[bradford]

I had to replace my fuel tank three years ago--hated it!

The old wise man that welded my new tank told me some tricks to make this job easier. He said go to a do-it yourself car wash and cut the foam with the pressure washer. He warned me to do this when nobody was around because small chunks of foam will go everywhere and the owners of the car wash will definantly not appreciate it. He also told me to wear my scuba mask because water and foam bits will go into every orfice of your body!! Let me tell you he wasn't kidding!!! :o I dropped about ten bucks worth of quarters into the machine and let her rip. Foam bits flew everywhere, but the pressure washer made quick work of the foam. After that getting the tank loose of the bottom foam was a pain. Only after THOUROUGHLY flushing the tank of ALL gas AND fumes I drilled a couple of holes in the tank with a hole saw. I then ran a chain through them, and placed a pair of 4x4 posts across the gunnels. I then placed a floor jack on top of the posts with the chain across the jack attached with a shackel. I gently applied pressure with the jack until the tank popped loose. Now the problem was that the tank was about a quarter inch bigger than the hole it had to come out of. This explains the crack in the deck(or is it a "character line") between my fuel tank hatch and the live well. When i went to install my new tank I squirted eight "cow patties" of 5200 evenly spaced in the bilge and set my new tank on top. By using a lot of 5200 I have space all around and underneath the tank for air to circulate and for water to drain away. By the way my old tank had NINE FREAKIN HOLES IN IT!!, and two were big enough to put your fist in!! I would never put the expanding foam back in because it holds moisture and causes corrosion on a dangerous and vital part of your boat. Hope this helps anyone who is in this situation. Shoot me a pm if I can be of any help :)