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I have a badly pitted stainless steel water tank that I want to repair by fiberglassing. Can someone give me advice on the preparation required for the glass to adhere successfully?

If it's pitted are you sure it's stainless steel? What would cause the pitting?

I'm not sure there's much you can do in the way of preparation of stainless, just make sure it's degreased and scuff it up with coarse sandpaper to give the resin something to grip.

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Graham in Shepperton, England

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I have repaired gas tanks that were steel by using fiberglass to patch a puncture hole and the glass held up well.

As for a pitted stainless tank, why glass it? If it is structurely okay, you could just coat the tank with a resin type sealer. I know they have sealers that work well for rusty old gas tanks, a water tank should be a piece of cake.

From what I understand is overtime the gas will affect the resin in the fiberglass and cause you problems with fuel lines plugging/filters plugging/carbs plugging etc. with a goo ilke substance that largely consists of the disolved resin and fiberglass fibers. Now with that said the tanks I am refering too used polyester resin not Epoxy resin sooo I am not sure if the same issue will happen with fiberglass and epoxy repairs. Also the tanks in question were also quite old so possibly this issue takes sometime to happen. Just thought I would mention that.

Thanks guys! The tank is pitted and holed in places because it was in contact with the copper rovings of the hull. I was going to throw it out as I've replaced it with a couple of poly tanks but will try the resin repair idea first - nothing to lose!! Great site here I'm sure I'll be back. Pete D (converting a 50' fishing trawler to pleasure craft. Australia)

If you use a resin, like West system, they recommend you lighten up on the hardner a mite. This makes it set up harder and be more impervious to gas.

There is a secondary problem with changing gas formulas these days. The addition of ethanol creates problems for the epoxy. If you are patching the outside I don't think it will be that big of deal as the contact with the fuel will be minimal. To be on the safe side you could attach a second fuel filter near the tank to keep from fouling your primary fuel filter near the motor or where ever it is.

It's a water tank he's repairing, not a gas tank.

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Graham in Shepperton, England

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