On Nov 29, 2016, at 1:32 PM, 'Joel Potter' jfpottercys@... [amelyachtowners] <amelyachtowners@...> wrote:

Hiya Craig and sorry about your bad news. Your tank is magnificent 316L stainless steel as were all the tanks on all SM 53 and Santorins. I checked in with Olivier on this and your problem is the first either he or I have heard of a Santorin or Super Maramu with a diesel tank leak. If anyone who owns either model has had a diesel tank leak, could you please share the details?  Bill’s guess at lightning seems like a good possibility but I can say that I have supervised the restoration of at least 25 Amel boats that have been hit by lightning and never did we find  tank damage from the lightning incident. It must certainly be caused by something and your sleuthing skills are well calibrated so it will be interesting to see what you discover. These tanks are constructed of really good stainless welded by pros with the best inert gas equipment. On earlier Amel models that we have seen stainless steel tank failures on, it is usually precipitated by moisture/salt water  if on the flat bottom surfaces or oxygen deprived ‘old’ water inside the tank  if the welds are pinholed from the inside. I used to like to look at new ones at the shipyard when they came in from the supplier. Real artwork! I have an advanced welding certificate, earned in the 1970’s by AWS, so I know what the good stuff looks like, but not from looking at any of my metal melts unfortunately. Is it leaking from the bottom surface?

 

It should come out without any problems in one piece. Keep us posted on what it looks like when it comes out and send me a picture of the leak area, please.

 

All the Best, Joel

Joel F. Potter/Cruising Yacht Specialist LLC

THE EXPERIENCED AMEL GUY 

954 462 5869 office

954 812 2485 cell