Need help with my 170 fuel tank, fuel lines, oh my!

[Fishhyren11]

Well, I broke my arm not long after the last post on this, so I hadn't worked on the boat much until now.
I'm back in the swing of things (for the most part), and it's time to get this thing ready to go back out!
I ordered my tank from Phil at Alloy Metal Works today! Looking forward to it!
I had him make it 56 1/2" long (old one was 56") because there's a wooden shim in there now that's about 2 inches wide which I'll remove!

I'll post more when it comes! Now it's time to get the tank coffin cleaned up a bit before it goes in!

[Fishhyren11]

Okay, my new tank is here, and looks great thanks to AlloyMetal Works

Question for all of you with 170s...
You've been using stuff like starboard and 5200 to space/stick the tank to the coffin.
How thick should the starboard be?
Is 1/2" too thick? Will I still be able to fit the lid back on?
Thanks

[Miguel]

My experience:
1.  5200 does not stick to starboard.  Use something else, like fiberglass strips.  I had my tank fabricator weld 1/4" strips to the bottom.
2.  1/2" is too much.  Use 1/4" if you don´t want any problems putting the lid back on.

[Fishhyren11]

Any idea where I can find fiberglass strips?
Thanks!

[aquanaught]

I am really late on this one.  I am in the process of restoring my 170 and repalcing the tank.  I am considering abandoning the original filler, vent and hose and adding either a top filler in the console or a 45 filler on the side of the console.  This will entail an inspection plate in the fuel tank cover but it will all be out of the way under the console.  Any thoughts good or bad about this option wouold be greatly appreciated.

[MarshMarlowe196]

I am really late on this one.  I am in the process of restoring my 170 and repalcing the tank.  I am considering abandoning the original filler, vent and hose and adding either a top filler in the console or a 45 filler on the side of the console.  This will entail an inspection plate in the fuel tank cover but it will all be out of the way under the console.  Any thoughts good or bad about this option wouold be greatly appreciated.

I don't know exactly how your console looks (pics would help), but I used to have an old Key West 1700 C/C that came from the factory with a side fill on the side of the console.  The only pro I can think of with that setup was that it would be easy to replace the fuel lines if need be.  The cons were that it was difficult to stretch the gas station hose to the boat unless you were real close to the pumps and usually required you to get in the boat, the O/B was a 2stroker and mixing oil was really messy and required a long transmission style funnel ( I don't trust VRO style oil tanks ), and no matter what I did, if I filled it all the way up, there was always some overfill that ran down the side of my clean console in a gooey 2-strokey oil/gas mix that was hard to clean up.  Also, the hoses took up valuable space under the console, and I didn't quite like the idea of having my batteries/electronics right there with the fill/vent hoses...  It might be a PITA to replace your fill/vent lines, but I think you'd be happier with the gunwale mounted fill hose.

[apnpoquoson]

My 19-6 had fuel tank straps that bolted together, so it was fairly easy to get out.  However I took a fuel tank out of an old Volkswagon camper bus one time that had solid straps around it.  I cut the straps then pop rivited in some matching straps where it cut them and bent up some tabs on each end, drilled a hole thru the tabs and could then ran a bolt thru to pull the straps tight.  I used an old piece of vinyl siding and cut some strips to run under the straps.  Kept them from rubbing on the tank.