Water tank About two years after I rebuilt the water tanks, I finally started using them again—and right away I found out the forward tank lid was leaking into the V-berth. The funny part is, the difference came down to the sealant. The little portside tank I’d done with silicone, but on the big forward tank I decided to try butyl tape. The butyl itself wasn’t the problem. What actually happened was that in one corner, the gap between the tank lip and the lid was just too wide, so the tape never got squeezed. That left an open path, and sure enough—leak. To find exactly where it was coming from, I hooked up my shop vac in “blow” mode to pressurize the tank, then sprayed soapy water around the seams. The bubbles gave the leak away instantly. Now, saying “just reseal it” sounds simple—but to reseal, I had to actually get the lid off. And that turned out to be a real fight. The lid was cut so snug that there was basically no room to wedge anything under it, and butyl...
