I cant get fuel tank out of my 1992 tournament 19!

[proftomda]

Greetings.

I need to remove fuel tank for failed pressure test.

I have removed all wedges and 2x4's supporting the tank in but its simply too long. The tank measures 64 inches and opening is now 62 3/4 inches. I have removed (with grinder)3/8" from the front lip and 3/8" from rear lip of tank opening but the tank is STILL 1 1/4 inches longer than the opening. I can lift the back end of tank partially out because of less rear overhang but it contacts the motor well structure above. All matter of tilting has been unsuccessful. With roughly 3/4" remaining on front and rear lips, I guestimate that I would have to grind each one down to 1/4" and thats not much structure left.....

I have viewed posts where the tank is up to 1/2 inch longer than the opening but mine over 1 1/4 inches longer. The only way, I can see to get it out is to cut up the tank and remove it in pieces and that sounds pretty dangerous.

Any suggestions?

 

[gw204]

I'm not overly familiar with the 192, so please forgive me if you have already tried this...

Can you slide the tank back at all and lift from the front end?

 

[proftomda]

Thanks for the reply.

With the tank slid all the way back against the rear wall of the compartment, The front of the tank is still 1" forward of the opening. Tilting the tank maybe reduces that dimension to 3/4" but its still a long long long way from clearing. Very little up and down movement possible.

 

[Parthery]

Strange....is it the factory tank?

My '86 190 tank lifted out with only a little bit of wiggling.

Can you post some pics?

PM me - if you are nearby a second set of hands may help.

 

[proftomda]

I'll go out to garage and take some pics although I've never posted pics to message forums before...make take a bit.

 

[proftomda]

And yes, it is a factory tank from Florida marine tanks. Looks totally original and 20 years old...

 

[proftomda]

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid= ... 6532_n.jpg

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Hope these show up.

I used a tape measure to show the amount of overhang on front and back. On the front, from the edge of the opening lip to the front bulkhead shows 2 inches. Dont be fooled by the black shadow...thats not the edge of the tank directly below the front lip. The distance on the rear lip to rear bulkhead is 1 inch. With the tank held forcefully against the rear bulkhead, the front lip still covers the front edge of tank by 1 inch. I can tilt the front up in that scenerio and reduce that distance to 3/4", no more.

 

[proftomda]

 

[proftomda]

 

[proftomda]

 

[gw204]

From what I remember of the 1988 Tournament 19 I owned for a few weeks (yes, weeks...I bought it just for the motor), there is a well in front of the tank compartment that had a drop-in liner. If you pulled out the liner, you had complete access to the forward bilge.

If your boat is set up the same way, do you think if you cut out the bulkhead that separates the forward bilge from the tank compartment that would allow you to slide the tank far enough forward so when you lift up the aft end it clears the motor well? Then once cleared, you could slide the tank back to allow the front of the tank to clean the hatch lip? Then you would just have to glass the bulkhead back in before you installed your new tank.

Or if you cut a chunk out of the vertical part of the motor well, could the tank angle up and out enough to clean the top flat section?

I would rather do either one (or both of those) before I messed with trying to cut up a used alumunum fuel tank, but that's just me.

 

[proftomda]

Brian:

Your are exactly correct that a heavily glassed in front bulkhead separates the fuel tank compartment from the fwd storage locker / bilge. As hesitant as you are about cutting a tank apart, I feel the same way about removing and reglassing the forward bulkhead and maybe part of the motor well. One thing for certain, after all this trouble, I am completely on board about replacing the tank and not scab patching it for another day. As i write this, I am running a blower to purge vapors from tank.

 

[proftomda]

Its out...

