That sounds good. Didnt think of using 5200. Ive been thinking a lot lately about fabricating a central drain system like newer vikings have. Its basically 1 1.5 inch length of waste hose run along the port and stbd gunwale, slightly downhill, leading to a through hull aft. You plumb anything you want to drain into the hose. Vikings use it for a/c discharge, bulge pump discharge, shower box discharge, etc. It would work great on our boats for the same reason. Plumb the rod holders and anything else you want in there, install a through hull, and never worry about it again. Ive also been think about building a hybrid self bailing deck/showerbox system where id tee off the self bailing drain hose, install a ball valve, and run it to a showerbox (a sealed box things can drain into with a bilge pump and float switch to pump it out. This way you can drain things low and pump it out to a through hull placed up high). It like to consolidate things and be able to seal the bailers for when my boat is sitting low in the water.

Do not go any higher than around 3 PSI, 20 PSI would blow your tank to bits. Pump her up and see if she holds. One possibility is the PO thought the tank was leaking when it was really just the fuel level sensor seal that went bad. When mine went out you would have thought the tank was cut in two so much fuel was able to pour out when accelerating.

If it does leak, as far as pulling the tank, a saws all run around the perimeter makes quick work of it. Wedge the chunks out with a nail puller or a wonder bar.

Personally I would stick with the premix setup vs, the oiler.

http://www.uscomposites.com/foam.html

They sell the foam you would be looking for. You would use a 4 LB foam underneath the tank and 2 LB on the sides. When I set my tank I used some blues styrofoam squares to get the tank at my ideal height and distance from the sides. Then used large clamps to keep the expanding from raising the tank as it expanded.

even 3 lbs could do serious damage to the tank, the boat, and possibly your body.. think about it that's 3 lbs of pressure for each square inch... if the tank were 50" x24"x 18" You would have 15,192 lbs of force at only 3 psi!

Places that pressure test fuel tanks use less than 1 psi often with the tank submerged to look for bubbles or have the tank in a special box that supports all sides and is strong enough to withstand the pressure

My advice is that you completely forget pressure testing it or having it tested.... just rip it out and put in a new tank n be done with it.

When I tested my tank I tested at 3 psi. I personally wouldn't offer advice if I had not done the research. But don't take my word for it.

http://www.uscgboating.org/regulatio...rds_partq.aspx

just spoke with the previous owner yesterday... it was bypassed because the gas is a few years old and he didnt wanna clean it.. on to my next question. how do you thoroughly clean a tank with varnished gas?

First I'd try and pump out what's in there and see what it looks like. Who knows you might find a little water on the bottom with some gas you could run through your lawn mower on top. My Grady had 20 gal of gas in it, pre-mixed unfortunately, with a bunch of sediment in the bottom. I took all the gas out,put a little fresh gas in the bottom and sucked out the leftover sediment with my air powered brake bleeder. The gas in my tank was only a year old though.

I just went back and read that your tank was full of premixed gas. I guess your in the same boat as me. I'm just hanging onto my gas until May when my county,Essex, has a hazardous waste drop off day in May.

The 6 gal has premix. Idk whats in the on board tank.

That test is for a NEW tank outside of a boat.... A 20-30 year old tank could have significant corrosion and could rupture at MUCH less pressure than a new one.

I wasn't intending to attack you... Just offering my own advice.... I too have a little experience with fuel tanks.

Either way it sounds like maybe his tank is ok.

BTW old gas can be easily burned 1 gallon at a time in an old coffee can