Fuel tanks and other rambling thoughts.

[GeorgiaBII]

For you guys with outboards that have external tanks what have you done about keeping the tank out of the way?

What I've been kicking around is an idea for a bulkhead connection and putting the tank under the cockpit seat in the storage area. Then having just a short bit of hose from the bulkhead to the engine with the priming bulb.

The boat is just too small to have more stuff in the way than needed.
I also need to figure out how to run electrical connections to the engine as well. Plus controls... and probably more things I've not thought about yet.


Ideas are greatly appreciated guys.

Thanks,

James.

 

[Roddie]

I picked up a couple 5 gallon Avon flexible fuel tanks, roll them up when empty ... Pics on the Avon site

 

[Joe11688]

For you guys with outboards that have external tanks what have you done about keeping the tank out of the way?

What I've been kicking around is an idea for a bulkhead connection and putting the tank under the cockpit seat in the storage area. Then having just a short bit of hose from the bulkhead to the engine with the priming bulb.

The boat is just too small to have more stuff in the way than needed.
I also need to figure out how to run electrical connections to the engine as well. Plus controls... and probably more things I've not thought about yet.


Ideas are greatly appreciated guys.

Thanks,

James.

Here's a picture of the fuel locker on my O'Day 222. You may be able to come up with some ideas by looking at it. The only six gallon poly tank that will fit into my locker is and OMC Dura-Tank. I don't even know if they are still available today. I have three of these tanks now. I just found one a few weeks ago washed up on the river bank with gasoline in it. I also found this Indian arrow head on the sand.

I thought I had some decent pics of my fuel locker. I'll try to take some better pics of it when I get a chance.
Joe

 

[Daydreamer]

I built a cover for the fuel tank that incorporates a pair of speakers. Going to redo it to include cup holders too!

It is easily removable to refill the tank, so in an area where there is a lot of theft I would add some way to lock it down.

To connect the speakers I used a waterproof 4 pin bulkhead connector through the cockpit behind the cover.

Used a 2 pin connector at the transom to get charging from the outboard. Controls are on the motor and it is mounted off the transom.

You can just see the cover in the pic. That is my friend Brandon. Took he and his g/f out for their first sail

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

It has been a while on being on board the Odays.

One word of caution to everyone. Never place a fuel tank into a locker that is open to the cabin. Fumes and the fact of the explosive of gas inside the cabin is dangerous. If done in a sealed locker with no air penetration into the cabin, you are in good shape; however, you will need to vent that locker.

crazy dave condon

 

[alexco38]

Transom mounted fuel tank

http://www.amazon.com/Moeller-DinghyMate-Topside-Transom-Marine/dp/B000MTCQSS

Try one of this. It's out of the way.

 

[SamLust]

Putting a fuel tank below is fine. However, it MUST be a tank designed and sold for mounting below deck. It should fill from outside via a deck fitting, and vent to the outside through a proper hose and hull fitting, and must be properly fastened in place. A tank designed for obove deck use has to have a fuel vent open to allow fuel to flow. Because this is almost always just a hole in the fill cap fuel can slop out of the opening creating a dangererous condition.

 

[hman]

On the starboard side of the cockpit next to the stern, my 23 has a small locker, just the right size for a 3 gallon tank. The wood siding has a hole in it for the fuel line to come out of. Maybe a PO sealed yours up, but that's the tank locker that came with my boat. Hope that helps..

 

[THECUSCUS]

This is how I ran my engine wiring from the battery to the engine. This way I only need short wires attached to the outboard and don't have a bunch of spaghetti when I take the outboard off. I made a fuell compartment across the back of my cockpit, its open along the bottom edge and there is a cockpit drain in there also.

 

[TENACITY CS36T]

nice job CUSCUS!

 

[oldiesrocker2001]

What I've done on my V21 is similar to Trinkka's solution. I had a 6gallon above decks tank that originally had a vent/level combination cap. I bought a plain cap, drilled out for a brass spigot shutoff(garden hose variety) and found an adapter at the end for my thru-hull vent that it attached to and ran it as the vent with flexible hose. the fuel lines went thru the hull at the transom as well thru a defunct stern light opening. the tank went into the rear lazzarette and I bungecorded it down to keep movement to a minimum. the close-up of these fixtures can be found at macgregorowners resources tab.

 

[GeorgiaBII]

All excellent idea's thank you. Although I'm not very good with fiberglass so I doubt I'll be making that cool tank compartment that CUSCUS made... WOW.

 

[Winkfish]

If Cuscus' idea looks good, but you don't want to build a fiberglass compartment, what about using a cooler to put the tank in, with appropriate venting and fuel line holes? (The drain hole would probably work for the fuel line.) You could probably get one to fit in that part of your cockpit, and the marine variety are sturdy enough to double as a seat. Dpending on the size of the tank and cooler, you could remove them at the end of each trip.

 

[GorillaToast]

See my solution in "Sealing Off The Fuel Locker" in the Catalina 22 forum.

 

[rgranger]

... what have you done about keeping the tank out of the way?

I recently saw a picture ( I wish I had kept a copy) of a guy's boat in which he had build a box in the foot well of the cockpit just under the tiller. He put his fuel tank in that box. Makes sense. The presence of the tiller makes that part of the foot well useless for anything else.