Replacing fuel tank on 1993 208 Adventurer

[HookUp]

Well its looks like I will be joining the ranks and replacing my fuel tank.
Finally, after all these year the fuel tank has developed a pretty bad leak.
It seems to me it must be on the rear wall of the tank. I have pretty steep area in my neighborhood where I was able to park the boat on the trailer and pull the plug. Got me almost 10 gallons of fuel !!!
Fishing season is over for me now. Its time for this project. I feel pretty lucky, Im seeing folks here change em after less than 10 yrs.
Probably gonna have a lot of question as I go thru this process, hopefully with some help here I can be ready when spring comes around.

Wish me luck

 

[Lt.Mike]

That’s a lot of fuel in the bilge.
Had that like that on my Bayliner.
That’s a disaster waiting to happen.
My Grady had its holes in the top of the tank under the 2x4’s that went across just under the hatch.
I had to drain my tank, flush with water then cut it in half to get it out. Grady makes them fit like a size 12 foot in a size 10 boot. I had Patriot Marine make a custom tank slightly smaller at 60 gal (factory tank was 65) so it dropped right in. Instead of using wood I braced it in with azak poly that I got from Home Depot.
If you go waaaay back in my posts I had one detailing the tank, fuel line replacement and hatch recore.
Incidentally I can’t say enough good things about patriot marine.
I highly recommend them.

 

[Ky Grady]

It's nothing but a thing!

On my second tank replacement right now. Replaced my auxiliary tank last year. Main tank this year.

 

[HookUp]

What model and year is that Grady Ky? Mine looks a bit different.
I will put up some pics later tonight but I got one big hatch that covers the whole tank. Hopefully getting the tank out of the boat wont require too much modification.
Would love to hear from someone with the same year and model as mine and has gone through this.

 

[HookUp]

That’s a lot of fuel in the bilge.
Had that like that on my Bayliner.
That’s a disaster waiting to happen.
My Grady had its holes in the top of the tank under the 2x4’s that went across just under the hatch.
I had to drain my tank, flush with water then cut it in half to get it out. Grady makes them fit like a size 12 foot in a size 10 boot. I had Patriot Marine make a custom tank slightly smaller at 60 gal (factory tank was 65) so it dropped right in. Instead of using wood I braced it in with azak poly that I got from Home Depot.
If you go waaaay back in my posts I had one detailing the tank, fuel line replacement and hatch recore.
Incidentally I can’t say enough good things about patriot marine.
I highly recommend them.

I will rememeber this when the time comes to get the replacement.
What year and model was your boat?

I believe my tank is 80+ gallons according to the owners manual

 

[Ky Grady]

What model and year is that Grady Ky? Mine looks a bit different.
I will put up some pics later tonight but I got one big hatch that covers the whole tank. Hopefully getting the tank out of the boat wont require too much modification.
Would love to hear from someone with the same year and model as mine and has gone through this.

Mine is an '04 228, but tank access should be similar. A belt sander and a cutoff wheel will be your friend. It will take some trimming to get the tank up out of there.

 

[HookUp]

Well this is what it looks like with the hatch removed
The hatch will need some work as it is a little mushy. Saw a YT vid that shows how the hatch is built up. Its basically little squares of plywood sandwiched between two sheets of matting, and resined in...or something like that. Mine will need to be rebuilt. As an added bonus it looks like I might be able to add some extra storage or maybe a fresh water tank aft of the tank in the empty space.
Sure would be nice to wash the clam off my hands before I eat a sandwich

 

[Ky Grady]

Now that's pure funky right there. Your boat will be happy when you clean all that out!!

 

[HookUp]

Haha.
Thats 27 years of funk you're looking at right there.
I had the bow up very high on the trailer overnight and I collected a couple of more gallons of gas/water mix this morning from the bilge plug
Left the hatch cover off before I left for work. Planning on maybe getting the tank out after work if conditions are safe enough. Lots of fuel vapor in the air still. Im thinking a good scrubbing and maybe some bilge paint afterwards.
Anyone have any luck with a good bilg paint?

There is a thread going on over at THT about someone who used a product I believe called Total Bilge but they were not very happy with the results or support from the manufacturer.

 

[Ky Grady]

I didn't use anything after I cleaned mine. After tank was out I just used Simple Green and a scrub brush and let air dry.

 

[HookUp]

That looks pretty good Ky.
I would be happy with those results

 

[DennisG01]

Just throwing this out for "food for thought" for you. So far (knocking on wood right now), my tank is doing OK. I have a single, 92g tank. But, it's way bigger than I need. If/when it comes time to replace it, I'm thinking of going with a smaller - maybe 60g-ish PLASTIC tank. No more corrosion issues... although a new aluminum tank should last at least a couple decades.

