fix

Jul 27, 2011
5,134
Bavaria 38E Alamitos Bay
Off hand I’d say you must fix the leak regardless of whether or not the upholstery can be successfully aired out to remove the odor. Yes there are several treatments available to remove odors from upholster generally. But new upholstery would freshen the look and smell of the salon. The plywood will have to be replaced, likely. These kinds of problems should be attended to very soon after discovery.

I don’t have experience with integral tanks, but the Al tank on my P-30 started leaking at a seam and flooded the bilge with diesel. Although it appears yours is leaking from higher. Ultimately, I had to cut away some plywood to get the tank out of the boat, then ordered a new one made from the same company that had built the original. Installed, but did not fully replace plywood I removed. A very messy problem :(.
 
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Jan 4, 2006
7,282
Hunter 310 West Vancouver, B.C.
I suppose the proper way to fix this is to cut out the plywood completely, install an aluminum fuel tank,
Sorry to hear about your problem and it does sound like a big one.

Once you are able to install a new tank, you would want to go with a polyethylene tank as aluminum would soon be causing leakage problems again.

Good luck with this one.
 
Jan 7, 2011
5,663
Oday 322 East Chicago, IN
Also, it has been leaking for a while (1-2 yrs probably), so all the upholstery inside the boat smells of diesel, as does the interior teak and everything else. We have taken off all of the upholstery that we can so as to air it out. Realistically, if we take care of the cause of the diesel leak, will we have a chance of ridding the boat of diesel smell? Are there any products that you would recommend to get diesel smell out of upholstery, teak, and wooden flooring?
I had a diesel leak on my first boat, and the rear berth cushion got fuel on it.

I tried everything to get rid of the smell…used Pure Ayre spray, removed the foam and washed it in a garbage can with hot water, various soaps. Same with the cover. Finally took the cover to the laundry mat and washed in in an industrial washer. Thought all was well until I put it in the dryer and a while later I smelled diesel smell again. Grabbed the cover from the dryer and haven’t been back to that laundry mat since. Imagine my picture is on the wall with a “Most Wanted” sign :(

All this to say, very hard in my experience to get rid of the diesel smell if it impregnated wood, cloth, foam, etc.

You can clean it off hard surfaces, but nothing that absorbs the fuel.

Good luck.


Greg
 
Jan 19, 2010
12,597
Hobie 16 & Rhodes 22 Skeeter Charleston
Is it possible to put a bladder inside the existing tank?