UNEXPECTED PROBLEM

Couple of days ago we filled up our two forward water tanks and ended up with a lot of fresh water in the bilge. Our starboard tank has always leaked a bit, but it hasn’t been a major problem, as the leak was at about the 75% full point, meaning we could use most of that tank’s capacity. Now the port tank is leaking, and it must be right near the bottom of the tank, as water goes into the bilge virtually as soon as you start filling it. In fact we left the tank full of highly chlorinated water 27 months ago and on our return it was empty. This would not normally be a major problem – remove the tanks, pressure test them to find the leaks, fix leaks and re-install right? Wrong! Aboard Envoy these tanks are under the floor in the guest cabin. One is under the guest double bed, and has the forward aircon unit mounted over the top of it too. The other is partly under the starboard floor, and partly under a built-in settee in the guest cabin. We met with John today, the Australian who is the General Manager of Demir Marine, and there is no option but to dismantle the guest cabin bit by bit until we can get the two tanks out. These are probably the original stainless steel tanks making them 20 years old, and John has suggested that unless they are in exceptionally good condition we get some new tanks made to reduce the risk of going through this again. Fortunately Demir are able to start tomorrow, after an electrician takes out the aircon. This won’t hold things up too much as this job involves carpenter/cabinet- makers and the other jobs we’re getting done involve painters and mechanics. We guess it’s going to take about 7-10 days to finish and can even be completed when we’re in the water if necessary. Meanwhile it will be abit chaotic on board as we’ve had to shift all gear out of the guest cabin into other areas. Apart from that, jobs are steadily being ticked off (as we were when this tank episode happened).