Ballast Tank Fitting Repair
Maintenance Project
I noticed that the bilge of my boat had been taking on water so I removed the floor board and found water leaking out of one of the ballast tanks. The leak was coming from the sender unit that reads the level of water in the tank. The bolts and gasket were corroded when I removed the sender.
The nuts that retained the bolts on the sender were molded in to the plastic tank. The nuts were also corroded so I drilled what was left of them. I designed a new fitting in SolidWorks and 3D printed it. Then I epoxied the 3d printed fitting to the tank. This left a face for the sender to seal to as well as a deeper surface for the sender unit bolts to fasten to. Next I laser cut a gasket so the sender could seal to the fitting.
The nuts that retained the bolts on the sender were molded in to the plastic tank. The nuts were also corroded so I drilled what was left of them. I designed a new fitting in SolidWorks and 3D printed it. Then I epoxied the 3d printed fitting to the tank. This left a face for the sender to seal to as well as a deeper surface for the sender unit bolts to fasten to. Next I laser cut a gasket so the sender could seal to the fitting.
Technical Skills learned
- Solidworks
- 3D Printing
- Laser Cutting Polymers