Plastic Diesel Fuel Tank Cleanout

  • Thread starter Barrie Point Roberts
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Barrie Point Roberts

Hi Sailors,

I want to clean out the slug in my diesel rigid plastic fuel tank but I have been told one should not cut out an access hole because it can't be sealed back up. Is this right.
Surely there must be a way to gain access to the inside of a plastic fuel tank for cleaning purposes.

Does anyone have any suggestions for me?

Thanks everyone

Barrie
 
Dec 2, 1999
15,184
Hunter Vision-36 Rio Vista, CA.
Barrie: Can you possibly remove the tank from the boat? If you can do this you can power wash it too. The problem with these seals (and I like that idea) is that poly does not adhere with many sealants and the tanks are sometime irregular in their surface. When you purchase a new tank they will often spin the fittings in place.

Good luck if you use that seabuilt solution, it looks like a good one.
 
Jul 14, 2009
42
2 O'Day 272LE Cole's Point, VA (NNK)
When I bought my boat, there was so much crud in the tank that the former owner had abandoned the tank in favor of a 5 gallon outboard motor fuel tank to which he attached a garden hose for the diesel return. I was able to pump out the old tank with an inline fuel pump and removed it after taking out several teak plywood panels, the engine controls, electrical components, exhaust line, yada yada. It was time consuming. I used water to clean the thing out.
Had I to do it again, and if all the plumbing had not been shoemakered by the former owner, I would have tried to flush and syphon the thing. If you can get a 1/2" garden hose to the bottom, low point, you can probably get most of it. If you are willing to rinse it with water (worked for me) you could probably adapt a high lift wet/dry vac to clean it out and dry it by reversing. I was able to inspect mine with a see snake.
 
Jun 4, 2004
844
Hunter 28.5 Tolchester, MD
I installed a Seabuilt access port on a hunter 28.5 polyethelene fuel tank after emptying the tank thru the fuel line to thesecondary filter.
I pencilled the six bolt hole centers from the metal flange, then penciled the 4" diameter circle and driled a 3/8" hole to start the sabersaw.
I wiped out the poly 'sawdust' and the black deposits in the tank and on the float guage and pick-up tube with clean rags followed by an alcohol soaked wash down with nore clean lint free rags. I needed to use a plastic flyswatter wrapped with a rag to get to the aft end of the tank.
The top surface of the tank was smooth and the inner surface wasn't bad either. The Seabuilt access panel has two thick rubber / neoprene like gaskets which installed easily and sealed tightly.
I feel this is a far better solution than fuel polishing and probably costs less if you do the install yourself. I replaced the OEM fuel lines with new CG approved fuel lines and changed out the filters at the same time; adding 3-4 gallons of fresh clean low sulpher diesel carried in from a very active truck stop. Add only enough clean fuel you expect to use, when you expect to use it. Check and replace the 'O' ring on the deck fill cap while you're at it and you can rest assured you've done the best you can to have a clean fuel system.
 
Jan 10, 2009
590
PDQ 32 Deale, MD
There is an article on this in Practical Sailor.

You can clean it through a small hole since poly tanks have no baffles.

A shop vac can be a fire hazard and is not approved for this service. A manual sump pump will work.
 

Breal

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Apr 21, 2009
43
H 31 Barnegat Bay, NJ
Yesterday, I tried to remove the main hose that goes from the deck fill to the poly tank and I couldnt remove mine despite loosening the clamp hose. It must have been glued in place. My only other feasable choice was to remove the primary fuel filter intake line and attach that to a manual pump. It took a while, but I was able to remove most of it. There was a lot of crud in the bottom of the diesel containers used to extract the fuel. I added 10 new gallons of fuel and I hope that this will be enough for now, until I figure a way to get the tank out. I think I read that you could remove it trough where the water heater is on a Hunter 31. I'm not so sure the 18 gal tank fits through there though.
Does anyone know if the line I used to remove the fuel reaches the bottom of the tank? I believe it does but not 100% sure.
 

Alan

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Jun 2, 2004
4,174
Hunter 35.5 LI, NY
I accessed the interior of the poly tank in my 35.5 through the mechanical fuel level gauge. Removal of the gauge (5 machine screws) revealed a 2 1/2" opening. Large enough to put a 5/8" ID hose in to suck out the remnants of the tank. Removal of the crud in the bottom was done with a Vacula suction device. Added 6 gallons of clean fuel and replaced all fuel filters.
 
Dec 2, 1999
15,184
Hunter Vision-36 Rio Vista, CA.
The pick-up tubes usually do not reach the bottom of the tanks. They usually have a screen to filter out the "big chunck" of crap that may accumulate in the tank.

I would suggest that you try to determine measure the tank and see if there is room to remove it. The water heater (OEM) will fit through that opening, but not sure about the fuel tank.

I would think that if you try to use a suction hose that will fit into the fuel filler hose you should be able to suck anything you want out of that tank.

The H'31 did NOT have a fuel guage on the earlier models, but may have had them later on.
 
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