Fuel Tank Dilemma

[Whiley_Whiting]

As my fuel guage in the Cruisecraft 575 outsider seems to be telling me I am low on fuel and then I go and fill it up and can only add 100 litres to a 160 litre tank curiousity got the better of me.

So on the weekend I opened the floor and removed the fuel guage to see if it was working properly. In doing so I discovered two things:

1. There was a lot of water surrounding the fuel tank in the compartment where the fuel tank sits; and

2. In undoing the fuel guage sensor the washer had desintergrated and in removing the sensor a bit of the washer fell into the fuel tank....

So my dilemma.... is the water surrounding the tank normal and should i empty the fuel tank to remove any traces of the old washer which fell in????

Thoughts?

[Dignity]

Whiley, not owning an outsider but I would have thought that there should be a drain hole somewhere, my Allison certainly has several so I would look around carefully. Give cruisecraft or wynum marine a call, they will soon tell you. I doubt that the piece of washer is going to cause you any problems as you should have an in line filter that also separates water to keep it from going anywhere. If you don't have much fuel in your tank it is a worthwhile exercise to take it out and give a really good clean and check your drainage.

[Dignity]

Forgot, most gauges are pretty ordinary, even when full mine will tell me it is only a bit below, then drops rather dramatically till it is around one quarter tank then seems to go on forever.

[PADDLES]

i've never seen a fuel guage work properly yet. i wouldn't worry too much about the washer falling in there either but i'd be trying to find out why your bilge isn't draining properly.

[Whiley_Whiting]

there is a drainage hole behind the fuel tank that has a bung in it and prevents from draining. I have let out the water but worried re the insulation around the fuel tank being wet will rot.

There is five bung holes which I have now found that prevents the fuel area and the foward locker between the seats and also the area between the bunks from draining into the back bilge area. Crazy but I guess these create buoyancy pockets in the case of a breach hull....

[mirage]

Would they be there in case the fuel tank leaks, to stop fuel draining into the bilge area?

[Jono_SS]

Hi WW.

does the gauge say it is full when you "fill it up"? If not, you might be getting a blockage in the breathers. I posted a query about this a while ago as I was having a lot of trouble filling up at the servo (http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/showthread.php?t=173092).

I undid the breathers and blew some fuel out of them. This definitely helped. I have also found it most convenient to fill up at home using jerry cans! This has shortened my trip to the ramp by around 20 minutes!!! (that's how long it was taking me to fill up, and even then I wasn't sure I was actually filling the tank).

I have also been doing a bit of fuel tank maintenance myself today. The first photo shows the drainage hole in the fuel tank storage area in my boat. I had never really noticed before that it was a bung hole - I thought it was just a hole. Now I will need to have a look for a spare bung!

I also found that, despite the bung not being in, there was water and dirt pooled in the back corner of the storage area. This pooling was because the drainage hole is over one side, but the boat leans slightly the other way on the driveway. (note the photo is after I gave the area a good clean).

You will notice the plastic/nylon/??? stopper that has been screwed into the floor. For some reason, this had come loose, and I am a little worried that some water may have soaked into the deep screw holes and may be the start of some rot in the floor boards. (see photo 2).

I am now wondering what action to take now to address this situation and to nip any potential problems in the bud. Should I leave it for a week or 2 for the holes to dry out thoroughly, then seal them with silicon/resin/something else? Do I need to clean the holes out a bit first? I don't actually think the stopper will go back in the same place, so I will be mounting it a couple of cm back of where it was, and I would prefer not to drill any more holes. Anyone got any advice on doing that?

sorry to hijack the thread.

Jono.