Sorry I'm late but congrats on the V! I live in Jacksonville and restored my V last winter.
My 60 gal tank has a major leak under the barbed nipple that the fill hose connects to. It's got a band-aid fix, but still leaks and I plan to pull the floors and replace the tank this winter. I'm planning on an aluminum, but haven't started looking for the replacement yet. I'd like to find a way to go bigger... I put 51 gallons in it after an offshore lobster trip. With no fuel gauge, I was sweating it the whole way in but never mentioned it to my buddy's.
I bet the water was holding up front. A few leaves or some algae may have been blocking the PVC pipe that runs along the bottom of the hull, under the gas tank. Mine also refuses to drain completely without being jacked all the way up.
I go offshore alot, so I carry two bilge pumps. One is installed in the bilge and is double switched with a float in the bilge and a manual switch on the dash. The other is a spare with 10 ft of hose and alligator clips on the wires, so I can drop it in and run it directly off the battery in an emergency. Most offshore boaters would actually recommend a more eleborate system than mine, I think. Mine is a Rule... I don't remember GPM, but it was the middle size available at West Marine. My backup is an 8 gpm.
|