A friend and myself left Seattle with my (new to me 1986 F36) on Saturday early morning motoring away in hopes of doing 94 miles trip to Point Roberts (home port) in one day. Were doing up to 12 knots with the help of currrent up the Puget Sound. Once into Juan de Fuca Straight we continued motoring with increasing following winds from Starboard quarter and about 8 miles south of Flounder Bay marina Yanmar 3GM30F engine died . Checked it out and found water in the fuel filter Hoisted the jib and continued sailing down the wind North towards Flounder Bay marina but were unable to restart the engine after numerous tries and failures. Circled around marina entrance until passing by Vessel Assist boat that we hailed arrived to tow us into the marina and charge $250 for 28 minutes work. "Sailboat ownership"-priceless Fiddled with engine couple of more hours and managed to get rid of the air and restarted. Dinner on the boat, few beers, good night sleep and left at the dawn break. Arrived Point Roberts uneventfully at Noon today. Water in the fuel tank? Guess not a surprise since I just purchased it and do not know how long was it kept half filled allowing the condensation to build up. Boat rolling it sucked it from the bottom. Draining the fuel filter while engine running? Perhaps stupid and causing air to enter the system. Now that I am safely at home I'd like to open the tank for inspection and cleaning but noted that the plywood cover is over the tank and outer edge glassed in. Has anyone managed to open up their tank? Do these (reportedly 35 gallon) aluminum tanks have inspection cover? I'd like to ensure this episode does not repeat by cleaning up the tank. I love Yanmar diesel. I had it on my previous sailboat and it kept on running like a swiss clock but my fuel tank was stainless steel and never left half filled for more than couple of days so I've never had a drop of water or sludge in my tank. Any advice on opening up and inspecting the tank is welcome.
petar
Why didn't you sail the trip if you had a fair wind? A sailboat rolls like crazy when motoring, which is not good for the dirt in your fuel tank. On my F44, I have a water collecting bowl under the bottom of the tank where you can drain the tank. I never opened up the inspection hole, too afraid the nuts are loose and drop to the bottom of the tank.
Michel Capel, Freedom 44 #4 1981 'Alabama Queen', NED8188, cat ketch with wishbones, home port Enkhuizen, the Netherlands, 52*42.238'N 005*18.154'E.
I was trying to make a long passage during daylight hours so wanted to make sure I'll maintain the speed. Winds in Pacific North West are unpredictable a lot of times and at the end I would need the engine to motor in and out of the marina. I love Yanmars and have very good experiance with that engine but need to ensure that my fuel tank is clean which at this time it is obviously not so clean. I've made another post asking for information about fuel tank access as mine is somewhat hidden in the quarter berth.
Two things to be carfull of:
1. On any sailboat when motor sailing keep your angle of heel within reason. If you heel too much the motor oil pickup may suck air in and cause a blown engine. Check the manual for the angle allowed.
2. On the F36 the fuel tank under the starboard birth follows the hull shape. This means the tank looks sort of like a quarter of a circle. Not deep on the outer edge, deepest on the inboard edge where the pickup is. If the tank is not pretty full and you are heeled to starboard the pickup can come out of the fuel as the fuel runs out to starboard. Result is an air lock in the fuel system requiring purgeing, not fun at sea.
In my F36 (1986) there is a guage on the forward, inboard quarter of the tank which can be removed to look into the tank and to draw fuel from the very bottom. I doubt that there is an access port for cleanout but am not about to rip out the glassed in fiberglass to find out.
Bill Cormack
Formerly Sailing F-36 "Hard Earned" out of New Bedford Yacht Club, Padanaram, MA. Now a member of Pelagic Sailing Club a New England based club whose members are about half boat owners and half crew.
Your 36 arrangement sounds very similar to that on my 28. Makes me feel that a P.O. has glassed the area where on my boat the panel (essentially the bunk's bottom), is simply screwed in place around the periphery. If your tank is aluminum, the chances are that it too is similar to my tank which has an inspection hole in the top. I'd suggest that you cut thought the GRP at the edge of the panel, remove it, and take a look. You can always restore the glass taping after you survey the situation. Removing the panel also lets you have the opportunity to build in a removable hatch over the inspection hole in the tank.
wcwcwc wrote:Two things to be carfull of:
1. On any sailboat when motor sailing keep your angle of heel within reason. If you heel too much the motor oil pickup may suck air in and cause a blown engine. Check the manual for the angle allowed.
2. On the F36 the fuel tank under the starboard birth follows the hull shape. This means the tank looks sort of like a quarter of a circle. Not deep on the outer edge, deepest on the inboard edge where the pickup is. If the tank is not pretty full and you are heeled to starboard the pickup can come out of the fuel as the fuel runs out to starboard. Result is an air lock in the fuel system requiring purgeing, not fun at sea.
