Under Construction

So far so good……knock wood.  After discussions with several “experts 😚”  (everyone who has a boat considers themselves an expert) we proceeded with the tank replacement project.  The determination was made on just how much of the floor needed to be cut out leaving a lip for the new floor to be added.  A template was made of the area to be cut to be used as a pattern for the new piece.

The cutting is done!  We were warned what a big mess cutting the fiberglass would be so Joe wore a disposable suit, hood and respirator.  He would not allow a picture!  Most of the sawing was done with a saw provided by Tom Lippencott, our broker.  It had a bag attached to a Shopvac so most of the fiberglass mess was sucked into the vacumn.

Once the cutout was complete, Joe screwed hooks into the old cockpit floor and we pulled it out with rope.  Now, as kind of a side bar.  The previous owner had replaced the teak floor in the cockpit with fake stuff, a vinyl product made to look like teak.  It was failing.  We knew this previous to buying the boat and weren’t sure how to deal with it.  I guess the decision on that was made for us!!!  Thankfully, the remainder of the decks on Pursuit are not wood.

So really, the first step of this project was to remove this glued down vinyl.  At this point, we did look at each other and say “WTF, we are too old for this” but after much pounding on a crowbar and yanking with full body strength, it came out.  Of course the glue pulled a good bit of the fiberglass with it.  This was where it was decided not to use the piece of decking we cut out.  It would be too much work to restore it back to perfect.  We want the new cockpit floor to be non-skid, the same as the built-in cockpit seating.

So, of course, the old tank is bigger than the hole we could cut.  Which also means the new tank will not contain as much fuel as the old 145 gallon tank.  We feel that we will never be traveling so far with Pursuit that this would be an issue.  We may add a “day fuel tank” later on so she will have that capability for a future owner.

Now what to buy for a new tank–Plastic or aluminum?  Everyone has an opinion!  A main concern is how quickly the tank could be delivered.  Custom made is out of the question as most deliver times are 4 to 6 weeks.  It’s nice here, but not that nice 😉.  We are also running up against the availability of the tanks as many we find are out of stock.  One step forward, two steps back.

The diesel fuel was pumped into barrels to be put back into the boat.  Next, the tank was cut into pieces.  Of course, the “experts”  and Google came into play as to the best way to do this.

So, Joe just went at with a Sawzall.  Once the top was off, we did see more rust near the bottom of the tank!

Next to be completed will be finishing the raw edge of the boat and new floor with fiberglass.   Tom is letting Joe use his shop to work on the new deck!

We are expecting rain the next few days so we will start the cockpit fiberglass work underneath the shrink wrap!

To be continued…

***In case anyone is wondering, Mona spent the first 3 days cleaning all the surfaces in Pursuit and finding locations for our 10 tubs of stuff.  Amazing, she got her 10,000 steps one day between the truck (parked next to the boat), climbing the ladder to the boat and walking around inside its 32 feet!!!