compensated fuel tank angle on 196

[aquaprouts]

dont know if anyone will have an answer here for this  or has noticed a subtle angle in the coffin containment of a 196 fuel tank.....If i measure the height(coffin floor to nonskid)of the coffin at the very stearn, it is aprrox 10.5 inches.....If I measure the very forward/bow height, the depth is just shy of 12 inches......this equates to what appears to be an slight slope running from stearn to bow.....Did aquasport design a forward  angle into the coffin so that when the boat is moving, the tank rides level?...the reason I am asking is that I am in process of having alloy metals fabricate a new tank....the tank specs had the withdraw tube more to the center of the tank....I was planning on placing the withdraw tube at the very stearn but dont know if there is a built in compensation angle if it is better to have the withdraw tube towards the middle as the fuel will be riding level rather than angled and forcing the fuel back????.....not a huge difference I know but I want to do it right.....curious of your thoughts...thanks!

[Capt. Bob]

Since all the planing hulls that I've encountered ride bow high by design, I'd say placing the pick up in the stern section of the tank will work fine.
Re-enforce that train of thought with the idea of a self bailing deck while underway.

[gran398]

Concur with CB.

Interesting however the tank depth towards the bow. Would have to say yes, this was original engineering related to balance. Running and at rest.

Would place the pickup(s) at the rear. An emergency situation, low on fuel.... get her on plane, you'll get closer to home.

Glad you went with Phil and Alloy Metal Works. They're strong.

[wingtime]

The tank coffin in my 200XF was angled like you say.  when i built my new tank I placed the pick up at the aft end of the tank.  Never had a problem with it picking up fuel.

[gman 82 aquasport]

Here's my thought on this, When I had my 19-6 cut apart, one of the things I noticed was that the coffin was deeper in the bow end, that said when I removed the coffin I noticed that the area under the floor was deeper in the bow area. By about 2 inches or bettter. When I replaced the tank with the new one(longer,deeper,different bottom angles) and moved it forward, I had 1 inch of clearance in the rear and about 2 1/2 in the front due to the stringers(original) are higher in the front. Natural floor drop to the stearn this way Pick up in the rear and no problems with fuel being picked up, only concern at first few uses was that when close to empty on the gauge(sending unit in the rear also) the tank is close to 5-8 gallons left, not much leeway there.

[CLM65]

My flatback is the same way - deeper in the front.  In my case the pickup, vent, and fill are both on the front end.  I really don't think it matters too much.  If I had them on the stern end, I would have unusable volume towards the front.  With them on the bow end, I won't be able to fill the tank completely.  So either way you are going to sacrifice some volume.  In my case, due to not a lot of space below deck, I had to locate the fittings towards the front where the clearance was greater.  Plus I ended up with a 72 gallon tank, when I was looking for a 55.  So the loss of volume is no biggie for me.