Port Water Tank to Diesel Conversion

[SV THIRD DAY]

I hav decided to convert the port 50gal water tank to diesel and am in the process of figuring out the best approach.  I have had some tell me that I can outfit the existing fiberglass tank with the proper fittings and then use it for diesel, but want to make sure I', not taking a shortcut that will haunt me later.

Does anyone have any opinion or thoughts on the best way to convert the existing fiberglass tank to diesel?

Thanks

[Jim S]

I would not recommend converting an existing water tank to any other purpose than water.  We have had two water failures on two cruises that would have significantly altered our plans had we not had separate water supplies onboard.  Both were hose failures that cost us 60 gallons of our 150 gallon supply.  If we had only the bow tank and one settee tank, the loss of 60 gallons would have been 67% of our water supply.  I know the arguments for conversion are, and can be, compelling, but water in the tank is more assured than the promise of water from the watermaker.  My surveyor and friend, also a 365 owner, agrees that sufficient, separate water tankage is preferred to a small water tankage and a watermaker.  I suggest finding another area to store fuel and leaving your three seaprate water tanks as they are.

[Trinity]

Actually Rich, you can be almost certainly assured that whatever decision you make will 'haunt' you later.  : )
I assume you want to extra fuel to generate electricity.

I was cruising for 5 years (not on 'Trinity') and spent much more time getting H2O than fuel.  My vessel held 50Gal of water and 50 Gal diesel, with 2 Yanmar 27s (42' catamaran) and we were cruising with 2 adults and a cat.  I had a lot of solar power, which worked wonders.  I tried a wind generator but the noise and the danger discouraged its use so I got rid of it.  Often, you will want to anchor in locations that specifically are not windy, of course.

You use water every day, you can go quite a while not using much fuel at all.  We never ran the watermaker, for various reasons you will discover.

But, since you have decided to convert the water tank - I say go for it, and let us know how it goes.

Best Regards,
Marc

[SailingSeaDragon]

Rich,

I will offer my two cents... I like others, would think long and hard about giving up water storage....  I have always heard the following survival quote, "You can go 3 hour without shelter, 3 days without water, and 3 weeks without food." The point is, after protection from the elements, water should be your number 2 priority.

With that said, have you considered the space in the bottom of the aft locker... Every time I look in the locker I think, small 20 -30 gallon would be very happy here. I would offer that you could have a tank custom made to fit the space... This combined with a the 60 gallon tank as suggest by NormP could provide you with 160 even 180 hours of motoring or a range of  750 NM or more.

Just a thought
Garner

[boykin]

My boat has a lot of unused space in the aft section behind the two cockpit lockers in the stern. It's very hard to get to but not impossible. I crawled back there once to put a wrench on the bolts that held the davits inplace. good luck,