I have just finished the removal of my original steel starboard fuel tank and have the following to report from my experience:
-The tank developed a leak in the top last year and I spent several months trying to isolate the leak to no avail. I tested both port and starboard tanks by blowing in smoke from an HVAC leak test smoke bomb via a shop vac which works pretty well. Port tank has no leaks so it can wait for another day. A few weeks ago, I found a few pints of diesel fuel in the bilge on the starboard side. I knew that this meant the tank was beginning to leak from the bottom so I got two empty 55 gallon plastic drums that formerly held canola oil from a friend here at the club. Using a borrowed a gear pump rig from another buddy, I pumped out approximately 100 gallons into the drums on my aft deck. The tank was enclosed by a teak 1 x 2 frame sheathed with 1/8 luan with acoustic tiles nailed on. The starboard side held my fuel filter manifold and a priming pump rig so that had to come down as well. A friend who had owned a later model Europa for many years assured me that the tank could be easily pulled out and rolled around in the space between the hull and the single Lehman 120 but that proved not to be the case. My tank was a heavy gauge trapezoidal affair that could only be removed by cutting it out. That was the one pleasant surprise in the whole affair: the tank was easy to cut up with a Sawzall using a 24 tooth bi-metal blade or three. I left the aft end intact for copying the design and for getting an idea as to how big a tank could be re-fit without removing the engine. I have opted to have three (3) 25 inch wide tanks fabricated out of aluminum and drop them through an aft access hatch to load them in place interconnected by a balance pipe. This will give a total capacity only slightly less (about 10 gallons) than the original steel tank.
My takeaway is that the original tanks lasted at least 40 years, perhaps because the teak decks had been eliminated about 10 years ago. I am not so sure that steel, properly protected with modern coatings, wouldn't be as good a choice. I am a retired merchant marine engineer and have seen steel coatings improve greatly over the years. There is no doubt that steel requires more muscle to get into position and that influenced my decision to go with aluminum. I will report on the installation of the tanks as soon as the job is completed. Cost, including shipment an fittings, will be about $2500.00 for the starboard side. My feeling is that the steel tanks do not fail catastrophically and I can wait to do the port side.
-The tank developed a leak in the top last year and I spent several months trying to isolate the leak to no avail. I tested both port and starboard tanks by blowing in smoke from an HVAC leak test smoke bomb via a shop vac which works pretty well. Port tank has no leaks so it can wait for another day. A few weeks ago, I found a few pints of diesel fuel in the bilge on the starboard side. I knew that this meant the tank was beginning to leak from the bottom so I got two empty 55 gallon plastic drums that formerly held canola oil from a friend here at the club. Using a borrowed a gear pump rig from another buddy, I pumped out approximately 100 gallons into the drums on my aft deck. The tank was enclosed by a teak 1 x 2 frame sheathed with 1/8 luan with acoustic tiles nailed on. The starboard side held my fuel filter manifold and a priming pump rig so that had to come down as well. A friend who had owned a later model Europa for many years assured me that the tank could be easily pulled out and rolled around in the space between the hull and the single Lehman 120 but that proved not to be the case. My tank was a heavy gauge trapezoidal affair that could only be removed by cutting it out. That was the one pleasant surprise in the whole affair: the tank was easy to cut up with a Sawzall using a 24 tooth bi-metal blade or three. I left the aft end intact for copying the design and for getting an idea as to how big a tank could be re-fit without removing the engine. I have opted to have three (3) 25 inch wide tanks fabricated out of aluminum and drop them through an aft access hatch to load them in place interconnected by a balance pipe. This will give a total capacity only slightly less (about 10 gallons) than the original steel tank.
My takeaway is that the original tanks lasted at least 40 years, perhaps because the teak decks had been eliminated about 10 years ago. I am not so sure that steel, properly protected with modern coatings, wouldn't be as good a choice. I am a retired merchant marine engineer and have seen steel coatings improve greatly over the years. There is no doubt that steel requires more muscle to get into position and that influenced my decision to go with aluminum. I will report on the installation of the tanks as soon as the job is completed. Cost, including shipment an fittings, will be about $2500.00 for the starboard side. My feeling is that the steel tanks do not fail catastrophically and I can wait to do the port side.
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