T&T: Replacing Fuel Tanks

[Bob McLeran]

Well, that might work on some boats. But on others, like mine, that 
would involve cutting through the interior of the aft cabin, through the 
queen berth, the water tanks, the aft cabin flooring, the hanging locker 
. . . you get the idea.

I replaced two fuel tanks on our former trawler. It was a big job, with 
two FL-90 engines with transmissions and a genset that had to be removed 
to get to both tanks (need to replace one, might as well do both). While 
the engine room was baren, I cleaned it up, painted, rewired a few 
things, etc. While the engines were on stands, I replaced every hose and 
anything that was difficult to get to when the engines were in place in 
the boat. Made a very difficult job extremely easy, for the most part. 
It took the yard about three days to remove everything; another three 
days or so to replace everything and make all the connections.

Frankly, I'd only let a yard cut into the hull as a way-last resort.

<><><><><><><><><><><><>Mozilla Thunderbird<><><><><><><><><><>
Bob McLeran and Judy Young                  Manatee Cove Marina
MV Sanderling                               Patrick Air Force Base
DeFever 41 Trawler                          Melbourne, Florida 



On 2/2/2008 11:39 AM, Ken Ongemach wrote:
> Quit thinking like an owner & think like a well equipped yard... Yards that do
> a lot of glass work, just cut 2 holes in the transom, remove everything in the
> way, cut holes in the rear engine bulkhead & slide the old tanks out the
> transom. The TOTAL cost is most of the time less than pulling
> engine(s).........Ken, Tampa