Gas Tank Question

M

mez

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Location
Leonardo n.j.
Model
Seafarer
Just pulled the gas tank out of my 86 Seafarer with my brother-in-laws help (thanks makoman2).
To our surprise the tank didn't look that bad, just dirty and some light oxidation where the rubber strips touched the bottom of it.
I am going to have it pressure tested tomorrow and if it passes I will re-install it with new hoses. If it fails, then I will have to get a new tank fabricated.

My question is what would you suggest I coat it with when I put it back in?

What type of rubber material should I install under the tank?

Thanks for your help....MEZ
 
At this point, it's not worth coating it with anything as the aluminum needs to be perfectly fresh to have a coating adhere properly....the normal grey oxidation is the aluminum protecting itself and is very hard....what's bad is any moisture that is not allowed to dry out...that will cause continual corrosion at that area. You will see a bunch of white oxidation powder in these wet areas...thats not good...moisture is getting in and can't get out.

The rubber strips or PVC strips will work well if you glue them to the bottom and/or sides with 5200....they must be completey glued, again, as not to allow for any trapped water....and by glueing them in, any chafe will occur between the rubber and the base/wedgeblock, not the aluminum and the rubber. Your tank guy should have these for sale.

Do a search on this site as a couple of the guys posted pics on how they glued in the rubber and installed their tanks...they came out nice.
 
Pulled a tank a few months back in my old boat. Sounds like it was in about the same shape as yours. I scrubed it clean and then after it dried took a sander to it till the surface looked about like it would have when new. Also took a wire brush to any areas that the sander didnt get into. I then went and bought some 2 part epoxy primer and gave it two coats. The stuff was really thick and bonded instantly to the aluminum like a glue would. I let it dry for 24 hours then gave it two coats of two part epoxy paint. I am no professional but in my opinion after seeing the end result I cant imagine that tank ever going bad. The paint and primer were dupont products. I coated it all the way to the hole for the fuel sending unit(so the sending unit would cover the edge of the paint) and 2 inchs up the fuel fittings. Will do the same thing when I get the tank out of the Grady. Provided the tank is in decent shape.
 
If you're going to put a coating on, sanding and prepping as GG suggested is the way to do it. But the jury is still out on whether or not the coating helps over a long term period. Many tank builders are now going away from the epoxy and are even suggesting using truck bed liner like the Rhino coating instead. Reason being, if there's any area that was not perfectly prepped for the epoxy or if the epoxy gets scratched during the install or from movement, the aluminum will start to corrode in that spot causing further delamination/bubbling of the coating and trapping of moisture against the metal. The Rhino type stuff supposedly sticks very well, but is also very abrasion resistant.....I may try it on my next project.

I used epoxy on a new tank 5 years ago and it still looks great, but I won't know if it really does anything for at least 15-20 more years. There are a few guys on this site who have properly maintained bare tanks going 20+ years without an issue and still going. It becomes personal preference at that point I guess.
 
thank you for the fast replies....I was also leaning towards the rhino type of coating. Or maybe leave it as is.
I am still waiting for the results of the pressure test.

As far as rubber, I am going to order 1/4" thick neoprene strips and 5200 it to the bottom of the tank but not sure what durometer to get.

Any suggestions on durometer?
 
interesting question...never checked the durometer of the strips, and I work with the material every day.........just used what the tank welder suggested/sold.......its probably in the 50-70 shore A range...I don't think it will make that much of a difference for this application.
 
thank you richie, GG.... I found 60A durometer 2" x 36" strips in McMaster catalog, I will let you know how it goes

MEZ
 
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