In my F36 (1986) there is a guage on the forward, inboard quarter of the tank which can be removed to look into the tank and to draw fuel from the very bottom. I doubt that there is an access port for cleanout but am not about to rip out the glassed in fiberglass to find out.
Bill,
Thank you. I just got an endoscope from a guy at work and will be using it to check inside of the tank through the level gauge flange which is the closest to the after and deepest end of the tank. I hope to be able to drain the entire tank at this point using a small pump and that way get rid of any water and /or sludge/slime that could have accummulated over the time. Once I have the tank clean I am sure I'll enjoy many more years of reliable performance of my yanmar in which I do have a lot of confidence as long as fuel is clean and oil is changed regularly.
The screws for the inspection plates on the tanks in my (1981 vintage ) F-40 aft cockpit are threaded into the aluminum of the tank top. There are no nuts.
There should be a stick-on manufacturers plate on the tank. All of mine (water & fuel) were made by Florida Tank. If that's what yours say, then I doubt that you'd be in any kind of trouble to just unscrew it, pretty secure in the knowledge that you won't end up with a tank full of nuts.
You should probably plan on replacing the gasket before re-assembly...just cut one out of a sheet of rubber gasket material (using the old gasket or the lid as a template), mark the holes for the screws & poke them with an awl or drill them out first...the tank lid is held on with machine screws (not self tapping pointy sheet metal screws) and you'll never get through the gasket material without a starter hole
While you're in there with your endoscope, point it upwards. If there's an inspection plate in the tank somewhere, you'll be able to see the screw ends and the gasket and the hole which they cover. It ought to be pretty simple from there to figure out where to "look" for the inspection plate from that point...at least you can minimize the size/number of cuts you make in the glass rather than going about it blindly.
You're better off cleaning the tank through a large inspection port...simply pumping it down will get rid of suspended sludge, but you need some way to "mop down" what's on the tank walls.
There's a guy in my area who has a portable fuel polisher... very high volume pump & large cartridge filter behind a water separator...mounted on a 2 wheel dolly which he ties to the dock. Only the hose enters the boat. He uses a hard copper pipe hose clamped to the end of a rubber fuel hose and "vacuums" the tank walls with the end of the pipe, bending it as necessary to get around baffles & such & stirring things up really well...the pump then runs the fuel through the filter (returning it through the fuel filler) several times, leaving things nice & clean.
I had similar problems twice last year; had to be towed from a very awkward spot in a narrow channel with heavy ferry traffic. They were not happy with me anchored there with no engine and no wind to get to a safer spot. The current over the mudflats was heavy and almost dragged me onto the mud. I thought I ran out of fuel, which caused me to measure the tank exactly and have a list with calculated and real (fill-up) contents next to the measuring gauge on top of the tank. Mine is aluminum too, but part of the top is accessible and has a 8" inspection hatch. Freedom did glass over my watertanks so to access and clean these, I had to break the glass strip along the hull. The midships edge of the tank top was screwed, so with a lot of force, I could lift and part break the glass seam and access the tank. My problem was solved - at least until now - by exchanging the Racor coarse filter. You have to fill up the body with clean fuel to prevent trapped air.
Michel Capel, Freedom 44 #4 1981 'Alabama Queen', NED8188, cat ketch with wishbones, home port Enkhuizen, the Netherlands, 52*42.238'N 005*18.154'E.
Michel & WCWCWC thank you kindly. All good info and suggestions. As I said in my previous posting I have lot of faith in Yanmar as long as fuel is clean and oil exchanged regularly these things will run and run and run. I feel I have to make sure my tank is clean and once I know that I'll just keep it filled and no more problems
. Checked it out and found water in the fuel filter 
Fiddled with engine couple of more hours and managed to get rid of the air and restarted. Dinner on the boat, few beers, good night sleep and left at the dawn break. Arrived Point Roberts uneventfully at Noon today. Water in the fuel tank? Guess not a surprise since I just purchased it and do not know how long was it kept half filled allowing the condensation to build up. Boat rolling it sucked it from the bottom. Draining the fuel filter while engine running? Perhaps stupid and causing air to enter the system. Now that I am safely at home I'd like to open the tank for inspection and cleaning but noted that the plywood cover is over the tank and outer edge glassed in. Has anyone managed to open up their tank? Do these (reportedly 35 gallon) aluminum tanks have inspection cover? I'd like to ensure this episode does not repeat by cleaning up the tank. I love Yanmar diesel. I had it on my previous sailboat and it kept on running like a swiss clock but my fuel tank was stainless steel and never left half filled for more than couple of days so I've never had a drop of water or sludge in my tank. Any advice on opening up and inspecting the tank is welcome.
