Replacing a diesel fuel tank in 1981 C30

[Running Late]

I have a pinhole leak in the tank.
Anyone with experience removing a diesel tank from a 1981 vintage. It looks like I may need to cut fiberglass above the tank itself-but hoping someone has done the deed before I try. I have the 20 gallon tank (with Universal 5411 which is still chugging along)

 

[RitSim]

We had an '89 and I had to pull the fuel tank due to a leak in the strut attachment. I used a vibrating tool to cut the glass straps that held the tank in place. Not sure if your interior layout is the same as the '89. Had to remove the 3-drawer cabinet on the port side. My tank was mfg by RDS in Ga.

 

[Jimski]

I pulled the tank in my '86 C-30 because the tank had a bunch of slimy gunk in it. On my boat the tank has 4 tabs that screw into the hull. Each tab had 2 screws holding the tab to the hull. The tabs on the starboard side of the tank are trivial to get to. To get to the the tabs on the port side I had to remove the drawers and casework. Once the drawer casework was out it was pretty easy to get to the tabs.

The only thing that was hard was getting the filler hose off the tank. Even harder to get it back on.

Once the tank was out of the boat I took it to a radiator shop. I didnt have a leak, I only wanted the gunk cleaned up. They epoxy coated the tank, which would have solved any pinhole leak issue. If you go this route, be sure to pull out the fuel pickup tube. I didnt, and the shop didnt either. They epoxied the pickup to the bottom of the tank. I was able to remove the pickup tube, but half of it remained epoxied to the bottom. I put a straight tube in its place, which works but I suspect I lost about a gallon or more of usable capacity.

Good luck!
Jim