fuel tank

[Wags23]

anyone know agood place for fuel tanks in boston area. i bought a 73cc io i replaced the engine (it had a merc 470) WITH A 350 mag mpi and the gas tank looks small plenty of room for abigger tank.how can tell if itsoriginal tank

[Water Rat]

I used Eric Kent, of KentFab for the tanks in my 23' Sceptre. Eric does great work and he's a good guy to work with. I believe his shop is in the Hanover/Rockland area, and phone is 781-659-3355.

[Wags23]

thanks does anyone know if this is the factory tank its tag has aaa fabricators hialeah florida.I WANT to be able to go offshore how many gallon tanks would work best.

[BigLew]

I've got an '85 Scepter 23' and she has 144 gal. I'd like to split in two, say 50 gal aft and 70-80 forward; both of them on the center line. The reason is that I have always stored full over the winter and 140 gals is close to 1000 lb. That is more than we generally need most trips. I figured keeping the aft tank empty most of the time would cut down on the weight I'd be needlessly pushing around most of the time and move what gas weight I do carry forward to offset some of the weight of the I/O.

[Water Rat]

Big Lew,
That is exactly what I did with my boat, a '78 23' Sceptre I/O, though I've got
approx. 65 gal usable in the aft tank and 45 usable in the forward.
Would love to have more capacity (or just better range).

[BigLew]

Hey Chris,

I seem to remember you've got a a big block I/O. This may sound real strange, but since fuel gauges don't work in boats and I haven't installed my Floscan, I really don't know what my burn rate is. I figure, overall, I'm burning about 5 to 8 gallons/hr depending on what I'm doing. I run in and out of the Merrimack up here in Newburyport. That said, even at 10 gallons per hour that is 14 hours were running time or about 300 miles. Needless to say, most trips are less than 300 miles. I'm running the Volvo Penta 260. It uses a 350 CID with a four barrel Holley.(I think it's a holley.) Either way, I'm gonna put a new engine in anyway.

My thought on the aft tank being empty is that, when you need it, drain it first and then switch to the forward tank. I would probably keep a CO2 fire extinguisher on board and when the tank was empty I would fit shoot some CO2 into the fill pipe to push out all the oxygen. Just a safety measure.

I'd love to speak with you Chris. That is one fine boat you have; I have admired its pictures many times. If you're up for it, send me a PM with a phone number and a convenient time and I'll give you a call this week.

Until then, take care and be well.

[rockdoc]

I'm also about to pull the tank out of my new to me '75 Sceptre to check it, clean it, measure it, hopefully not replace it....... I think it's original, but looks real good on top, we'll see. Any advice on how to check it, and how to clean it?

Steve

[Islandtrader]

After cleaning and rinsing the main way to check a tank (besides visual) is to have it pressure checked to see if there are any leaks that you don't see.

You can do this yourself however you must be very careful on old tanks. Most radiator shops can do the pressure test.

Any good de-greaser should cut the crud.

[Hookdude]

Hi Wags,

My friend Karl is helping me build two new tanks for my Savage. If you'd like we can build one for you at the same time (maybe save us both a little money by sharing stock).
We'd have to check out your boat to see what we can do first though. We live on the South Shore (Rockland and Scituate).

Send me a PM with your phone number so we can set up a time.

Cheers,
Bob

[DaveE]

homemade pressure test with some tygon tubing and water with red food coloring, I know the hose cramped, but the tank already failed the test


the right hand tube has a small black mark where i measured the pressure head at the start of the test, within an hour it was back to even = leaking tank. maybe i need to join the tank building party...?