[pmoyer]

SD - Thanks so much. That's a wonderful description of what needs to be done. I unpleasantly discovered, though, that my new old boat has built-in water tanks, and the PO (or, more scary, maybe the PO before him) filled the tanks and left them that way. I had a very tough time getting the tank fill valves off (not on deck - they're on top of the tanks). They have a slimy green corrosion-looking stuff on them. When I peered down into the tanks with a light, I saw nasty grey water.

I'm not sure how functional the FW system is. I expect I need to replace the manual pumps, fixtures, and definitely the hose (it's all yellowed and crudy looking). But, I need to get the water overboard. I'm thinking about sticking a manual bilge pump into the fill hole and manually pumping the nasty water out of the tank into a bucket so I can dump it.

Once I get the tanks empty, will the above process be sufficient to clean them out, or do I need to take some more drastic steps? I'm worried that there's going to be an inch of toxic waste on the insides of the tanks....

Cheers!