High quality boats almost never have integral tanks - for water or
fuel.


Our water tanks are build into the hull. I think our boat is quite
high quality.


Wayne.B wrote:
And no doubt it is. I think my my statement about "almost never" is
still true however, even though the reasons are not necessarily clear.


From what I've seen, CSY's are pretty good boats.

I'd agree that... all else being equal... integral tanks are
not as good...

Of course, all else is very rarely equal. Integral do have
one strong point in their favor, that is their effect on the
center of gravity can be better if they are integrally
located down low in the hull's structure. And as Wayne B
mentions in his post this is commonly done in metal boats.


There may be less of an issue with integral water tanks as opposed to
fuel, certainly leaks/safety are less of a concern. There have been
many, many instances of fiberglass fuel tanks degrading because of
fuel/resin interactions, especially with ethanol/gasoline. There's no
reason to think that those same interactions wouldn't take place place
with the resin in a hull, with even more serious consequences.


It's a big deal to have the tank surfaced properly for
whatever is stored in it, and to have proper access, proper
plumbing connections, level indicators, vents, etc etc. It's
more difficult to provide these with an integral tank so
good builders prefer not to invest the additional labor for
a small benefit, and so they make the tanks seperately...
cheapo builders aren't concerned about that (they aren't
going to do it all properly anyway) and don't want to spend
the extra money for the tank itself.

And of course, it's far more difficult to remove & re-plumb
an integral tank. Been some big improvements in bladder
tanks recently, this is the way I'd go if I were looking at
replacing any tankage on board (except holding tanks).

Fresh Breezes- Doug King