Bertram 25

[Benb]

Hi All,

I have been reading all the posts for some time now and i have enjoyed hearing about all the different projects you all have done with your boats, its good to see i am not the only one .

So here we go, after 10 years of my late 60s 21ft timber clinker half cab with a Volvo Penta 170hp inboard and 270T leg which has been a great boat but i i got sick of getting caught in bad weather and getting smashed about and wet on the way home so i decided that it was time to upgrade to something bigger.

I was also looking for a project and did not want to put the time into the clinker so decided after much consideration to go for a Bertram 25 as it can be towed on a trailer (just) and worked on saving huge amounts in slipping fees. It also had a god rep for being a very seaworthy hull with a deep V which i wanted for a smoother ride.

I found a cheep 1977 Betram 25 Corsair with twin 165 6cyl which needed some attention, a lot more than i expected but thats boats so to cut a long story short i decided to remove the donks as one had packed it in but not before doing the following while the boat was on the water: pulling the heads off and getting them serviced, new exhaust manifolds, risers, water pumps, timing gear covers and harmonic balancers and after all that which was a mission on the water one donk was filling the sump with water bummer so off with the head as i thought the head gasket did not seal properly and back on again with the same result i repeated this another 3 times before i gave up, after some thinking time i noticed that no.1cyl had a hole at the bottom of the stroke that had rusted through so the block was no good to put it nicely.

Now i needed a trailer quickly as it had been on the water for a year now without a slip and it was looking like a forest under my boat i could not have been any luckier as i found one that had a B25 on it and was ready to go so up to Newcastle and towed it back to Sydney, i got a shock at how heavy it was about 900kg without the boat

This is where it all started, lots and lots of hours and $$$, rebuilt donks with blocks that had not seen salt water and stainless steal valves for use with unleaded and fresh water cooled them, reco legs and 1 transom assembly due to corrosion, new starter motors plus a few other things anyway here are some picks of the action, sorry about the quality as they were taken on my phone.

Before they were removed

More picks to come

I took it for its first good run last week and spent 4 days on it with the better half up past the spit bridge and around the area, did a bit of fishing and caught a Snapper and a flat head which tasted good, made it all worth while.

Now all i need to do is finish cleaning out the fuel tank after 30 years of crap plus the old fuel sender rusting in the tank and about 200L of old fuel which has caused the inlet valves to stick a bit when its cold, bummer i should have drained it out but 200L is a lot of fuel to loose anyway i found out the hard way, any ideas on how to clean the second half of the tank that i cant reach from the access hole ??? any ideas would be great, its a fiberglass tank.

Ben

Edited July 13, 2007 by Nailit

[Flightmanager]

A boat is a large hole in the water , surrounded by Fibreglass , wood or metal , into which you pour all of your money!!!

Ross

[Benb]

And now some internal picks, go the 70s interior i made new seat covers over easter, black micofibre and new headlining to come after the timber has been re varnished.

[Benb]

A boat is a large hole in the water , surrounded by Fibreglass , wood or metal , into which you pour all of your money!!!

Ross

Yes i agree but if you can do it yourself you can save a sh## load of money all you need is time and an a that likes boating and fishing which i am lucky to have, time is the only problem

Ben

[warnie]

Ben

I think you have done a great job there on your project and

i take my hat off to you to attempt such a thing.....................

surely a labour of love..............

I can't think of any other way of cleaning the tank other than repeated flushing

but may i suggest if it is not usually the norm of employing two water seperators

in line to catch that initial crap that get's missed

once again good luck and well done

Cheers Warnie

[gyropilot]

Hi

We used to get rid of water by adding anhydrous ethanol (Methylated spirits) which mix with both water and petrol. I don't know about your tank, but up to 100 litres each we used to add a hand full of ball bearings and shake....clean as...I don't know if your tank is removable....... If your tank is heavy ask a few mates to help...

Great job on the restoration !

Cheers

Geoff

[Benb]

Ben

I think you have done a great job there on your project and

i take my hat off to you to attempt such a thing.....................

surely a labour of love..............

I can't think of any other way of cleaning the tank other than repeated flushing

but may i suggest if it is not usually the norm of employing two water seperators

in line to catch that initial crap that get's missed

once again good luck and well done

Cheers Warnie

Thanks Warnie,

I have the large style water separator first inline from the tank to catch all the big stuff and then a automotive fuel filter for injected motors which filter much finer particles just before the carby for each motor so i think that should stop any rubbish.