That's a tough area for paint. I'd probably just mix up some epoxy and dye it. But, BilgeKote is a bilge paint that has been around for a long time and has done well. Prep is the key!

 

[HookUp]

Here is the next step of this adventure on the Adventurer. Recoring the hatch cover.
Mine is pretty well worn on the non-skid side, mostly from a cooler I had there for years. The core is water logged from what looks most likely from the inspection plate area. Not sure if I want to do this myself or just set it all up and have a fiberglass guy finish it.
Time to WD-40 all the screws holding in the pressure treated wood and wedges. With some luck they will come out with and impact driver

 

[imjus4u2nv]

Thanks for info, I will have to do this eventually for my 96 adventure so watching this thread.
Only info I can give is on the water tank install, I made a pretty good post on here if you look for it, let me know of any questions if you decide to go for it.

 

[HookUp]

I would get the hatch off and take a peek if I were you. The deck plates and screws seem to be where the water intrusion started.
Still not sure whats up with the fuel tank leaking, I haven't got that out yet

Does that fresh water tank go in the space behind the fuel tank? In 93 they had a cutout in the gunnel with a little swivel faucet and there was an electric switch to operate the pump.

 

[imjus4u2nv]

I would get the hatch off and take a peek if I were you. The deck plates and screws seem to be where the water intrusion started.
Still not sure whats up with the fuel tank leaking, I haven't got that out yet

Does that fresh water tank go in the space behind the fuel tank? In 93 they had a cutout in the gunnel with a little swivel faucet and there was an electric switch to operate the pump.

Yes tank goes behind tank.
I was in there when i installed and tank seemed pretty solid.
I had a hard time finding the part for the gunwale faucet and also was concered about cutting such a big piece of my boat out. I decided to mount s faucet underthe gunwale in the port rear (also close to the scupper drain which is good). I also went with a low gph pressure pump (turns on when you open faucet and off when you close faucet) which eliminated a switch at the faucet.
Having the freshwater is awesome, I also have a wash down to the same pump, not that high of pressure but enough to rinse the deck and fishing poles - my boat does not see saltwater on the inside.


See the install here https://www.greatgrady.com/threads/installing-freshwater-tank-in-a-1996-adventure-208.26691/

 

[Parthery]

Newer (after about '97 I think) 208s used a polyethylene tank.....does yours?

It may not be the tank that's leaking, but your fill hose. They don't last forever and at 25+ years old, ethanol may have gotten it.

 

[HookUp]

Newer (after about '97 I think) 208s used a polyethylene tank.....does yours?

It may not be the tank that's leaking, but your fill hose. They don't last forever and at 25+ years old, ethanol may have gotten it.

Oh its the tank, the fill hose goes without saying. Ive had over 20 gallons of fuel come out the bilge so far. That aint coming from the fill hose.

 

[HookUp]

Well all the braces and wedges that hold the tank in place came unscrewed with just a little hard manual labor.
Took two of us to get the tank out, the fill hose was on pretty darn good and not alot of flex or slack in it, but we managed to get it out. Didnt take long to see where the leak was coming from. Front starboard bottom corner. And just 5 gallons of gas sloshing around in that big old tank makes it pretty unweildly even for two guys.

 

[HookUp]

Ooops- Double post.
I did NOT see the post prior when I logged in. Wierd



Yesterday was tank removal day.
After doing a little hard work and getting all the braces and wedges that secure the tank unscrewed we began to attempt to remove the beast from the bilge. The front cross brace over the top of the tank was really the only difficult one to remove. Not sure how they drove screws into the stringers but were able to get them out using a 1/4 drive setup with a philips bit.
The fill hose needed some muscle to get off but a little WD and a hose removal hook made it a bit easier. Plenty of room to get the tank out so I guess Im one of the lucky ones. I hear people having to cut all sorts of things.
Also found that the leak was in the bottom front starboard side. Now its time to scrub the bilge and assess whats going on in there. At first glance it looks like the platform below the tank may need to be redone and also the one aft of the tank where a fresh water tank would go. That latter had the square blocks supporting the lower part of the platform come loose. They will need to be glassed in again. I will try to get better pictures of those descriptions

I got an estimate on a new tank from a highly recommended fabricator here on LI but Im a little apprehensive that the fabricator does not use an epoxy coating on the outside.

I'll have to figure that one out