this years winter project

[captpete13]

thanks for the info Geek. My V is a 1981. It used to have a 20" transom before I replaced it. Now its 25". I appreciate you going through the trouble. Hopefully if Rob's old tank is in good enough shape than I will be golden.

[Geekie1]

Captpete13,

Since you have your floor removed, checking whether a fuel tank will fit should be easy. Removing a foamed in tank with just the access hatch open is a very large PITA. Alot of people that have replaced leaky 60 gallon tanks have essentially pulled the tank and destroyed it in the process!! That was not as bad as it sounds since the tank was in such bad corrosive condition that it could not be salvaged in any case. The original aluminum tanks in the V20 were a weak point in the boat (IMHO) and many tanks have already been replaced or will need replacement soon!

The original V's had saddle tanks in the port and starboard gunnels where the rod boxes are. I believe that between the early V's with saddle tanks there were a number of years that V's had smaller under deck tanks with a capacity around 45 gallons. By looking at your pictures with the old tank in place, it appears that the top of the tank is several inches lower under the floor than the 60 gallon tank in my V. (I have about 2" top of tank to under floor clearance.) Also, the locations of the filler and vent fittings on my 60 gallon tank are on the front of the tank and the fuel fitting to the engine and sending unit are aft. I think that if the tank you will be installing is a Wellcraft original or a V20 custom 60 gallon and it fits side to side and front to back, you will go from 40 gallons to 60 and have a good fit!! I am not sure when the V's went to the 60 gallon aluminum tank but know for sure that the 1984 V cuddy cabin and CC had 60 gallon tanks.

Geek

[macojoe]

my 1975 had the saddle bags and they were still perfect when I sold it a few years ago.
I had 3 tanks, saddle bags were 20 gal each and I had a plastic tank were the engine use to be that was 25 gal.

[NOTHING ELSE MATTERS]

My boat came originaly with the Inca tank i mentioned before. The tank tag has a manufacturer date of 1990, so it has to be original.

[Geekie1]

Hi NOTHINGELSEMATTERS,

Your V20 is a 1990 V20 Sport Cuddy. I don't know about your boat and the fuel tanks or where they are located in the 1990 V20 Sport Cuddy. I have a 1984 V20 Cuddy. The the Inca tank in your boat (F06008) will not fit in my V20. I am not saying that the Inca tank you have is not correct for your boat, I am saying that it will not fit in my boat without raising the floor or making a custom floor hatch over the tank. Also, I am not saying that the Inca tank will not fit captpete13's V20. The location of captpete13's original fuel tank in the pictures appear to be in the same location as my boat. However, the dead rise angle of the deep V hull at the transom to about amidships of the V20 (about 23 degrees) has not changed since Raymond Hunt, (the naval architect that designed the V20) originally designed the boat. I am not trying to be argumentative, just trying to give everyone the benefit of my unpleasant fuel tank experience's with my 1984 V20 Cuddy!

Geek

[Geekie1]

Hi MJ,
I may be wrong but, the problem with V20 fuel tanks corroding did not effect saddle tanks because they were not in the bilge and I don't think they were foamed in. As I understand it, the foamed in 60 gallon tanks corroded from the outside-in due to trapped bilge water penetrating the foam and corroding the outside of the tank.

Geek

[captpete13]

No real progress since the pics. We have been so busy winterizing I haven't had the motovation to do anything. Its amazing,we had been steady but not busy winterizing for a while. Right after Thanksgiving it went nuts. Now everyone wants out. I guess I will take it while I can get it. After I get some Christmas shopping done I should be able to make more progress on the boat. But for now I am a winterizing robot. Fog the motor,change gearlube,grease,nontox nontox nontox.... Next