I have scraped the bottom of the tank and removed a lot of rusty sediment and then put the hose in and flushed it out with lots of water and it looks pretty good, the problem is the front half of the tank which is separated by a steal bearer which has a cut out section on each side to allow the fuel to flow through which i can fit the hose through and flush out but i cant see in that section and i thought of cutting a inspection hole but this part of the tank is in the cabin and i would prefer not to have any access holes as they can leak and smell the cabin out, what i need is a liquid that i can put in the tank that is safe for fibreglass and i thought hot water would be good but it is about 400 to 500L tank so might be hard to find so much hot water

You can get builge cleaner that would be safe for fibreglass but not sure if it would leave a residue ?? an ideas would be great.

Ben

[Benb]

Hi

We used to get rid of water by adding anhydrous ethanol (Methylated spirits) which mix with both water and petrol. I don't know about your tank, but up to 100 litres each we used to add a hand full of ball bearings and shake....clean as...I don't know if your tank is removable....... If your tank is heavy ask a few mates to help...

Great job on the restoration !

Cheers

Geoff

Thanks Geoff,

Yes i have added some metho before it is a good trick but water in the fuel is not my problem now as i have drained all the fuel, scraped out the back half of the tank and flushed out with water but the front half which i cant access is what i would like to clean, the tank is not removable, made of fibreglass and about 500L.

I have flushed out the front half with the hose and some bits of rubbish and slimy stuff came out but i cant see if i have it all so would like to give it a good flush with something. I can get the hose into the front section and i twist it around to help free up anything which helps a bit, i like the ball bearings idea and will have to think if it will work for me, thanks.

Ben

[warnie]

Ben

I am no expert on this matter........... just trying to

get the think tank going,,,,,,here goes

1. Repeated high pressure cleaning with as you

say oil and petrol dispersent added

2. Will it dry out then be able to be vachumed out with

an industrial type.

3. Less of two evil's do the inspection hatch via the cabin

just doubly make sure that it's sealed 100% this could

in the long run be the least involved......... and most

effective way of cleaning that tank

Cheers Ben Warnie

[Benb]

Ben

I am no expert on this matter........... just trying to

get the think tank going,,,,,,here goes

1. Repeated high pressure cleaning with as you

say oil and petrol dispersent added

2. Will it dry out then be able to be vachumed out with

an industrial type.

3. Less of two evil's do the inspection hatch via the cabin

just doubly make sure that it's sealed 100% this could

in the long run be the least involved......... and most

effective way of cleaning that tank

Cheers Ben Warnie

Thanks Warnie,

I am going to work on it now and i have been doing some thinking, i will continue to flush the front half out until no more slime comes out, i think that will be ok because the heavy sediment (rust) was all at the back of the tank which i have good access to and removed it all, it settles to the back due to the angle of the boat at rest and underway so i think it is only some slime at the front and a good flush with degreaser should sort it out with another inspection during summer when it will get a lot of use and stir up anything left.

Thanks for all your ideas

Ben

[domza]

great work mate, she looks great! I have plans on rebuilding a 25 fly bridge sometime in the future. I just hope theres a few left in 15 years..

[gyropilot]

Interesting problem......I like the idea of a high pressure cleaner, especially as you can't remove the tank. Can you get a nozzle from a gurnie type cleaner in to it ? Or make a extention piece to fit a high pressure cleaner that can get into there ??

Geoff

[Benb]

great work mate, she looks great! I have plans on rebuilding a 25 fly bridge sometime in the future. I just hope theres a few left in 15 years..

Thanks Domza, yes i think there will be they are a great boat, i got stuck in the gale force winds last Thursday with the and it took it in its stride no probs at all so yeh i think they will be around just make sue there fresh water cooled from my experience or be prepared to replace the blocks or repower, good luck. Ben

Interesting problem......I like the idea of a high pressure cleaner, especially as you can't remove the tank. Can you get a nozzle from a gurnie type cleaner in to it ? Or make a extention piece to fit a high pressure cleaner that can get into there ??

Geoff

Yes that is a nice way of putting it

Yes the pressure cleaner has been used but to my amazement it did not shift the hard stuff so a paint scraper did the job, i think i will need to cut an access hole it the front half of the take and do the same just to be sure.

Cheers

Ben