No Explosion: Saddle Tank Cleanout, Part 3.

[drbabe]

Hi Everyone,
After reading all the posts about dear late Uncle Ernie, and how he tried to vacuum out the gas tank, I just let 'em sit all winter. Then, recently, I opened the tanks, and with a rag screwed to a stick, mopped up the last few drops of sandy gas. Next step: put the shop-vac on BLOW (after cleaning out the vacuum and filter, so I didn't blow all that joint-compound sanding dust from the bathroom project back through the tanks), and wired the hose to the tank and went and did something else for a half an hour. No more fumes! But a couple days later, it still smelled like gas, so I blew 'em out again, before vacuuming. I attached three hoses together, and put the shop-vac about twenty feet away, justincase it DID decide to expand.

IMG_2770.jpg

I used a 1" pvc tube, and sometimes a 1/4 " clear plastic tube to remove any crud and sand. So, sorry folks, but it looks like I lost my bid to win the Darwin this year. Can't wait to get the whole boat back together and bomb along without the motor starving and dying.
Dave