fuel tank

fishingwithblue

fishingwithblue

Junior Member
Can anyone point me in the right direction in replacing a fuel tank in an 84 steplift cuddy. I just bought the boat and at the place where I bought it the guys were replacing the fuel bulb before the seatrial. I wondered if they spilled gas in the bilge during the process but not sure. When I looked at the tank through the inspection holes it looked original(metal) and a somewhat suspect to be leaking. Advice?

Dumb question: should I not run it until I find out if there is a leak?
 
I would definitely wait to run the boat till you know if the tank is leaking or not. Your life could depend on it. As far as the tank itself do a search, there have been alot of threads regarding gas tank issues. If you are interested in a 40 gallon tank, Ebay seller Greatlakesskipper has a couple for $129 + shipping.
 
Welcome to the site.

Scoot it (the boat) out with the garden hose, remove the plug, wick the bilge out or dry with a wrag then start looking for accumilations of fuel in the bilge.
Most likely, you can repair it but this will involve removing the tank.
If it is leaking replacing it will be inevitable but a patch might buy you some time.
 
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Like said above clean and dry the bilge and then look for signs of a leak?? If you find nothing then you could get the tank pressure tested to find out for sure.
If you have to take it out, its not going to be fun!! Lots of work and a new 60 gal tank will be $500+ so if you don't have a need for 60 gal you might want to ck out the 40 gal thats a nice price!!!!!
 
thanks

Mulv80 said:
I would definitely wait to run the boat till you know if the tank is leaking or not. Your life could depend on it. As far as the tank itself do a search, there have been alot of threads regarding gas tank issues. If you are interested in a 40 gallon tank, Ebay seller Greatlakesskipper has a couple for $129 + shipping.
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switching to a smaller tank may be a good idea as I fish alot inshore/nearshore
 
Figure 10.5 gallons per hour to 2.5 miles per gallon at best running capabality.
If you're going to the CAT reef, 40 gallons would be a good size to leave room for error.
 
I filled the tank when I got it home before launching. So, it's sitting pretty tied up to the dock with a quart of live shrimp and mud minnows in a bait bucket hanging from the back cleat....fish or possible death by explosion? Guess i'll try to dry it out and observe. Does anybody have a ballpark figure on what the average fiberglass boat repair man charges to do the job of tank removal and replacement?
 
Where you at? Kilkenny, Ft. McCallister or somewhere else?
This would be a good project to do yourself. There are couple of threads on replacing the floor tank if needed. No it ain't easy but it will work or not, nothing inbetween.
First pull the boat out and determine what's going on.
 
tsubaki said:
Where you at? Kilkenny, Ft. McCallister or somewhere else?
This would be a good project to do yourself. There are couple of threads on replacing the floor tank if needed. No it ain't easy but it will work or not, nothing inbetween.
First pull the boat out and determine what's going on.
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I live in Waterford Landing in Richmond Hill. The boat is at the community marina. You are right, time to pull it out. Any advice on the fuel(50 plus gallons)? I think I need to back up and punt. She rides so well but first things first.
 
First determine if there is a fuel cell leak ,removing the boat from the water, if so, 5 gallons at the time are easily handled (hope you got a pickup). Just siphon (you'll be a pro after this) and save (unless it's not mixed with oil) for reinstallation. The cost of the 5 gallon tanks will be nothing compared to the work involved and later they will be apreciated.
There are not many boat mechanics in this area that will profess to doing this work in a cost efficient manner. I do my repairs myself and won't suggest any references, reasoning being, by the time a good mechanic is found at a shop, he has moved on somewhere else. Ask someone you know and trust to make a reference to do work.
There is no other boat that rides like these and handle as such, they are well worth the renovations (not monitarily but piece of mind) and endless labor of upkeep (as every boat is).
Let us know about progress (and pictures).
 
