Purchased the boat from a private seller in Tampa area five years ago. trucked it to Northern California, and have enjoyed five carefree years of fishing and family fun...until last weekend...
I discovered a gas tank leak in my 1993 Tournament after I returned from a recent local fishing trip and have managed to get the old tank out (had to cut the opening flanges and just barely snaked the old tank out) (bad design by the manufacturer, why make a full-length hatch cover that won't allow you to lift the empty tank out?). I've ordered a new tank from Speedytanks.com...those guys are great on customer service...Thanks to those great grady members who posted advice on this issue...
I am in the process of cleaning the old tank space out, and I found water seeping from the fiberglass around the gas tank space in spots.. (apparently my float valve on the bilge pump has begun misbehaving as well, and there was more than a little water in the bilge when I pulled the plug). a little poking and knocking revealed pretty consistent rot through the stringers and the bulkheads (they are essentially hollow, i believe, providing little or no structural support). I see lots of posts where people have similar conditions and have ended up essentially gutting the interior subfloor. My question is this: does this condition (rot) pose any threat to the structural integrity of this small vessel? should I just put the new tank in and continue fishing and is there any kind of danger in doing so?
Thanks,
I discovered a gas tank leak in my 1993 Tournament after I returned from a recent local fishing trip and have managed to get the old tank out (had to cut the opening flanges and just barely snaked the old tank out) (bad design by the manufacturer, why make a full-length hatch cover that won't allow you to lift the empty tank out?). I've ordered a new tank from Speedytanks.com...those guys are great on customer service...Thanks to those great grady members who posted advice on this issue...
I am in the process of cleaning the old tank space out, and I found water seeping from the fiberglass around the gas tank space in spots.. (apparently my float valve on the bilge pump has begun misbehaving as well, and there was more than a little water in the bilge when I pulled the plug). a little poking and knocking revealed pretty consistent rot through the stringers and the bulkheads (they are essentially hollow, i believe, providing little or no structural support). I see lots of posts where people have similar conditions and have ended up essentially gutting the interior subfloor. My question is this: does this condition (rot) pose any threat to the structural integrity of this small vessel? should I just put the new tank in and continue fishing and is there any kind of danger in doing so?
Thanks,
....Please post pix if you can