Gas tank fluid removal

[cudabob]

Hi I just bought a 1988 20 seacraft that was sunk. I have drained as much as i can with a siphon. Is there any way to remove the rest? Dry gas, venting tank for it to evaporate ? Help

[caper]

Remove the fuel level sender and bend a piece of tubing to go to a back corner of the tank, jack up the boat so that one rear corner of the tank is the lowest point. use the bent tube and some hose to suck out the remaining "fluid".

[cudabob]

Hi i can only get to the filler pipe which is a 90 degree bend to get into tank

[JohnC]

I had to clean a tank on a Mako a few years ago - I found quite a bit of thick sludge in the tank that had to be removed. After removing all of the gas I scraped around the blobs of sludge with piece of soft copper pipe that was taped to a shop vac (I think I poured in a little alcohol as a solvent so that I was sucking something less combustible than gasoline through the vac). It's really hard to do if you cant get to the fuel level sender. The sender is the only hole that's big enough to work through and to see into.

You can buy an inspection camera with a light from Amazon for under $30 (nine is about 1/2" diameter). This plugs into your phone and will give you a good look at your progress, but you need a hole big enough to clean and check your work through. You may be able to put the camera through the fill line but I don't know how much your going to see without being able to articulate it.

The alternative is to keep running gas with fuel system cleaner through until it stops passing bad gas and sludge. You could buy a couple of extra fuel filters and do this but I don't know if you would ever get everything out that way. I tried this but after 4 or 5 clogged fuel filters I was still getting sludge coming through. I couldn't count on the motor running well until I was sure my fuel system was free of crap.

[cudabob]

My tank has water in it only from sinking siphoned about 18 gallons. Not a lot of water but enough to be concerned. I have only one inspection hatch witch is where the fuel fill line is in back of the console.

[Bowhunnter0126]

Assuming you have the space you could always add another inspection/access hatch over the sender? Would be beneficial now and possibly in the future. I believe the round 6" ones run around $20.

[cudabob]

I don't see a sender on this tank

[cudabob]

I found the sender outside of the fill deck plate. looks like i will have to pull floor hatch

[bobbert]

Go to your local auto parts store chain or local and buy a electric fuel pump, about $30, a plastic fuel filter and rig it up with a switch and some contact clamps. Make up a probe with some fuel line and copper tubing. Insert into fuel pick up and suck away. You will be surprised how quick you empty a tank.

[uncleboo]

Originally Posted by cudabob

I found the sender outside of the fill deck plate. looks like i will have to pull floor hatch

Or you could get a measurement through the filler inspection plate and cut a new one over the sender. I did this for a plate to access the pick up fitting when replacing the fuel lines. Used a mirror and a flashlight to see the fitting so I could see when the end of the tape was at the fitting.