HAMMER (mia), Mulv, whatknot and the other guys that have replaced the belly tank. What's all involved with replacing the tank.
Anybody please find the threads.
 
tsubaki said:
First determine if there is a fuel cell leak ,removing the boat from the water, if so, 5 gallons at the time are easily handled (hope you got a pickup). Just siphon (you'll be a pro after this) and save (unless it's not mixed with oil) for reinstallation. The cost of the 5 gallon tanks will be nothing compared to the work involved and later they will be apreciated.
There are not many boat mechanics in this area that will profess to doing this work in a cost efficient manner. I do my repairs myself and won't suggest any references, reasoning being, by the time a good mechanic is found at a shop, he has moved on somewhere else. Ask someone you know and trust to make a reference to do work.
There is no other boat that rides like these and handle as such, they are well worth the renovations (not monitarily but piece of mind) and endless labor of upkeep (as every boat is).
Let us know about progress (and pictures).
Click to expand...
I was referred to Jerry Adams but I would rather do it myself to learn my boat. Just anxious. Should I use a syphon pump in the fill whole or on the tank itself after removal of the deck? Then store it in 5 gallon portable tanks...correct? Also you said "unless its not mixed with oil" My gas is not pre-mixed, do I save it? Pics are uploaded to photobucket and Im trying to get them here. Took them this evening at sundown. People stop and stare at that boat like their at a car show...cant blame them.
 
Well before you go draining the gas I would check all the lines and any thing else that might be leaking. I pulled my tank after checking everything I could think of and it was not the tank. I finally found that the nipple that the vent hose conects to had cracked and after I filled the boat and then added oil gas leaked out of this crack. It took time for it to leak out of the boat and it seemed that it was just a continous leak. If you have to drain the tank just by some 5 gallon cans, disconect the fuel line from the motor, stick the hose in a can and pump the ball to get things flowing. It takes some time so just keep an eye on the can nad change them out as needed. Also the last can of gas take it and shake it up and dump some into a jar and see how it looks. I found my last can was pretty dirty and had some water in it so I did not put that back into the boat.
 
Stillrunning said:
Well before you go draining the gas I would check all the lines and any thing else that might be leaking. I pulled my tank after checking everything I could think of and it was not the tank. I finally found that the nipple that the vent hose conects to had cracked and after I filled the boat and then added oil gas leaked out of this crack. It took time for it to leak out of the boat and it seemed that it was just a continous leak. If you have to drain the tank just by some 5 gallon cans, disconect the fuel line from the motor, stick the hose in a can and pump the ball to get things flowing. It takes some time so just keep an eye on the can nad change them out as needed. Also the last can of gas take it and shake it up and dump some into a jar and see how it looks. I found my last can was pretty dirty and had some water in it so I did not put that back into the boat.
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Thank you sir. Check all connections to and from fuel cell first.
 
Welcome to the site & congrats on the new crew member. These are great boats for families. I have an 83 cuddy, did you take off the inspection plates and check the fill hose and vent hose that is in the forward deckplate, the rear one is where the motor connection is and the guage sending unit. My fill hose was rotted and it only leaked gas when i was filling it up. you can check that aand not have to pull the tank cover...
 
phatdaddy said:
Welcome to the site & congrats on the new crew member. These are great boats for families. I have an 83 cuddy, did you take off the inspection plates and check the fill hose and vent hose that is in the forward deckplate, the rear one is where the motor connection is and the guage sending unit. My fill hose was rotted and it only leaked gas when i was filling it up. you can check that aand not have to pull the tank cover...
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Awsome, I will try that tomorrow! Thank you.
 
FWB, go to the Modifications forum and look under Hey Whatknot. on the 2 page he has a good picture of what the top of the tank looks like with the deck removed.
 
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For my tank leak (85 cuddy), I turned off the valve on the fuel pickup. The boat was sitting in my driveway on a slight slope so that anything in the bilge would drain to the stern. I plugged it and checked it two days in a row (draining in between) and found fuel in the bilge each time. Since my fuel line was shut off I reasoned the tank must be leaking. The fill and vent hoses are on the top and the tank was not full so there would be no way for a leak to occur there unless it happened when filling the tank.

Sure enough, after removing the tank I found a hole the size of a dime and several other areas with active corrosion that would have leaked soon enough. I am one who bought a 40 gallon from greatlakesskipper on Ebay and it fit nicely in my 85. I have yet to do the final install but it slid right in there.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/BOAT...011QQitemZ320189744565QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWD1V
 
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