My Seacraft

[bmajvi]

I was in a similar situation not long ago with the tank on my 23' - the tank (a replacement) had been foamed in. During a couple hurricanes here we followed local island practice of putting the drain plugs in, so rainwater would accumulate in the bilge during the storm(s) and the weight of the rainwater would help keep the boat from flying away (the boat actually moved about three feet during Maria but didn't take off, guestimates are that we had about 150 mph winds!).

Anyway, as part of a repower project I decided to yank the tank for inspection, and found pitting where water had sat and "cooked" in between the tank and the foam. The local reputable fellow who builds tanks said he wasn't interested in trying a repair, for his safety and mine. I might have been able to find a "shadetree welder" to give it a shot, and I thought seriously about trying a repair with JB Tank Weld, but a friend's mother was terribly burned in a boat gas tank explosion some years back, and that has stuck with me.

Also all the hoses were brittle, so I planned to replace them, and I didn't want to go through all that and then risk a tank repair leaking in the near future, and have to then go through the yank it out process all over again. So in the end I decided to have a new, smaller tank built - I'm going from an old thirsty carbed two stroke to a four stroke, so I expect to get about double the mpg, and will rarely be doing more than 25 mile days.

In the end I think you have to do what makes the most sense for you and how you use your boat... good luck!

[TomParis]

RDS called me back and said they had an 18 gallon one I could have for considerably less, so I drove out and got it today but didn't notice till I got home that it doesn't have the tabs to screw to the inside of the fuel box with so how do I secure the tank in place? I set the tank inside the fuel box for reference. I do plan to put a conduit for all the wires to set in as was suggested.

C4506E96-DDFD-4312-B11E-CB922D7871A1 by TomParisOBC, on Flickr

F514B260-4591-4B1A-9A3E-D7FB2CE83DE4 by TomParisOBC, on Flickr

[uncleboo]

Have some tabs welded on.