Articles
Ship Repair
With ever growing costs these days it is always satisfying to be able to make a safe, efficient ship maintenance and repair by yourself for the fraction of the cost you would pay by buying new parts or by putting your boat in a shop. If, and most certainly when you consider investing time and money into ship maintenance, you should always take into consideration the materials so an important decision must be made. One of the questions regarding ship maintenance that must be answered fairly early on is 'Will this be internal ship maintenance or an outside ship maintenance?'Another important issue to consider is 'Do you have a leaking problem and if you do, where is it leaking and how bad is the damage?' This can be tremendously tricky and often very misleading in the process of ship maintenance. Even worse still a tank can leak from several places at once but can exit downhill in quite a different spot.
Appropriate leak detection is vital before you go to the huge problem of actually removing the tank itself, and don't be fooled also by tiny leaks. In steel and aluminum tanks a pinprick is sometimes only indicative of a much greater ship maintenance problem inside. Many leaks are caused by corrosion that is the expected result of water lying intact inside for months and years. Ship maintenance has tricky parts, so you have to remember when dealing with fuel tanks, it is critical for the repair to be completely degreased. The resin will not adhere and the process will have to be re-done once more. Degreasing can be done with various substances and chemicals, even detergent solution or a proprietary degreaser.