78 22 FF New Gas Tank Install

[Curious]

Bob, no fear of working out any time soon, I've got too much work to do on the boat!  I'm kicking myself for not starting this back in November but I'm a true procrasinator.

Gran, apparently I had an itch on my chin at some point during the process because when I came upstairs to get cleaned up I had a big glob of it stuck to my face.  I started out wearing rubber gloves but within about five minutes I had to get rid of them- no dexterity with the damn things on.

[Curious]

What do you guys think I should do about this gap in the middle of the tank coffin floor?





It's probably about a 1/2 inch.  Should I 5200 all four strips, install the tank and put a bunch of weights on top, especially at the baffles?  Or should I just get the hoses hooked up as soon as I install it, go to the gas station and fill the tank up about 2/3 full?

I also plan on screwing and gluing a wood cleat to the sides of the tank coffin at the top edge to screw the tank mounting tabs into for added insurance so maybe I'm overthinking the gap in the middle of the tank floor.  Any thoughts?
Thanks, Dan

[gran398]

You could add another strip each to the inside two

[RickK]

If the bow is throughout the whole tank coffin I would do what Gran suggested. Otherwise make the added layer(s) short enough to fill the gap.

[Capt. Bob]

The sag (bow) probably comes with age (ain't it the truth :( ).

Doubling up on the strips sounds like a great idea to me also.
Strap it down good and tight and let the four winds blow.

Good luck.

[randy56100]

well if you want to get rid of the old tank let me know i might come pick it up off your hands. is the old tank a 54 gallon as well? and where exactly are you located and let me know a price if u dont mind. thanks

[Curious]

well if you want to get rid of the old tank let me know i might come pick it up off your hands. is the old tank a 54 gallon as well? and where exactly are you located and let me know a price if u dont mind. thanks

Unless you are independently wealthy it's probably not worth the effort.  I'm from Nantucket, MA which, in addition to being well north of the Mason/Dixon line, is also an island 30 miles off Cape Cod.  As they say up in Down East Maine, "Ya can't they'ah from hee'ah."

[Curious]

You could add another strip each to the inside two

That sounds like a pain in the a$$, but probably the right thing to do.  What if I just apply the 5200 to the bottoms of the four strips (see previous pics), drop it in and weight it down really well on the center of the tank as it cures?  Then secure the top mounting tabs.

Or fill it with fuel as soon as I get it installed then the weight of the fuel would force the bottom center of the tank down into the gap?

[Curious]

Some more progress today.  I made cleats out of pressure treated 5/4 x 6, gooped up the back sides with 5200 and lagged them into the sides of the tank coffin with stainless steel lag screws.  Just snug enough to get the 5220 to squeeze and spread, otherwise I would have stripped out the screws.  I want the 5200 to do the gluing and the screws are there just to keep everything snug while the 5200 cures.  The idea is to have something solid to screw my tank mounting tabs into and provide a surface to mount some cross members to support to coffin lid.

This is just a dry fit to make sure everything fits ok.  I took it all apart later, added the 5200 and snugged it up:

 

Next I tackled running the new fill and vent hoses.  I taped the old to the new and got it part way before the tape gave way.  I had to cut a slightly larger hole in the tank coffin where the hoses come through, reach in and grab the hose and pull it the rest of the way.  Took a little wrangling but it wasn't bad.  By the way, no foam!  What a blessing.  I had a chance to get some pics of the under deck cavity between the front of the tank coffin and the cabin.  A little dusty, otherwise it looks like the day it left the factory!  I really don't think this boat has many hours on it at all:






This is the stringer cutout where the fill and vent hoses come through.  Luckily I taped the grounding wire to the new fill hose so I was able to pull on that to get it a little closer.  You can see it in the background with the read stripe on it:



The vent hose went a lot easier.  Just taped it to the old vent hose and snaked it through.  Anyways, I think I'm pretty much ready to mount the tank and hook up the hoses.  More pics of that later.

[Capt. Bob]

Lookin' good Dan.

Kinda neat looking at something built 35 years ago and still in great shape.

Even Aqua got one right every once and a while.

[Curious]

It was cool to be able to see in there.  Up here in the Nantucket, some of these boats go in the water in June on a mooring and get hauled out in September.  Some of the wealthier folks only use their boat 2 or 3 times a season.  The guy I bought it from was an older gentleman from NJ with a summer house here on Nantucket so I'm assuming that it's in such good shape because it has very low hours and spent most of it's life shrink wrapped in a boatyard.  There are no soft spots on the deck, no delamination along the stringers that I can see.  The only real problems that I've found so far have been the transom and the gas tank.  And I probably could have gotten a couple more years out of each.

I planning on putting some thought into installing a deck hatch and accessing that area because it is wasted space. On Bondobill's boat there was a factory storage area in there accessible from the rear cabin bulkhead for a porta pottie.  He's got his batteries in there now.  Mine doesn't have that but the space is there.  I just have to figure out how to frame in a box somehow.

[dirtwheelsfl]

Cant tell for sure from the pics, but you want an air gap between that tank and the PT. Make sure you isolate the tabs from the PT when you fasten them too. Corrosion waiting to happen.  

Stop sign pole wouldnt have been my first choice for supporting the lid haha, but if its nowhere near the tank then you should be good..

[Georgie]

Just getting to this thread.  Nice work so far.

Re: the bow in the bottom of the tank box, I do NOT think you should add extra strips.       MUCH more likely to isolate pressure points near the center that way rather than evenly distributing the load across the bottom of the box.
IMO - leave as is and let the weight of the tank and some fuel equilibriate the install.

[Curious]

Cant tell for sure from the pics, but you want an air gap between that tank and the PT. Make sure you isolate the tabs from the PT when you fasten them too. Corrosion waiting to happen.  

Stop sign pole wouldnt have been my first choice for supporting the lid haha, but if its nowhere near the tank then you should be good..

Thanks, dwf, I had the same thoughts on both.  There will definately be a good gap between the tank and the pt, I made sure.  I also have a plan on isolating the tank mounting tabs from the pt and from the stainless lag screws I'm planning to use.  I haven't found any aluminum lag screws so I think I'm stuck with stainless.  

The galvie lid supports are recessed into the top of the pt but are several inches above the top of the tank so they're no where near being able to touch the tank.  I was scratching my head trying to think of what to use when a buddy of mine was headed to the dump with a couple of those bent and twisted in the back of his truck.  I was able to cut a couple of straight sections and they are some rigid!

[Curious]

Just getting to this thread.  Nice work so far.

Re: the bow in the bottom of the tank box, I do NOT think you should add extra strips.       MUCH more likely to isolate pressure points near the center that way rather than evenly distributing the load across the bottom of the box.
IMO - leave as is and let the weight of the tank and some fuel equilibriate the install.

Thanks Ryan.  I'm planning on doing just that.  Install with 5200 on the bottom of all four strips, get the fill and vent hoses hooked up and get at least 20 gallons or so in the tank.  The 5200 takes 7 days to cure so with 180 to 200 pounds worth of fuel sitting in the tank I think it will encourage the middle strips to find the coffin floor in the middle.  Then once that stuff cures, I'm pretty sure it will hold a bond to the coffin floor.  I pity the poor SOB who has to remove this damn tank in 30 years.