New Fuel Tanks

Joli has 4 tanks, 2 water and 2 fuel, on either side of the engine compartment.  On the port side, the tanks were built in to a triple berth arrangement and on the starboard side, they are under a double berth in Lorraine's Cabin.  The fuel tank on the starboard side had been removed before we bought the boat.  Unfortunately, the fuel fill hose and deck fitting had not been removed and someone had tried to refuel without the tank installed.  Yuck!  That resulted in Lorraine's Cabin smelling like diesel fuel no mater how much cleaning and deodorizing I attempted.  Last fall, Bryan decided it was time to remove and replace the remaining water tank in Lorraine's cabin, the water tank in the triple berth area (not in use) and the fuel tank (currently in use along with the aft fuel tank for about 85 gallons) in the triple.  The goal is to install 4 new fuel tanks to increase our fuel capacity to 250 gallons.  We have 3 water tanks currently in use - one in A.J.'s Cabin and 2 under the dinette with capacity of about 300 gallons so we are all set for water.  Bryan started the demolition in the fall and last weekend, Bob & Beth came up to Sassy with us to get the water tank out of Lorraine's cabin.  Success! After lots of sawing fiberglass and foam, prying and pulling, it came out.  We also removed the pipe berth, the fuel and water fill hoses and the vent hoses.  Then Beth and I spent the rest of the day chipping out the old, stinky, moldy, nasty foam and fiberglass that had surrounded the water tank.  The original installation was certainly in there to stay and it put up a fight the whole way.  By the end of the day, the area where the 2 tanks will go was ready for sanding and painting and it already smells much better!

Update on Hard Top Dodger

It's coming together! Lots of thinking, planning and hard work has resulted in a great looking dodger. I can't wait to see it on the boat.  You can see the first few layers of the bimini top on the mold behind the dodger; however, we had a slight setback.  The photo showing the side view of the frame for the dodger looks great on the work table, but when we brought the frame up to the boat to see how it fit, it DIDN'T.  Bummer! So, we will have to cut off the mounting pads and come up with plan "B".  I think we are still way ahead of where we would be for $$$ if we had a professional designing and building it for us and it will be a better design. PLUS, we seem to love the hard work of owning a big, old boat!