Hi
Are your fuel tanks under the Starboard quarter berth covered with plywood which is also glassed in at the sides and impossible to remove unless it is cut out?
F36 Fuel Tank plywood cover?
F36 Fuel Tank plywood cover?
1986 F36/38
s/v Mirage
s/v Mirage
Re: F36 Fuel Tank plywood cover?
OK,
After experiencing water and dirt in my fuel after taking over the boat three weeks ago necessitating an emergency tow into a marina I decided to check contents of my (new to me) fuel tank. Bought a small 12V transfer pump and pumped out entire tank into plastic containers. About 12 gallons of diesel at 1/2 the level gauge. Tank is actually 33 gallons full. Transfer pump with 100 micron filter kept on clogging with dirt but managed to dry it out to a spoonful of oil left. Took a peek through the level gauge flange and found a lot of dirt on the bottom of the tank. Made a decision to open up the tank?! Cut out the plywood cover above the tank about an inch bigger opening than the tank is. Tank is too big to take out through the companion way anyway and it's bottom is glassed in so did not want to bother with trying to remove it from the boat but clean in situ. Cut open 5" round inspection port on the after end of the tank and found even more dirt and grime all over the tank and a baffle plate which forced me to open another inspection port at the middle and one more at the far end of the tank. Washed / scrubbed the tank with gasoline and made slightly bigger aluminum covers to close it up with some gasket material and liquid gasket. I now have spotlessly clean and dry fuel tank with three inspection ports that i will probably never need again?! Not wanting to screw around with filtering and decanting old fuel i now have 12 gallons of dirty diesel I need to get rid off but am happy knowing that my fuel tank is now clean and dry and will not cause me more troubles going forward. I will not be spending extra money for second set of filters but will only renew existing Racor filter cartridge once a year as usual. What I have found is that the fuel suction pipe is touching the bottom of the tank and has a small notch on the bottom. So any lose dirt or water could have been easily sucked in. I have shortened it by 1/2 inch so it is now not touching the bottom of the tank and because of the shape of the tank one inch in the bottom is only about a pint of fuel anyway. I have checked the surface of my aluminum tank and did not see any oxidation or any other damage so dirt in it is strictly from bad fuel, condensation and algae. This boat has spent it's last 24 years in California '86-'93 and Washington '93 up until ow. On my previous boat I had 17 gallon stainless steel diesel tank that I opened up for inspection (it had an inspection port originally) once in 5 years and found spotlessly clean so did not bother to check again. While I love to sail with my boat I also need a reliable engine when needed and Yanmar are excellent engines as long as fuel is clean
After experiencing water and dirt in my fuel after taking over the boat three weeks ago necessitating an emergency tow into a marina I decided to check contents of my (new to me) fuel tank. Bought a small 12V transfer pump and pumped out entire tank into plastic containers. About 12 gallons of diesel at 1/2 the level gauge. Tank is actually 33 gallons full. Transfer pump with 100 micron filter kept on clogging with dirt but managed to dry it out to a spoonful of oil left. Took a peek through the level gauge flange and found a lot of dirt on the bottom of the tank. Made a decision to open up the tank?! Cut out the plywood cover above the tank about an inch bigger opening than the tank is. Tank is too big to take out through the companion way anyway and it's bottom is glassed in so did not want to bother with trying to remove it from the boat but clean in situ. Cut open 5" round inspection port on the after end of the tank and found even more dirt and grime all over the tank and a baffle plate which forced me to open another inspection port at the middle and one more at the far end of the tank. Washed / scrubbed the tank with gasoline and made slightly bigger aluminum covers to close it up with some gasket material and liquid gasket. I now have spotlessly clean and dry fuel tank with three inspection ports that i will probably never need again?! Not wanting to screw around with filtering and decanting old fuel i now have 12 gallons of dirty diesel I need to get rid off but am happy knowing that my fuel tank is now clean and dry and will not cause me more troubles going forward. I will not be spending extra money for second set of filters but will only renew existing Racor filter cartridge once a year as usual. What I have found is that the fuel suction pipe is touching the bottom of the tank and has a small notch on the bottom. So any lose dirt or water could have been easily sucked in. I have shortened it by 1/2 inch so it is now not touching the bottom of the tank and because of the shape of the tank one inch in the bottom is only about a pint of fuel anyway. I have checked the surface of my aluminum tank and did not see any oxidation or any other damage so dirt in it is strictly from bad fuel, condensation and algae. This boat has spent it's last 24 years in California '86-'93 and Washington '93 up until ow. On my previous boat I had 17 gallon stainless steel diesel tank that I opened up for inspection (it had an inspection port originally) once in 5 years and found spotlessly clean so did not bother to check again. While I love to sail with my boat I also need a reliable engine when needed and Yanmar are excellent engines as long as fuel is clean
1986 F36/38
s/v Mirage
s/v Mirage