fuel tank
 

Can anyone point me in the right direction in replacing a fuel tank in an 84 steplift cuddy. I just bought the boat and at the place where I bought it the guys were replacing the fuel bulb before the seatrial. I wondered if they spilled gas in the bilge during the process but not sure. When I looked at the tank through the inspection holes it looked original(metal) and a somewhat suspect to be leaking. Advice?

Dumb question: should I not run it until I find out if there is a leak?

I would definitely wait to run the boat till you know if the tank is leaking or not. Your life could depend on it. As far as the tank itself do a search, there have been alot of threads regarding gas tank issues. If you are interested in a 40 gallon tank, Ebay seller Greatlakesskipper has a couple for $129 + shipping.

FWB how much fuel do you think the tank has in it? Full? Half? 1/4?

Welcome to the site.
 

Scoot it (the boat) out with the garden hose, remove the plug, wick the bilge out or dry with a wrag then start looking for accumilations of fuel in the bilge.
Most likely, you can repair it but this will involve removing the tank.
If it is leaking replacing it will be inevitable but a patch might buy you some time.

Like said above clean and dry the bilge and then look for signs of a leak?? If you find nothing then you could get the tank pressure tested to find out for sure.
If you have to take it out, its not going to be fun!! Lots of work and a new 60 gal tank will be $500+ so if you don't have a need for 60 gal you might want to ck out the 40 gal thats a nice price!!!!!

CAREFUL about the pressure test. Usually 3-5 psi is all the pressure added to check for a good tank.

thanks
 

switching to a smaller tank may be a good idea as I fish alot inshore/nearshore

Figure 10.5 gallons per hour to 2.5 miles per gallon at best running capabality.
If you're going to the CAT reef, 40 gallons would be a good size to leave room for error.

I filled the tank when I got it home before launching. So, it's sitting pretty tied up to the dock with a quart of live shrimp and mud minnows in a bait bucket hanging from the back cleat....fish or possible death by explosion? Guess i'll try to dry it out and observe. Does anybody have a ballpark figure on what the average fiberglass boat repair man charges to do the job of tank removal and replacement?

Where you at? Kilkenny, Ft. McCallister or somewhere else?
This would be a good project to do yourself. There are couple of threads on replacing the floor tank if needed. No it ain't easy but it will work or not, nothing inbetween.
First pull the boat out and determine what's going on.

I live in Waterford Landing in Richmond Hill. The boat is at the community marina. You are right, time to pull it out. Any advice on the fuel(50 plus gallons)? I think I need to back up and punt. She rides so well but first things first.

First determine if there is a fuel cell leak ,removing the boat from the water, if so, 5 gallons at the time are easily handled (hope you got a pickup). Just siphon (you'll be a pro after this) and save (unless it's not mixed with oil) for reinstallation. The cost of the 5 gallon tanks will be nothing compared to the work involved and later they will be apreciated.
There are not many boat mechanics in this area that will profess to doing this work in a cost efficient manner. I do my repairs myself and won't suggest any references, reasoning being, by the time a good mechanic is found at a shop, he has moved on somewhere else. Ask someone you know and trust to make a reference to do work.
There is no other boat that rides like these and handle as such, they are well worth the renovations (not monitarily but piece of mind) and endless labor of upkeep (as every boat is).
Let us know about progress (and pictures).

HAMMER (mia), Mulv, whatknot and the other guys that have replaced the belly tank. What's all involved with replacing the tank.
Anybody please find the threads.

I was referred to Jerry Adams but I would rather do it myself to learn my boat. Just anxious. Should I use a syphon pump in the fill whole or on the tank itself after removal of the deck? Then store it in 5 gallon portable tanks...correct? Also you said "unless its not mixed with oil" My gas is not pre-mixed, do I save it? Pics are uploaded to photobucket and Im trying to get them here. Took them this evening at sundown. People stop and stare at that boat like their at a car show...cant blame them.

