Help on H27 Gas Tank

[webo]

I purchased my 1992 H27 a couple of months ago and promptly doubled my "investment". My idea of a project boat and the brokers's opinion were vastly different, my price was much better than his. I'm pretty much on budget and the list is getting short, so I'm feely pretty good about the process.

The boat has a 8 HP Tohastu, with wheel steering and a 3 gallon portable metal gas tank in the aft, port lazarette and it sits on the bottom of the compartment about 3 feet below the hatch. It is not secured and very hard to reach. I've attached a 1/4" line to the the handles; to refuel I have to lift it up, attach the line to the winch to hold it in place while I fuel it and then lower the tank back down. It is a real pain in the neck, not to mention the back. There does not seem to be any type of fittings nor support that was factory installed. When I first inspected the boat the gas can was sitting on top of the 120V electric line leading from the shore power port to the cabin outlets. Yes, it was ON the cable.

My water tank is mounted aft, center, directly under the helmsman station. I have a porta-potty so there is no holding tank on the boat.

My first plan was to build a short rack and glue it to the hull with 5200 so the tank would not be able to slide around and would sit level. My 2nd idea is to replace it with some type of tank that would be permanently fixed to the hull and install a fuel port mounted in the deck.


If anyone has had a similar issue, I'd love to hear to cures and any additonal ideas one might have.

Gary Jones
Wind Dancer
Lake Jacomo MO

 

[Alan]

Fortunately there are an almost unlimited number of shapes and sizes of plastic fuel tanks that you could mount inside your boat. A picture of the area in question would go a long way to helping make suggestions for installation. In addition to a fuel fill you will also need a tank vent which needs to vent overboard. This creates another issue, preventing fuel spills. A simple warning device to prevent over fueling (spilling) is something that all boats with inboard tanks must deal with. Sadly few boats have them but hopefully regulation will require them sooner rather than later.

 

[webo]

The access to the compartment is about 10" x 13" and is not square, more trapazoid shaped. On the inboard side the depth is about 39" and on the outboard side the depth is 32". You can see the rats nest of wires I have to go around to refuel. This issue is about the top of my list as it is barely legal and I don't think completely safe. I've been lookiing at RDS alumimum building a tank to my specs that will fit on the bottom. I'm not sure how I'm going to build the bottom up to level. Suggestions?

My water fill is just above this area and I would like to install a gas filler along the same part of the deck. Obviously it needs to be well marked. Is there a certain distance separation required between the fill ports or the vents?

I can't believe Hunter actually built this boat with this issue, but I don't see much owner modification in the area.

 

[FourPoints]

Gary, First off, got your email. I'll give you a call sometime to answer those questions...

As for the gas tank, Hunter almost surely didn't put it there. I'm pretty sure this, along with your wheel, is an owners mod (I have heard that the pedistal kits were once available from Hunter). That tank is designed to fit in the deck right where your wheel pedistal is mounted. If you look at this picture of my boat (taken before I bought it), the tank fits directly under the piece of deck with the 4 vent holes in it.



Due to the small size of this tank, and the fact that I am forced to carry a 5gal (non vented) can of fuel somewhere below decks (normally in the head) when I go out for longer trips, I have been considering installing a new larger fuel tank down in the lazerette, and I found there is more then enough space to fit it aft of the rudder post under the swim platform steps. There should be enough space to fit at least a 6-8 gallon tank there, which is a 200+% improvement over the 3 gal tank we now have. I plan to run the fill line to the port side near the water fill cap, and the vent line out the stern over the swim platfom seat on the starboard side.

I haven't located a tank that fits the space yet, but that is on my list of things to do this winter. The only thing I haven't yet decided is where I would put the fuel primer ball, or if I would instead install a small electric fuel pump wired possibly to the choke circuit.

 

[webo]

Bingo, you hit the nail on the head. The hatch that contains the four slots has been cut off where the taper starts and the base of the pedestal is mounted in that location. Whoever did the mod was pretty sloppy. The hatch is cored with marine plywood and the cut edge was left open. Over time the wood has gotten soft and one of my projects is to re-core the hatch.

RDS Alumimum will custom build a tank to meet our needs. Since they make all of their tanks in their plant in FL they don't charge extra for custom sizes, just the time and material used. I have put together a mock tank out of cardboard, including the fittings, and when I get back in town I'll see if it wiil fit through the port lazarette opening. I'm trying for a 10" x 10" x 12", which give me a little over 5 gal. Since I sail on a lake that is enough. I don't have the conversion, but a Google Search will give you the cubic inches per gallon and it's a simple calculation to see what size you want. I'll let you know how my mock up works. The nice thing is, even if I go to a 8 x 10 x ??, I can still get my volume. Ballpark price on mine was around $150. I plan on using the same fuel primer ball, my fuel line goes out the same opening as the engine controls and wiring. The tank comes with a self powered fuel sensor and can easily be wired to a fuel gauge.

My water tank vent is on the port side, just aft of the water filler. I've thought about putting the fuel vent just aft of that vent. I don't know if there is a distance issue as to the length of the vent line, the starboard side maybe too long.

 

[FourPoints]

Thought I'd bring this back around and add the solution I came up for mine since this thread was first started, in case anyone else with our boats (or similar) comes across this post in the future.

http://sailingit.com/blog/boat-projects/fuel-system-part-1

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

Four points is correct with the information as that boat was offered either with an inboard diesel or for an outboard. If adding the edson wheel to that boat, you eliminated the fuel locker.

It has been many years when I retrofitted that boat and unfortuantely, I am afflicted with CRS but there are some things to consider. First, gas is volitale and you will need to make a seperate compartment just for that. In addition, you will need to vent that compartment. In addiion, gas fumes have a tendacy to put gas fumes in the cabin and that sir is not good. Then you need to make darn sure that all electrical is not accessible to that area.

crazy dave condon