Fuel tank replacement

[Comodave]

Well after many weeks of planning and sleepless nights, today we started working towards replacing our port fuel tank. We have 2 210 gallon steel fuel tanks that are 32 years old. No signs of them leaking yet but with steel tanks leaking is going to happen sooner or later. I want to replace them while I am still able to do the work rather than waiting until they actually do leak and I might not be able to do the work at that time. We made a hoist/crane in the salon which consists of a 6X6 I beam crossbar with a 6X6 timber upright on the port side and a 2X2 heavy duty welded upright on the starboard side. On the port side I have plenty of room for the timber upright but on the starboard side I only had 2” so I made the upright out of steel. We had a 1/2” steel bar made to span the 2 lifting eyes on the engine. Bought a 2 ton trolley and chain fall. Yesterday we started undoing the connections to the engine and got most of them undone. Today 3 of us finished unhooking the engine and then hooked up the chain fall and lifted the engine and rolled it over to the temporary stringers that we assembled on top of the temporary decking. It took us 2 hours today to get the engine out and onto the temporary stringers. Before we started we made a timber frame that goes from the deck down to the stringers to hold the weight of the engine and transmission. I will add some photos of what we have done so far. Hopefully they will load correctly and not sideways or upside down.

 

[rgano]

Nicely done! Been there , done that. Not fun but doable.

 

[ImaBoat]

Nice job!

 

[Pack Mule]

Nice job. Well thought out.

 

[Sailor of Fortune]

oops, think I commented on wrong post. They were talking about wheels apparently in the video about engine removal, didn't watch it. I think your engine hoist gear is great! Certinly well thought out and up to the task as far as I can see. Best of luck with tank removal

 

[BruceK]

Congrats. All in the careful planning. I`m guessing there will be pics of tank going in and out. Stay tuned.

 

[Comodave]

Yes, I plan on adding photos as work gets done. Thanks for the encouragement.

 

[FF]

"No signs of them leaking yet but with steel tanks leaking is going to happen sooner or later."

The steel tanks that die , do so from poor design (no bailable sump) poor installation (sit in a wet place) poor maint , (deck leaks above). no clean out access.

If not too far gone many of these tank hassles can be cured without replacement.

 

[Vadim]

Great job!!! I am facing the same procedure in a near future. Same SP-225's and Newage gear box. If possible more pictures and more details. Mega Thanks.

 

[Cigatoo]

“Nicely done! Been there , done that. Not fun but doable.”
He’s having fun. He’s been thinking about this escapade all summer and making it look easy. I know the type.

 

[Art]

Now you're scaring me! - LOL

Nice pre-job. Best luck with rest of the job. You gonna do the other tank too?? Looking forward to more photos.

Our well cared for, still looking good, 100 gal each... aluminum tanks are about to turn 43 yrs old. No water that they sit in and I add water removers in the gasoline. Always keep the gasket at tank fill hole in good condition and keep that gasket area well smudged with vaseline jelly, to make sure that no water can seep past gasket into tanks.

 

[Comodave]

Yes, I have been looking forward to it for quite a while. Let’s see how
I feel about it after it is done. I will take photos as I go. I am doing the port side this winter and the starboard side next winter.

 

[FF]

"Always keep the gasket at tank fill hole in good condition and keep that gasket area well smudged with vaseline jelly, to make sure that no water can seep past gasket into tanks."

When you PM rebed all the deck penetrations every 5 years or so , an easy insurance policy is to install teak, starboard, Azek , what ever, to raise the fill plate 1/2 inch or so. The water run off has to be more than 1/2 inch deep to test the seal.

 

[Comodave]

Well, time for an update that I don’t want to do... As I said I wanted to replace the tanks while I am still physically able to do so. Apparently that would have been last year. I have been having ongoing back problems. So far this year I have had 8 procedures on my back and it isn’t working. I have been having excruciating back pain and have only been able to work about 2 hours every other day. So I have had to scale back on my work this winter. I have decided not to replace the fuel tank but rather just clean everything up on the port side. We steam cleaned and painted the area. I have been redoing the bonding system in that area. With the engine out I have been able to get in and run new hose for the aft head as well as replace the aft head with a Marine Elegance. I have lots of wiring to clean up and am going to replace the 900FG Racor with a 900MA and added the Racor priming pump to the new filter. I will replace the damper plate while the engine is out and put on a new oil cooler for the transmission. Am going to have a spacer made to replace the drive saver in the prop shaft coupler. Oh well...

 

[Comodave]

Some photos so far. The steps are one of the best things I have done so far, sure makes it easy to get in and out of the engine room.

 

[JT and Estee]

Sorry to hear about the issues with your back. Hope the docs find something that eases the pain soon. Nice job with the steps.

 

[rgano]

That's a lot of gettin'-r-dun in spite of the back issues. Obviously a labor of... er, well, love? Hopefully all gets better with the back.

 

[catalinajack]

Well, time for an update that I don’t want to do... As I said I wanted to replace the tanks while I am still physically able to do so. Apparently that would have been last year. I have been having ongoing back problems. So far this year I have had 8 procedures on my back and it isn’t working. I have been having excruciating back pain and have only been able to work about 2 hours every other day. So I have had to scale back on my work this winter. I have decided not to replace the fuel tank but rather just clean everything up on the port side. We steam cleaned and painted the area. I have been redoing the bonding system in that area. With the engine out I have been able to get in and run new hose for the aft head as well as replace the aft head with a Marine Elegance. I have lots of wiring to clean up and am going to replace the 900FG Racor with a 900MA and added the Racor priming pump to the new filter. I will replace the damper plate while the engine is out and put on a new oil cooler for the transmission. Am going to have a spacer made to replace the drive saver in the prop shaft coupler. Oh well...

