Removing Fuel Tanks.

"Be larger than your task."

~Orison Swett Marden

I remember the first time someone suggested I consider getting new fuel tanks for the boat.  It was my surveyor, and I trust his opinion on things.  But I wanted to believe he was wrong about this.  I wrote the statement in my pre-survey inspection notes, and then tried my hardest to forget about it.

But, each time I reviewed those notes to be sure we were doing all the things that needed to be done (and doing them right), that statement was still there.  Finally I did a little research.  If you need to know more about fuel tanks, here is a good resource, and a good place to start:  http://newboatbuilders.com/docs/PY_JAN09_51-54_FUEL_TANKS.pdf.

I learned that fuel tanks typically last 10-20 years.  My boat was 40 years old.  Since I could no longer deny that rebuilding the interior of a boat with 40 year-old fuel tanks was not a good idea (since I may have to tear out the new interior in just a few years to replace them), I decided my only hope was to discover that the tanks were not original.  I found some convincing evidence (which you can typically do if you want to badly enough).  

Then I found these labels on the tanks:

These labels that are on the current fuel tanks (made by Tempo, who went out of business in 2001) have the following information:

Model #: FT-91-1379-1

Fuel Type: Gasoline

Capacity: 91 gallon

Test P.S.I: 4

Test date: 5/21/71

Designed for: 10 G's

MATL. & MIN. THK.: 14 GA. (.071) ALUMINIZED STL

With a test date of 5/21/71, I now knew that the tanks were 40 years old.  It was time to work on replacing them.

This was no small job.  First, I tried to purchase pre-made fuel tanks.  There are no 55' x 44' x 9' fuel tanks factory made out there.  So, I would have to have them built for me.  Finding someone to build them proved a little challenging, and to get them out we would have to cut through the aluminum stringers of the boat--they were down in the hull under the stringers in the stateroom:

I asked for estimates from several places:

• The Iron Shop in Brookville, Indiana.
• After over a month of trying to get the quote, they did come out and look at my boat.  Final quote: $4,200.00 (this included installation).
• Gould Metal Works in Covington, KY.
• Spoke with them several times.  They did not seem to have a lot of experience in building marine fuel tanks.  They never gave me an estimate.
• Luther's Marine Fabrication in Bristol, RI (http://www.lutherswelding.com/).
• This is one of the two companies that Pluckebaum recommended.
• $1,440.00 each (with 2 baffles)
• Speedy Tanks (Atlantic Coastal Welding) in Bayville, NJ (http://www.speedytanks.com).
• This is the other company that Pluckebaum recommended.
• $878.00 each (with 4 baffles)
• The tanks would be finished in a week, with 2 day shipping!  They are Speedy!!

I chose to work with Speedy Tanks, and they have been GREAT to work with!  They build just about anything you could need for a boat.  They are also building a holding tank for me.
 
Now that I had tanks being made, I needed to get the old tanks out.  The person I am buying the boat from told me that the tanks were empty (good news, since the engines had not been started in about 6 years).  We decided to check (no assumptions).  We removed the sending unit (this is the device that registers the fuel level), and put a stick in the tank.  When we removed the stick, there was about 4 inches of fuel in the tank (in a 9 inch high tank--close to 1/2 tank, or 40-45 gallons).  When we tested the other tank, the same was true.  This meant we would have to remove about 80-90 gallons of old fuel before we could remove the tanks!

This is the sending unit we removed to test fuel level

 Four inches of fuel in both tanks!  

My brother loaned us a small hand pump to pump the fuel out of the tanks.  We had three 5-gallon gas tanks to pump the fuel into.  We had 2 55-gallon drums to dump the fuel in (my friend and colleague, John Beckemyer gave me a drum, and Bruce brought me the 2nd one).  I discovered that Hamilton County has a Hazardous Waste Disposal program.  They would take the fuel for free--I just had to show proof of residency (http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/

pubsrv/pages/-4167-/), and leave the container with them.

First, we had to remove the aluminum straps that hold them in place, and the stringers.

This is Glenn Tepe using a grinder to cut through the welds on the stringers.

This is Melanie helping me get access to the bolt on the aluminum strap that is holding the tank into place.

This is Don using the grinder to cut through the weld of the aluminum stringers on the second tank.

I took a turn with the grinder on the aluminum strap.

The last bolt was difficult to reach.  I had to climb under the floor to get to it!

I was careful to label each piece of aluminum so that it would be easy for the welder to put it all back together once the new tanks are installed:

Now we had removed everything holding the tanks down (I chose to remove the stringers from opposite ends of the two tanks because I thought it might help maintain structural integrity of the boat):

 Now it was time to get the fuel out.  My brother loaned me a small hand pump.  We gave it a shot:

Gregg and Jeff (my nephew) start with the fuel removal

Captain Geoff took a turn, too.

 While this pump is perfect for small jobs, getting 80 gallons out of these fuel tanks would have taken a very long time.  After lots of searching on the Internet and brainstorming, Captain Geoff had the idea of using the larger pump he has for his dinghy.  We had to rig a smaller tube because it would not fit into the gas can.  Duct tape to the rescue:

This pump worked much better.

And...the first tank came out:

After several more hours of pumping fuel from the other tank.  We were almost ready to remove it.  Captain Geoff went back to his secret stash of all-things-nautical, and brought some wood plugs so that we could plug the open pipe so that no fuel would spill out when we lifted the tank:

And, out it came:

This is Carlos, Wilmer and Jeff, lifting the steel tank out of the boat.

Gregg says, "get it outta here!"

And, away it goes.

I can't tell you how good it feels to have those fuel tanks out of the boat.  This seemed so overwhelming when I first realized it needed to be done.  But with help and hard work, they are out.

We expect the new fuel tanks and the holding tank to arrive this week.  Before installing them, we need to power-wash the hull of the boat.  

Removing these tanks represents the last bit of removing or tearing out.  From here, it is all building up.  This is a turning point--and it is the positive turn that I needed.  This renovation is a large task--but I can be larger.