I believe you'll do better if you coat the inside of the tanks with
fiberglass, using the epoxy resin. Had a friend build some tanks that way
and they served quite well. Sure, the expoxy is supposed to be a good
moisture barrier itself, but the added expense of the 'glass is well worth
it.

Dick Behan



"Sir Karl" wrote in message
...
I am rebuilding a Nova Scotia lobster boat to go cruising in the Carribean.
I am thinking of building epoxy covered diesel fuel tanks. Anabody having
any experienec with those?

Thanks

Luc
MV/ Julie C
Montreal

R.W. Behan wrote:
I believe you'll do better if you coat the inside of the tanks with
fiberglass, using the epoxy resin. Had a friend build some tanks that way
and they served quite well. Sure, the expoxy is supposed to be a good
moisture barrier itself, but the added expense of the 'glass is well worth
it.


Glass yes, epoxy no.

I believe Vinyl ester resin is the prefered choice for fule tanks.

Richard

cavelamb himself wrote:

Glass yes, epoxy no.

I believe Vinyl ester resin is the prefered choice for fule tanks.

You believe wrong.

Lew

Lew Hodgett wrote:
cavelamb himself wrote:

Glass yes, epoxy no.

I believe Vinyl ester resin is the prefered choice for fule tanks.

You believe wrong.

Lew

Awright Lew,

Maybe marine gas is different from mogas these days?

I've had sevearl aircraft tanks built with epoxy fail.
But never a failure with Vinyl Ester.

Auto fuels these days have more solvents than gasoline.
And those solvents will leach through epoxy and polyester.

YMMV, but I'll stick with ve.

Richard

cavelamb himself wrote:


Awright Lew,

Maybe marine gas is different from mogas these days?

I've had sevearl aircraft tanks built with epoxy fail.
But never a failure with Vinyl Ester.

Auto fuels these days have more solvents than gasoline.
And those solvents will leach through epoxy and polyester.

YMMV, but I'll stick with ve.

SFWIW, I don't get on boats with gasoline propulsion, so my perspective
is probably skewed.

Since this is a 40 ft boat, doubt it has gasoline propulsion, so never
gave a gasoline tank a consideration; however, were your epoxy tanks
that failed properly coated with tank resin?

It makes a major difference.

Lew

Lew Hodgett wrote:
cavelamb himself wrote:


Awright Lew,

Maybe marine gas is different from mogas these days?

I've had sevearl aircraft tanks built with epoxy fail.
But never a failure with Vinyl Ester.

Auto fuels these days have more solvents than gasoline.
And those solvents will leach through epoxy and polyester.

YMMV, but I'll stick with ve.

SFWIW, I don't get on boats with gasoline propulsion, so my perspective
is probably skewed.

Since this is a 40 ft boat, doubt it has gasoline propulsion, so never
gave a gasoline tank a consideration; however, were your epoxy tanks
that failed properly coated with tank resin?

It makes a major difference.

Lew


Ahh, I understand now.

I'm sure it would make a difference, but I'm not sure what "tank resin"
is called when you order it.
Do you have a brand name or more specific reference?

As for the leaky gas tanks, no.
They were either AeroPoxy or Dow 330.
At least the ones I made (and replaced with VE later).

Dunno about the ones that were brought in dripping...

BTW, I do have a gasoline tank on my boat.
3 entire gallons!
Filled it up back in June and still have about a half gallon left.

That for about 200 hours sailing this summer.

Now that my girlfriend has sorta figured out the "backwardness"
of the tiller we sail out and back in more often.

I think I see a bottle of Stabil in my future.

Richard

cavelamb himself wrote:

I'm sure it would make a difference, but I'm not sure what "tank resin"
is called when you order it.
Do you have a brand name or more specific reference?

ProLine, now a division of Sherwin Williams, in San Diego makes a tank
resin that is also used as a high build primer under their L/P coatings.

Has considerable VOCs so I'm sure its sale is restricted to marine
repair customers.

There are at least 3-4 other manufacturers out there.

I use ProLine since they are less than a mile away.

Lew