More water tanks

First thing on Monday morning I gave the engine a run and let it warm up to double check the repair to the oil leak which appears to be successful however while the engine was running I noticed a regular drip from the high pressure side of the fuel injection pump which on further investigation appeared to be coming from the banjo connection for the high pressure fuel pipe to the injector on no1 cylinder. These banjo connections are sealed with steel washers and after I had cleaned everything up and replaced the original washers the leak was just as bad so I left this job for the time being until I could source some new washers.

I then went back to the water tank installation and after further thought I decided that I could utilise the existing deck filling connection in its original position and use loops in the filling line to give the required flexibility, this had the added advantage that I could utilise existing holes through bulkheads and there was no need to make any additional holes. The Vetus tanks are supplied with a filling and outlet connection also with one cutout already made so the first job was to cut another hole which would be for the outlet connection this is easily done by marking round the inside of the clamping ring for the tank connection and then cutting out with a pair of scissors making sure of course that you don't make a hole in the bottom of the tank. The inner flange of the tank connection is of course larger than the cutout so the flange is pushed into the cutout as far as possible and then by carefully running round with a screwdriver or similar the flange can be persuaded into the cutout in much the same manner as fitting a bicycle tire.

Fitting the tank outlet connection

Once the fittings are in place they are sealed with a washer with a vee section which corresponds to the vee groove in the inner flange followed by the clamping ring. The rubber mats were put in place in the two lockers followed by the tanks.

Rubber mats in place

The pipe in the above photograph is the pump suction pipe which will be connected to the tank. Once the tanks were in place I connected the filling and suction pipework. The tanks were then filled and checked for leaks and as they say the job's a good un.

Forward tank

Aft tank

The filling and outlet pipework is there on the forward tank its just that it is hidden by the internal moulding. The two tanks are connected in parallel with no isolation valves it remains to be seen whether or not they will both drain together, if valves are required it will be a simple job to cut them in to the outlet pipework.

Today I had intended to try and fix the fuel leak with Dowty seals instead of the original steel washers after I had fitted them I tried to start the engine  but no go after a couple of half hearted attempts the starter motor gave up just a click from the solenoid. After checking all the connections it was no better so I removed the starter motor and with a couple of temporary leads connected it directly to the battery and it did spin so I replaced it on the engine but to no avail. Next I removed the motor again and on removing the cover to the brush gear there was the familiar sweet sickly smell of burning electrical insulation yes it looked as though the motor was fried but then that is very often the case with old boats one step forward followed by only two back if you are lucky. On reflection I think that the problem experienced when launching the boat could have been part of the motor windings burning out also on Monday the engine was a bit hesitant to start which could possibly indicate further windings burning out next weeks task will be to source a new starter motor or possibly repair to the existing.