Well before you go draining the gas I would check all the lines and any thing else that might be leaking. I pulled my tank after checking everything I could think of and it was not the tank. I finally found that the nipple that the vent hose conects to had cracked and after I filled the boat and then added oil gas leaked out of this crack. It took time for it to leak out of the boat and it seemed that it was just a continous leak. If you have to drain the tank just by some 5 gallon cans, disconect the fuel line from the motor, stick the hose in a can and pump the ball to get things flowing. It takes some time so just keep an eye on the can nad change them out as needed. Also the last can of gas take it and shake it up and dump some into a jar and see how it looks. I found my last can was pretty dirty and had some water in it so I did not put that back into the boat.

Thank you sir. Check all connections to and from fuel cell first.

Welcome to the site & congrats on the new crew member. These are great boats for families. I have an 83 cuddy, did you take off the inspection plates and check the fill hose and vent hose that is in the forward deckplate, the rear one is where the motor connection is and the guage sending unit. My fill hose was rotted and it only leaked gas when i was filling it up. you can check that aand not have to pull the tank cover...

Awsome, I will try that tomorrow! Thank you.

FWB, go to the Modifications forum and look under Hey Whatknot. on the 2 page he has a good picture of what the top of the tank looks like with the deck removed.

For my tank leak (85 cuddy), I turned off the valve on the fuel pickup. The boat was sitting in my driveway on a slight slope so that anything in the bilge would drain to the stern. I plugged it and checked it two days in a row (draining in between) and found fuel in the bilge each time. Since my fuel line was shut off I reasoned the tank must be leaking. The fill and vent hoses are on the top and the tank was not full so there would be no way for a leak to occur there unless it happened when filling the tank.

Sure enough, after removing the tank I found a hole the size of a dime and several other areas with active corrosion that would have leaked soon enough. I am one who bought a 40 gallon from greatlakesskipper on Ebay and it fit nicely in my 85. I have yet to do the final install but it slid right in there.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/BOAT-...spagenameZWD1V

Welcome to the site!

I had a couple of FIST SIZED holes in my tank which resembled swiss cheese. I'd check all other avenues (fittings, hoses, etc.) first. If you do have a leaky tank pulling it isn't that technically difficult, just a good way to waste a saturday. I did mine in a way similar to whale before I knew about this site or even had a computer. I gave a detailed post a while back how I did it. Do it yourself and save your money for fun stuff.

p.s. Be SURE to evacuate all gas and more imporatantly fumes from your boat before tearing into this project, or else you could end up like the sugar refinery!

hey, if you have a 60 gallon tank, stay with it dude. If your fishing habits ever change, you won't be held back by fuel. If this link works, it should take you to a Fuel Tank Specs directory. If not, do a search for it. I did a schematic of my 60 gallon tank and if you scroll down I show ya where I had it made. Quality job too!

http://www.wellcraftv20.com/communit...uel+tank+specs

1. Take boat out of water
2. Drain/wick dry bilge
3. Check fiil tube, vent tube and other tube
4. Shut off gas valve to motor, tilt boat and observe for tank leak
5. If leak, syphon gas and hold
6. Order tank
7. Pull tank
8. replace tank
9. replace floor and seal
10. refill with gas, all but last 5-10 gallons
11. Drink Makers and Gingerale
12. Watch wife shake head back and forth in lighthearted disgust

How bout it, whats's missing guys?

Do I glass the new tank in? Confused on the foam or no foam part. I sa the post on using ratchet clamps and 2x6 to hoist it out.

If no major leak is detected from steps 1-4 what is to say there is not a super small leak hole? Looks as if I may pull it anyway for piece of mind. Might be getting ahead of myself though. I'll start Sunday morning and post pics of the whole thing, also of my neighbor's wife who gardens in a white bikini.

The most time consuming and hardest part of pulling a fuel tank is removing the foam from around the tank. I have removed 2 tanks from V-20's and both times it was a pain to get the tank free from the foam. I bought a 40 gallon poly tank and havent installed it yet. I figure if theres ever a time where I need more than 40 gallons to go to where the fish are I probably need a bigger boat. While you are changing out the tank inspect your fuel fill and vent hoses. The fuel fill hose is expensive but now is the time to replace it.

