work on the new fuel tank has started. Moved it to where the aft water tank used to live and making it to use as much of the volume available in that area.
Planning a trip to Australia?
LOL, no but I am planning a trip around Vancouver Island and there's plenty of motoring that is needed. Also in the long term plan are to sail to Mexico so the extra capacity is definitely a nice upgrade. Moving the fuel tank to the centre line will also help with the boat not having a port side list that annoys the crap out of me.
In the PNW, there are VERY few long straight runs to sail. Also, being so far north, the tidal runs cause some FAST currents between the narrow gaps in the many islands. As Antoni says, a lot of motoring happens up here.
LOGO, what will be your projected capacity ?
Around 55 gallons
Logo- things to consider in build if you haven't already.
1. Baffles
2. Clean-out ports
3. Extra pick-up tube (for diesel heater, etc.?)
4. Shutoff valve
To Noah's point, I saw recently on the Tally Ho build they had a drain at the lowest point (designed in) on the tank to drain away water. I thought that was pretty slick.
Good idea. But unless Logo puts in some sort of access port (Beckson port or hatch), everything will be behind the aft bulkhead.
Yes... you're right Noah. Pretty easy to reach for the few time you need it by lifting the cover under the aft berth and reaching aft. A small access spot could be made there to get at the valve.
Thanks Noah! All on the list, as well as a pickup at lowest point very close to bottom for a fuel polishing loop. With 55 gallons of capacity I won't be fueling up often the majority of the time so I want a way to make sure fuel stays clean.
Wow, a year since I last posted :?
To say things move slowly is an understatement! Finally got a good test fit done today. Should have it buttoned up within the next couple of weeks, just in time for season start!
Hey Antoni:
We will also be sailing around Vancouver Island this summer. Leaving August 24 from Bainbridge Island and will be going counter-clockwise.
When I made the trip in 2016, the first fuel after rounding Cape Scott turned out to be at Esperanza on the NE corner of Nootka Island. We were very happy to learn they had fuel there after we topped up in Port Hardy. Nothing was available in Winter Harbor or Kyuquot in mid September. Doubling the factory fuel capacity goes a long way on that coast—and in Mexico too. Great upgrade.
Patches
Excellent milestone Antoni!! I'm excited to hear of the first fill up.
Antoni : If Mexico is anything like the Bahamas - good RO water was 3-4 times the price of diesel!!
A thought
Yes Ron, will be getting a water maker as well before heading south.
Some progress pics, painting tomorrow and final install over the weekend!
Logo-hope you don't have "muscle memory" for the old way, and accidentally fill fuel and water in the wrong tanks. ;-)
Quote from: Noah on May 31, 2024, 09:49:03 AMLogo-hope you don't have "muscle memory" for the old way, and accidentally fill fuel and water in the wrong tanks. ;-)
lol, that would be bad. I haven't actually used the boat that much and the last couple of season were spent using two plastic outboard tanks with quick connects in the lazarette, so I don't think it's gonna be an issue. The new deck fills are nicely labelled too!
Painted :clap
A few more things to do before I install the tank as I won't have access to that area after. Replaced hoses, installing a city water inlet and changing propane hose from tank to stove.
Tank is in! Gotta still clean things up and do the first fill up.
Any significant variation in weight distribution (that cannot be mitigated by crew eating a bigger lunch and/or moving positions in the boat)?
Do you mean compared to oem tank? The extra weight I added with bigger fuel tank is a non issue, it's the oem location for a 46 gallon water tank.
I also added the bowsprit on my boat and I have 350ft of chain in my chain locker.
I've been bow heavy since those modification and when it rained my cockpit would pool water upfront, my guess is with a full tank this won't be an issue anymore.
Last night I finished installing all the hoses to the tank, popped the inspection cover and filled the tank 1L at a time up to 5L. At 2L of fuel the engine pickup is submerged, so looks like I'll be able to use most of the volume which is nice.
The pickup for the fuel polishing loop gets submerged at .5L so it will really pickup everything in the tank. The fuel polishing pump and filter will be installed on the start board side just behind the locker door in the aft cabin, easy access.
Couple of pics, first one is 5L in the tank and second one is 20L.
Tonight I'm putting steering back together and heading to the fuel station to fill the tank up, I will have exact volume info :clap
Really nice work Antoni.
Something to consider since you're planning long cruises - When I replaced my fuel tank I took a photo of the cockpit engine control panel for each gallon of diesel. I taped over the voltage gauge and wrote on it the number of gallons for that fuel gauge reading. I added all of the photos to a Word document, printed it and keep a copy onboard as a reference for me or crew. At the end of the document is some general text describing the tank internals and to use the 1/4 tank fuel gauge reading as the must add fuel reading.
I normally go by 5/8 gallon per engine hour run, but it's a simple backup to create at this point in the project as insurance if the hour meter quits (which mine did once).
Thanks Jon!
Yes, I went a step further. I have two separate senders, one feeding the analog gauge at the engine panel and the other connected to my Victron cerbo gx which is also connected to my data backbone. So my i70 displays and chart plotter will have accurate data on exactly how many litters (or gallons or percentage) are in the tank.
Your suggestion is still valid, using the calibrated data from the cerbo I can write down the exact fuel remaining at 3/4, 1/2, 1/4 tank on the analog gauge.
Some more observations from California:
1. Excellent work!
2. We don't do liters (too much math)🤦
3. Our Marine Diesel is dyed red, more festive!? And, easier to see when spilled on deck too!
I like that you appear to have left enough room in your tank design to get at the rudder stuffing box. While I appreciate all the capacity of that rear water tank in our Mark 1-1.5 boats, it does make access to things like the rudder stuffing box a pain.
I replaced mine with a 23 gallon version which is much easier to remove as well as access things on the sides and aft. Since I've removed my holding tank in favor of a composting head, I'll be buying a new fresh water tank from Ronco which is a drop in for the holding tank. That will add back some more freshwater tank capacity (30 gallons or so).
Isn't it great that Catalina built us such a great boat which we can pretty easily customize for our particular needs/wants!
Patches
This is some EXCELLENT design and fabrication work. I love how you are turning this production boat into a custom set up (as patches pointed out).
Jon... the senders Antoni has in his tank are not an infinite resistor style like the ones originally designed and installed by Catalina. They have reed switches in the center tube and the float has a magnet in it. Each switch when closed presents a higher or lower resistance value to the gauge. The up side is that there are no moving parts exposed to the fluid. However, one can't generate the fuel level chart in the same way you did for your boat as the reed switches only activate at a given flueid level height. I absolutely LOVE your chart idea though. I might need to consider that for my boat!
Noah... the red dye in the fuel is there to represent that the fuel is "off road" diesel. When diesel is sold at a fuel dock, it can be sold without a number of the highway road taxes. As an easy verifier, the fuel sold as off road is dyed so that it can be noticed when used in on-road applications. All that said, I like your festive idea better :-)
Alex, When I replaced my diesel tank I replaced the swing arm float switch with a reed switch. I also relocated the fuel fill hose to the top of the tank, and added two access ports on the top.
I created the per gallon cheat sheet by starting with an empty tank, then took a photo of the fuel gauge. Then added one gallon of diesel, then took a photo of the fuel gauge. Then a second gallon of diesel and took a photo. Repeated until I reached 23 gallons. Threw some words into the document, and it's done. Rudimentary, but will never fail. The type of switch doesn't matter. Since Antoni hasn't filled his tank yet, and may cruise primitive areas, I thought I'd pass it on. He may never use it, but then he might. :D
I'm playing around with a sheet to tiller set up for a similar reason. If I'm left with nothing but the emergency tiller, it would be miserable to steer any length of time with that stub they call an "emergency tiller" on a MK1.
Jon,
Thanks for clarifying. My experience with the reed switch senders is that they "jump" when going from one reed switch to the other vs the smooth sweep associated with the infinite float style Catalina shipped. With that in mind, I would have expected a chart of gauge readings to have several photos of the same gauge possition for different gallon additions to the tank which was why I wrote what I did.
The simplicity of your chart is brilliant and provides excellent value. Now I want one! Might have to drain my tank and see what I can do.
All done now! Final numbers are.
Total volume of the tank is 173.4L (45.807 US gallons), useable volume rounded down is 170L (44.9092 US gallons).
Table of resistance readings.
Fuel tank
5L = 219.8~220 ohm
20L = 168.6~168.8 ohm
40L = 132.1~132.2 ohm
60L = 112.2~114.3 ohm
80L = 99.1~99.2 ohm
100L = 85.3~85.4 ohm port/ 78.5~78.6 ohm stbd
120L = 64.4~64.5 ohm
140L = 49.9~50 ohm
160L = 36.1 ohm
173.4L =30 ohm
Super happy with this, I've doubled my fuel capacity as my previous tank the useable amount of fuel was 85L (22.4546 US gallons)
Do you have any baffles in your tank?
Yes, two baffles.
Looks great. Good air and fuel communication between sections with those 45 degree corners. I wish they had at least one baffle in the aft water tank. The water really slams around when it's 1/2 full or less.