I ended up cutting the tank apart with a pneumatic zizz wheel and removing it in 5 pieces. Obviously great efforts were made to ventilate the tank before cutting. I took a small fan and adapted ducting choked down to the size of the fuel inlet opening and ran that for several hours. Then I slowly cut a access panel large for my arm to fit in and I washed the inside with water and dawn detergent. I then fed a shop vac hose to help evacuate any remaining vapors that had been hiding and then went to town with the zizz wheel. I removed the top of the front tank compartment and then traveled down the sides and the bottom bend to make the tank really flexible. It wasnt enough though. Even though I could easily bend the top edge in towards the tank, the bottom of tank was still in tact and still too long. In the end, i had to completely cut the entire end off the tank.

Any Grady Tournament folks that have replaced their tank with a slightly smaller tank? If so, what were the tank dimensions? I have the factory blueprint sent from Grady White, just curious what everyone else did

 

[gw204]

You are a braver man than I. :goodjob

How did the measurements of your existing tank compare to those in the blueprint that GW sent you?

And the big question, how did tank...I mean the pieces of the tank...look when you got them out?

 

[proftomda]

Brave, stubborn or dumb, not sure which...

FYI: I am not suggesting that anyone attempt what I did but in the end it was easy. I was very aware that no sparks were allowed. The zizz wheel made no sparks at all cutting though the aluminum tank. I also covered the area in ice packs to keep the aluminum cool during cutting.

My tank was constructed to the exact measurements as per the blueprint, that's the strange thing. I searched extensively on the web and spoke with Grady White a couple times. Any posts from other owners commented that the tank was perhaps a 1/2' longer than the opening, an easy trim job on the flange. The first call to Grady customer support said the same thing, trim the flanges should be all that is needed. The 2nd call to Grady and they said on my model boat (tournament 19) that owners may have to completely remove the flange to get tank out and replace flange with pressure treated wood screwed into the front and rear bulkheads... So read into that what you want.. At first, I figured someone during construction installed the forward bulkhead too far aft, thereby reducing length of tank compartment but after 2nd call to grady, not sure.

Now to the tank. The tank is 20 years old and original. I pulled the tank apart because the last time i filled it up, I ended up with fuel in my fwd bilge, never had that problem before. I pulled a pressure test on the tank and about 1.5 psi, I could hear a hissing noise from the side or bottom and couldn't get to that area with soapy water. Still, being a cheap skate, my original intention was to remove tank, grind out corrosion, patch any pinholes and epoxy coat the exterior. As removing was proving to be a totally invasive procedure, I decided I didnt want to have to deal with the tank for a long long time and from what I have gathered here and from Grady White, 15-20 years is the practical shelf life of a O.E. aluminum tank. So basically I was on borrowed time with the tank. That being said, the inside of the forward bay of the tank looked clean and absolutely no sign of pitting. The hissing noise was in the side or bottom aft bay of the tank and I have not cut that area apart to inspect.

 

[antaris]

Out of curiosity, were there any sort of compartments in the alu tank? You know, to prevent the fule from sloshing around...?

I always wonder what manufacturers do, in order to avoid weight redistribution while under way. I am on a 208 with a plastic tank, which I believe, has no such walls or compartments.

Well done on the job - I guess it is a clean and safe effort.

 

[proftomda]

Antaris:

Regarding inside compartments, the tank appears to 3 bays. 2 top to bottom aluminum baffles welded inside with 2 oval shaped holes at the bottom of the baffle for fuel to flow. My chop job only got me into the forward bay.

I know nothing about plastic tanks but I would bet that it is baffled because that's a whole bunch of weight moving around plus you don't want the fuel sloshing away from your fuel pick up. Did you install your plastic tank or did it come with your boat?

 

[proftomda]

Look what I found...

 

[Grog]

Unless someone started making baffeled plastic tanks recently they don't have baffels. That's the big drawback to the plastic tanks, solve that problem and you're set.

 

[gw204]

From what I can see, that tank looked to be pretty clean. I'm thinking the hole you have there may have been from something rubbing against the tank and not from corrosion. Look at the area of the tank cavity where that hole was and see if you have any shards of glass sticking up that may have been chewing away at the tank.