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Just another day at the shop

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Rich_V174SS:
If anyone gets a boat with a built-in belly tank be sure to check it real good. At the shop where I work I'm working a 1992 Mako with a rotted out aluminum tank. I must have done about 5 other tank replacements within the past 2 years, all the same problem. Water getting into the tank, fuel leaking out, saturated smelly foam having to be dug out - a real nasty job sometimes. Below are a few pics from today. First of the tank after the floor panel was removed and the top of the tank cleaned off of grime and other unknown organisms that had been growing in there. The second showing the one hole in the tank I was able to find, right next to the fuel pickup connector. And third emptying the tank into water jugs and other portable fuel cans. The first jug I filled on the left was ALL water, 5 gallons of it. The second jug on the right at that point was half water, half fuel (fuel being the yellow liquid on top, water on the bottom). In all I had to drain out 62 gallons, 7 of which was water. We'll be replacing the tank with a poly tank of approximate size to fit in the compartment, we're not doing a custom sized tank on this job.

75starflight:
WOW! I hope the tank in my CVZ is in better shape than that.

aquamaniac:
Rich,
I can't help but notice that the percentages match what you'd get with phase separation. Was that boater running ethanol fuel?

Rich_V174SS:

--- Quote from: aquamaniac on May 27, 2014, 08:53:26 PM ---Rich,
I can't help but notice that the percentages match what you'd get with phase separation. Was that boater running ethanol fuel?

--- End quote ---

It's all ethanol blended fuel around here. I don't think you can get non-ethanol on the east coast.. Not sure what you mean about phase separation though. ???

aquamaniac:
The blended fuel will absorb water until it reaches a maximum concentration then the fuel separates into the alcohol water mixture and the gasolene. The maximum concentration is temp dependent so in cold winter temperatures the amount of water before phase separation is only a few onces per 10 gallons of blended fuel. The fuel will not reblend. What you pumped out of that tank matches the 10 percent ethanol plus water.

It's been a huge problem here with the vented fuel systems.

In an outboard set up the oil stays mixed with the gas so if you suck the alcohol/water solution there's no oil lubrication.

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