Regarding your plan to replace your Drivesaver with a spacer, the folks who sell the Drivesaver couplings also machine exact duplicates of their couplers. I replaced both of my Drivesavers with their machined steel spacers. Best upgrade I ever did. Twice, mind you, twice, once on each side my erstwhile Drivesavers fractured and I was left with no propulsion. The first time was in transiting the eight stair-step locks in Ottawa. What a surprise to find no ability on one side to reverse and stop forward motion. The second time it happened when I attempted to ease of a shoal. I added power and promptly exceeded the torque rating of the coupler. We had to run 45 miles on one engine to get to Fort Myers Christmas Eve 2018. Got there at dusk.

Steve D'Antonio dislikes Drivesaver or similar couplings. I do, too, very much so.

 

[Comodave]

Regarding your plan to replace your Drivesaver with a spacer, the folks who sell the Drivesaver couplings also machine exact duplicates of their couplers. I replaced both of my Drivesavers with their machined steel spacers. Best upgrade I ever did. Twice, mind you, twice, once on each side my erstwhile Drivesavers fractured and I was left with no propulsion. The first time was in transiting the eight stair-step locks in Ottawa. What a surprise to find no ability on one side to reverse and stop forward motion. The second time it happened when I attempted to ease of a shoal. I added power and promptly exceeded the torque rating of the coupler. We had to run 45 miles on one engine to get to Fort Myers Christmas Eve 2018. Got there at dusk.

Steve D'Antonio dislikes Drivesaver or similar couplings. I do, too, very much so.

Was that PYI? I looked on their web site and don’t see the spacers.

 

[catalinajack]

Well, time for an update that I don’t want to do... As I said I wanted to replace the tanks while I am still physically able to do so. Apparently that would have been last year. I have been having ongoing back problems. So far this year I have had 8 procedures on my back and it isn’t working. I have been having excruciating back pain and have only been able to work about 2 hours every other day. So I have had to scale back on my work this winter. I have decided not to replace the fuel tank but rather just clean everything up on the port side. We steam cleaned and painted the area. I have been redoing the bonding system in that area. With the engine out I have been able to get in and run new hose for the aft head as well as replace the aft head with a Marine Elegance. I have lots of wiring to clean up and am going to replace the 900FG Racor with a 900MA and added the Racor priming pump to the new filter. I will replace the damper plate while the engine is out and put on a new oil cooler for the transmission. Am going to have a spacer made to replace the drive saver in the prop shaft coupler. Oh well...

Here is the link to the company. PYI is the "other" brand. All you need to do is call them and tell them the model number of the coupler you have. In my case it was a "504".

https://www.globemarinedirect.com/DriveSaver-s/177.htm

The picture is of the spacer on my Lehman.

 

[Comodave]

Thanks for the link. I will contact them.

 

[catalinajack]

Here is the link to the company. PYI is the "other" brand. All you need to do is call them and tell them the model number of the coupler you have. In my case it was a "504".

https://www.globemarinedirect.com/DriveSaver-s/177.htm

The picture is of the spacer on my Lehman.

Oh my goodness, correction required!!! The spacer is made by the Spurs company, the folks who make the prop line cutters. So very sorry for having provided bum dope.

 

[Comodave]

Oh my goodness, correction required!!! The spacer is made by the Spurs company, the folks who make the prop line cutters. So very sorry for having provided bum dope.

No problem. I knew about Spurs and have already contacted them but was hoping I could find a cheaper source.

 

[Art]

Oh my goodness, correction required!!! The spacer is made by the Spurs company, the folks who make the prop line cutters. So very sorry for having provided bum dope.

Hi Jack

I've been a power boat owner/enjoyer for most of my life. So far never used [nor apparently needed] a spacer/vibration-limiter.

Have heard of some problems and also of successes regarding these.

What I'd like to see is a detailed video during use; and, importantly at different [especially continuously higher] rpm.

From your experiences, do you feel these units will last at higher rpm?

Thanks!

Art

 

[catalinajack]

Hi Jack

I've been a power boat owner/enjoyer for most of my life. So far never used [nor apparently needed] a spacer/vibration-limiter.

Have heard of some problems and also of successes regarding these.

What I'd like to see is a detailed video during use; and, importantly at different [especially continuously higher] rpm.

From your experiences, do you feel these units will last at higher rpm?

Thanks!

Art

I am not qualified to opine on how well a Drivesaver works at high RPM. I do know that they are spec'd to the engine HP, torque, and weight of the boat. A video of one in operation won't help you. All you will see is a spinñing assembly. As for their usefulness, I think they serve no purpose. See my earlier post on my experiences. Some folks have reported a bit of vibration dampening. If your engines are aligned well and your shafts are straight, in my opinion, you do not need a Drivesaver. Supposedly they save an engine when propellers strike a solid object by means of the rubber coupling fracturing but in, Steve D'Antinio's experience, this benefit is rare if non-existent. Plus, aligning an engine with more precision is made more difficult when using a Drivesaver. I eliminated mine with a nicely machined exact duplicate from Spurs, the line cutter company.