We Got Some Palm Trees

The fuel tank leak project has come along, a long way. I took the sucker to shore and set up where the locals told me, "Everyone does their messy work over at the first pick-nick bench, run a chord to the building and clean up your mess." OK,  I AM a responsible worker guy!

First thing I did was sand out the whole outer shell. With a thorough sanding of the bottom the porous leaky spots could not hide.  They showed up right where I thought they would be from the trail they left in the bilge before taking the tank out. I wasn't sure if it was welded seams that were leaking or just general bottom corrosion issues. Most of the leaks showed up to starboard, then a little leak from the port side.

Here looking at the bottom of the tank, you can see that the very bottom, is the small rectangle on the right.  If you click the pic you just might see all the places I was able to jam my pocket knife into the soft aluminum on the upper right and there were two small holes lower down. 

OK! My (x-machinist, handy all around guy) original plan was set in motion.....cut the whole bottom off the tank and see what we got. At this time there were a few other suggestions from the many other boaters who happen to stop by and chat and express their views and exchange some nightmare stories of fuel tank problems.....such is the cruising community.....

 

I started by cutting the bottom section up to the baffle (you'll see it in the next pick) and drop all the nasty out. So frickin nasty, makes you wonder how a filter can do it's job.

At this point, I knew I needed to carry on and remove the whole bottom. The baffle was a bit of a pain to cut because it was welded to the bottom. After a bunch of little piece cuts I got it all cut up so I could then do the major scrubby dubby scratch to shiny aluminium on the whole inside to see if I had any interior corrosion issues.

I was in a very nice place.......palm trees, concrete slab, concrete table, gentle breeze and 110 AC power...

...who could ask for anything more?

Well actually, some good old local boys giving me the atta-boy... good to see someone doing it right and stopping by at the end of the day, really does round it out to a...."I love what I'm doing in my life right now"