1998 272 Fuel Tank Removal Questions

[ScottyCee]

Hi All,

The time has to come to pull the fuel tanks out of my 272. I want to clean off any corrosion, flush the insides, and repaint them. I also want to look at the stringers and clean everything up. There simply wasn’t time to go this deep last year when we bought it but this year it’s going to get done.

Progress so far is disconnecting all of the hoses, removal of the auxiliary tank and all of the lumber and wedges that keep them in place. Horoscope (LOL, I’m leaving this typo) shows clean nice-looking metal inside the aux tank, but there was definitely some nasty fuel that came out. Interesting because everything I pumped out through the pick up system was clean. My Racors showed no phase separation, no debris. The last gallon or so I sucked out through the sender port was much nastier though. Kind of black looking. Rubber?

It was all going relatively smoothly yesterday. The existing 2 inch fuel line is rock hard and it’s going to be a lot harder to get out than I think the new pieces will be to get in. Definitely was a struggle to get them off of the fuel fill fittings on the gunwale. I have electrical pulling strap running through those paths right now, but is that how this is normally done? It’s sort of seems like it wouldn’t be necessary but I wanted to be on the safe side.

So anyway we were doing great until we discovered that the aluminum fill hose fitting on the top of the big front tank will prevent it from sliding out from under the helm structure. There is a wave shaped fiberglass reinforcement running across that that would have to be zipped out to get the fuel fitting through. Seems strange so I’m gonna take a bunch of pictures and post them here this morning.

So anyone have knowledge or memory of this battle? I’m wondering if that fiberglass might’ve been added afterwards? I can’t imagine how this front tank will go in and out with it in place. Unless there’s a chamfer on the front tank bottom allowing it to tip which doesn’t seem likely (edit - there isn't). Haven’t seen that far in yet. It’s pretty heavy, so I’m going to suck the last of the remnant fuel out of this one too. Be interesting to see what kind of garbage I find.

Yesterday I found a standard screwdriver stuck right at the bottom of the fill hose fitting on the aux tank. Managed to wrestle the hose off and there it was. Green handled flat blade from quite a while back. Little rusty too. I wondered why aux needed to be filled more slowly. Now I know.

So how the heck did they get that tank in there?

Thank you for your insights.


This is the piece I'm describing viewed from the outside. They class clears the tank by ~5/8"


This is the glass reinforcement viewed from inside. Camera is sitting on the tank surface.


At the end where the glass reinforcement stops. I need just about this much clearance to get the tank out.

Can't ta

You can't tell in the photo but there is just enough clearance for that fitting to slide under the ply. There wasn't with the hose on it.

I realize this may be hard to picture from what I posted, so here's where we are.

 

[seasick]

Thinking about the original post, I can't imagine going through all that work and not replace the tank
During original construction, the tank was installed before the deck was attached. That is why it may be harder to remove through the opening.

 

[ScottyCee]

well, what you say makes sense but it’s a little inconsiderate of them. I really didn’t think that they would do it that way but clearly they did.

I hear what you’re saying, but that 150 gal tank is at least 1500 bucks, and that’s just not in the budget right now. I’m not spending any real money doing this job. I’ll splash some solvent around in them and vacuum them out and they’ll be good to go again. I know that’s a lot harder than it sounds around the baffles but I’m going to do what I can. There’s a company that makes access ports that you can cut in so you can reach your hand inside. I may buy those or fabricate my own variety. Last possible resort is buying new tanks LOL…

 

[Hookup1]

Seasick is right on replacing the tanks. Cleaning the tank is the easy part. It is the integrity of the tank. If you can clean, inspect and repair tank/weld corrosion yourself its one thing. I have seen a few member posts with access to a well equipped workshop that saved the old tank. But if you have to pay someone to do it it's cost prohibitive. You could test them in place and kick the can down the road a little until you can afford to replace them.

I went thru a similar situation 2-years ago. I was suspicious of my tanks. I pressure tested both tanks and used an automotive "smoke machine" that is common to use on fuel systems for leak detection. For now I'm using my 24 year old tanks but they should be replaced.

1995 Islander 268 Removing fuel Tank

Hi , I pulled up the access covers on the floor and want to remove and inspect the main fuel tank . The tank looks good from what I can see but still want to inspect the bottom to make sure. It looks like if I cut the one bulkhead closest to the tank and trim the back one down I can slide it out...

www.greatgrady.com

 

[seasick]

Be careful using a solvent and then vacuuming the tank. If the solvent is flammable, the vacuum may cause an explosion. Shop vacs and the like are not explosion proof!

 

[ScottyCee]

Gas pump is safe for use cleaning out tanks. Fortunately there is little or no corrosion showing. Dry down there.

Thanks for the input…

 

[ScottyCee]

The structure blocking the tank in turned out to be the bottom of the ply that makes the step riser going up to the help. Cutting 1=1/4" off the bottom for 6" was insubstantial. Now that the cover plates are fabricated and test mounted I should be able to clean the tanks. Being able to get hands and cameras in there is fantastically better. We'll get them clean all right. Solvent slosh, pump crap out. Rinse and repeat. 8^)

They're in nice shape. What's the best chemical / paint for the white corrosion (not shown)? It isn't deep, but I'd like to kill it. I steel brushed it and got most of it off, but what chemical on aluminum? No caustics, right?

 

[Hookup1]

What does the bottom look like?

 

[ScottyCee]

They are really clean. There is a dusting of white oxidation / corrosion and some pitting that is very shallow in stripes where they rested on the rubber runners. No structural concerns, just want to kill the corrosion while it's easy. The two stripes look like the discolored 1-2" on the left top edge of the smaller (right) tank in my first pic.

See the bowling pin shaped stain half way up the left side of the bigger tank? There is another one at the bottom right by the end of the appliance dolly. Those are where I chunked resin globs off of the surface, and are somewhat representative of the level of corrosion overall. Moisture must have crept underneath. Very shallow, fortunately.

I'll post a better picture or two tonight.

 

[ROBERTH]

I cleaned my tanks surfaces really good and used some vinegar to kill/clear off the corrosion and used wire brushes. Once cleaned off, used Marine Tex Epoxy to cover any suspicious or weak pitted areas, then coated the tanks with Coal Tar Epoxy which was the recommendation of folks that restore tanks.

I used some 5200 on the bottom to glue on some PVC strips for the mounting surface just before the coating.

That was about 9 years ago now and no issues so far.

 

[ScottyCee]

That marine Tex sealer looks like a good product. Think I'll get some of that to coat the tanks at the end. At least the undersides...