Hey, this guy ain't all bad. A lot of guys have had problems with digging the foam out and the foams "grip" on the tank. I was just think that somewhere in my past I have worked with a solvent that disolves foam....can't remember what it is as it obviously disolves brain cells as well:hi:

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...ilies/nono.gif

Leave out the ginger ale.

Other than that, it's all good.

Foam
 

What is the function and purpose of the foam in the first place?

Foam is a cheap and easy way for the factory to secure the tank in place. Only problem is it holds moisture and eventually rots out the tank. I cut the foam out of mine with about 10 bucks worth of quarters and a pressure washer at the carwash. I used a floor jack sitting atop two 4x4 posts laid across the gunnels to pop the tank out after flushing the tank and cutting two holes in the forward corners with a chain through them and across the jack.

welcome fwb, Iam in the process of replacing my tank now , Iam not the one doing the work tho my mechanic is doing it but the tank is out and the new one is being made to replace it ... they are welding brackets on it to fasten it back in the hull I want to get some pics of it before during and after installation if I can,
I too had fuel in the bielge mine was coming from pin hole around the fill hose connection and at the seams of the tank.

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n...8/DSC05156.jpg

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n...8/DSC05153.jpg

Make sure they put something else with that tank! I have never found them tabs they weld on to the tanks still attached to the tank when it gets older?

looks good and clean....I think mine is gonna be one of those stories that the tank is wider than the hole. I'm geared up for the extraction but i'm nervous about the reinstall. I've researched many post on reinstall but I'm trying to understand the wires that go to the tank. Did you pull new fill/vent/engine hoses while you were in there, they look new.

The reinstall is easy. You've got a pos and neg for the sender and a ground. If you get your tank custom made have them build it to the dieminsions of the hole in has to go through. I 5200ed pressure treated 2x4s to the bottom of the hull and then 5200ed the tank on top of them. Used a few tubes.

Correction on the sender (unless I don't know about the newer tanks), positive wire will go directly to the gauge (terminal "I") , negetive wire will go to the gauge (terminal "G"), tank and/or sender ground, then the sender wire goes to the gauge (terminal "S").
I have 2 saddle tanks. This was the post in the thread. Yours will be easier


http://www.wellcraftv20.com/communit...cons/icon1.gif Re: Specs
Got most of the electronics wired but figured I***8217;d show you the gas gauge set up with two tanks and one gauge.
Needed one pull switch that had basically an off, on, on (left & right tanks).
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w...Picture152.jpg
A regular 3 terminal navigation switch won***8217;t work. This 4 terminal did fine.
Don***8217;t depend on the schematic being correct, in my case the bow lights and battery were reversed.
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w...Picture153.jpg
The gauge had terminals for ***8220;S***8221; sending unit, ***8220;G***8221; ground and ***8220;I***8221; ignition or hot and a wire to the dash light bulb.
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w...Picture154.jpg
The ***8220;I***8221; terminal is fed from the hot feeding the navigation lights switch.
The ***8220;G***8221; terminal goes to the fuse panel ground and the two sending units frame ground.
The ***8220;S***8221; terminal goes to the three position switch to the common or in this case labeled ***8220;battery***8221;.
The other two terminals on the switch go to the sending units in this case ***8220;running lights***8221; for the left tank and ***8220;anchor lights***8220; for the right tank.
The remaining terminal ***8220;bow lights***8221; is vacant.
I connected the gauge bulb to the dash light switch but I didn***8217;t connect the navigation lights in the traditional sense by the first position being anchor and the second position being all. What I did was the first position would be all exterior navigation lights and the second position would include the dash lights. This way if the dash lights caused night blindness I could simply exclude them at night. I have a bad habit running at night without lights on so as to be able to see the water.
http://www.wellcraftv20.com/communit...cons/icon1.gif Re: Specs
Sending units
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w...Picture067.jpg

2x4's should run bow to stearn or port to starboard? Is that all it takes to secure the tank so you can hook it up and seal the deck back?

port to starboard with a gap in the middle to allow water to drain through the bildge. I think I used 5 or 6 per side.

Fwb , Yes all my hoses were new last season , and wires will be addressed before new install:sun: