A new fuel tank for the boat
Well I've had my boat for a year or so now and I was getting annoyed with have to remove the Pacemaker 23L tanks from the boat every time I had to fuel them back up after a day out. Plus the tanks were getting on and there were some pin holes and cracking happening on the tops of the tanks. I've started going out deeper now and it's also a shit fight with all the tanks cluttering the deck near my bait board.
To start off, I made a timber dummy fuel tank but it resembled a rabbit hutch more than a fuel tank so I made it smaller and out of cardboard as it was easier and cheaper to work with. It wasn't a straight forward rectangle tank as the outboard well on the Fraser comes down to where the tank sits so that is why there is some funny angles in the cardboard tank.
I'm lucky where I work as there are welders. I went and saw one of the guys to see if he would do the tank for me. He agreed to do it in his spare time and I went off and bought a sheet of 1.6mm stainless. I had to wait a little as there was a shut down on but in the end he came through with the goods. I hydro'ed the tank to make sure it didn't leak and also to see how much it took. It was about 60L.
I went down and bought all the pipe and fittings to make it a fix in the boat and got stuck into it at home. I hate cutting holes in the fibreglass so I made sure the hole was in the correct spot so that I wasn't going to have to do a fill in job later. I put in new fuel lines and an inline fuel filter while I was at it too. There's also a 3 way valve so that I can change the fuel tank to a reserve Pacemaker fuel tank on the run. The vent pipe runs up under the gunnel with another fuel filter to stop the water ingress in to the tank.
Now for the filling of the tank. I went down to the servo to fill the tank. It'll have to be a slow fill from now on. I had a fuel geyser out of the fill pipe. Even with a 38mm internal diameter fuel hose, back pressure was present and I just about got showered with fuel. Stupid boat. It took 65L litres with the fuel bowser nossel at a quater open to stop washing my boat with the fuel spilling back out but I'd still say a tad over 60 as there was a little bit spilt.
I cut a strip of stainless to make a band to hold the tank into place but it was a custom job and movement will be minimal. Now for a test run. I'll probably leave on of the Pacemaker fuel tanks on the boat as a reserve tank for those long trips. Now the tank is the only shiney thing on the boat and everthing else looks a bit ratty but it still does the job until the minister of finance gives me the go ahead for a new boat.
If anyone is interested in a welder for their jobs on boats, the bloke at work said that he was interested in pursuing this kind of work at home. I'm pretty stoked with the job he did for me. PM if you want his contact details.
Ken
wade stenhouse
Posts: 132
Date Joined: 06/10/08
nice job looks the goods!!!
nice job looks the goods!!!
greasemonkey
Posts: 112
Date Joined: 08/05/09
Breather
Does the tank have a breather?. If not that will be a good place to start to stop the fuel geyser.
Fraser 5.25
Posts: 122
Date Joined: 25/07/11
Yeah, I've used 8mm fuel line
Yeah, I've used 8mm fuel line up into the gunnel with a fuel filter on the end to stop the water getting in
smash
Posts: 434
Date Joined: 01/12/10
8mm
is that a misprint? Your breather needs to be able to remove the same volume as whats going in otherwise it will HAVE to go back up the fill pipe?
So if you've used 1 1/2" (38mm) say for fill, breather should be somthing similar. Also for safety the breather should be outside of the cockpit as fumes will tend to settle in the cockpit just as water in a bucket.
Tony Halliday
Posts: 2500
Date Joined: 14/06/07
nice job mate, as for the
nice job mate,
as for the SS welding, hell we always looking for some one to to work?
Does he travel?, as I have few things that need welding on the tub, like the hand rail up front and a few smaller items.
in fact if he did a weld -job day, we could all line up outside his place like a drive thru Maccers lol
Tony Halliday: ~Meals on Reels ~
It takes a strong fish to swim against the current. Even a dead one can float with it
"It is always in season for old men to learn." Aeschylus (525-456 BC)
"In a mad world only the mad are sane." Akira Kurosawa (1910-1998)
Fraser 5.25
Posts: 122
Date Joined: 25/07/11
I'll speak to him on Monday
I'll speak to him on Monday and get back to you. I know he was thinking about pursuing this work if there was enough to keep him busy. If it can be welded, he'll weld it.
wadetolley
Posts: 2258
Date Joined: 27/06/08
if
If he is keen, i need a small 60 litre tank made for my boat as well.
Fraser 5.25
Posts: 122
Date Joined: 25/07/11
I'll pass it on on Tuesday
I'll pass it on on Tuesday when I'm back at work. I made a dummy tank out of cardboard and he made it exactly out of stainless. He tacked it together and I took it home before he did the final welding on it to check that it still fitted in the spot.