Sailfish fuel tank

[Boosted1]

I have a 99 sailfish that I’ll be pulling the decks and going thru the tanks and fuel lines come this off-season. Being the tanks are original I’m expecting they are on borrowed time. I have 2 tanks. The forward/main is a 150gallons and the rear/aux tank is around 50. I see the newer sailfish’s have one 204 gallon tank now.

I understand the benefits of two tanks. I can burn one down first to change how the boat rides in certain conditions or say I get a bad load of fuel in one I can still make it home on the other. I would like to get rid of the second tank and just have one large tank made instead. Is there any other cons I’m missing?
I like the idea of simplicity. Less things to go wrong and I don’t need to worry about switching tanks periodically to keep the fuel fresh. Right now I have 50 gallons of useless gas in the aux tank which is what got me thinking.

 

[DennisG01]

I think your biggest obstacle is whether or not you have a structural bulkhead between the two tanks. Do you have that? If not, go for it. If you do, I wouldn't feel comfortable getting rid of something that is structural. I'm sure you remove it and add "some" type of bracing across the top of the tank - but I think you're still taking a bit of a chance there.

 

[Boosted1]

Good question. I’m not sure what’s between the tanks. That could very well be my deciding factor. I also just thought about the newer 282s have one large deck panel whereas my 272 has a large one with a smaller one aft that has a bulkhead between the two. I’m thinking that might not allow a larger tank to slide in either.

 

[ScottyCee]

My Sailfish is a 1998 272 and there was nothing between the tanks except a 2x4 spacer. Can't speak to any design changes happening over the year between our models, but here is the thread:

1998 272 Fuel Tank Removal Questions

Hi All, The time has to come to pull the fuel tanks out of my 272. I want to clean off any corrosion, flush the insides, and repaint them. I also want to look at the stringers and clean everything up. There simply wasn’t time to go this deep last year when we bought it but this year it’s going...

www.greatgrady.com

I had to trim a small amount of plywood from the very bottom of the step riser, but it was inconsequential. If you are certain that you won't use your old tank again, you could zip off the fill spout and it will slide right out.

 

[Boosted1]

Thanks for adding the link to your thread. After doing the job, do you think if the main tank was about a foot longer you would be able to install it without getting all jammed up? After seeing your pictures, I’m starting to think they had to make to separate tanks so they could install/remove them thru the deck.

 

[ScottyCee]

Hmm. Maybe measure your deck hatch and be careful about making it any longer than that. A few inches maybe, but on mine the vertical clearance is tight. Have you pulled the hatch yet? Does yours look like mine?

Personally, I love the two tank setup. I seriously thought about going to one, but gave that up. I trade them off as reserve. 203 gallons of fuel is very heavy so I never run with more than about 100 - I consider that full since it will take me 150-180 miles. An all day fishing/shrimping trip for us is 35-50 gallons. I alternate fill-ups and leave 25 gal backup in the tank I just ran out, balance into the one that was reserve.

Reality is that I don't think they had any concern about removing the tanks at all (or I wouldn't have needed to do any cutting!). They apparently put them in before dropping the deck on...