tank withdrawl placement, line routing on 196

[aquaprouts]

having a 45 gal tank fabricated and was planning on placing the fuel withdraw tube at the vern stearn of tank and perhaps routing the line through the upper coffin/bildge to the motor to keep as short a distance as possible....however, as these boats/tanks were designed, the withdraw is near tank center and the fuel line routes to a fuel filter under the front console seat(on mine anyways...a 1977) and the routes through the starboard underfloor cableing/ steering channel back to the stearn corner and to the motor....is there a disadvantage to routing fwd and then back and covering more distance??....if i route through the coffin/bildge, i would mount the 10 micron fuel filter somewhere near the starboard transom....any thoughts or opinions appreciated as i have a bit of time to plan/adjust.....my rehab coming along great and finally 2 coats of floor paint to cover 40 years of grunge and mask the seams of my new epoxied in floors....amen!!!

[gran398]

Yes you can do that. They ran like that originally through the rigging trough.

[MarshMarlowe196]

I seem to recall that the fuel pickup was on the rear of my original tank in my 73' 196. It was routed forward then aft through the trough like you describe. I don't see there being any disadvantage to it being routed that way. If you wanted to route it back through the coffin, you could do that I suppose but it seems like it would be more work with no real benefit. I mounted my fuel/water separator on the inside of the transom too.

[gman 82 aquasport]

Being that you are having a new tank fabbed up, you can put the fill and vent and pick-up where ever you want . My new tank (55 gallon, poly) has the vent at the bow end the fill in the center and the sending unit and pickup at the stearn end of the tank. Worked out well for running the new lines..Sent you a message with the link you requested.
My original tank had the fill, vent, and pickup all in the center within 4 inches of each other..