[pgarick]

Yes, more questions My Polar Skiff 1780 has an internal fuel tank but the person I purchased the boat from discontinued using the internal tank and has an external tank.
I assume that he went with an external fuel tank because of costs involved repairing/replacing the internal fuel tank. Certainly understandable.
My concerns are that all the weight is at the back of the boat. Assuming that it is affordable I would consider having the internal tank repaired/replaced.
So my question is, does anyone have an idea of what such a repair would cost? I have tried to find a manual for my boat but unable to locate one.

Thoughts?

 

[RouseD]

I thought I would bring this back up for you again. You should get answers on this. Wish I could help, but have only had boats that used portable tanks. Interesting question. If I ever buy a used boat with internal tanks, this thread could be very helpful.

 

[trigger22]

Provided you have an access area that is large enough to removed the tank without cutting the floor out it won't be that expensive. However, most boats with internal tanks do not have a large enough access area and the floor has to be cut. It gets pretty expensive pretty fast. My suggestion would be to find out what, if anything is wrong with the tank and go from there. If it currently has fuel in the tank you are going to want to remove it. A cheap automotive fuel pump and a hose is capable of doing that for you, or you could hire someone but again they are usually proud of their service.

 

[pgarick]

I have been unable to get in touch with the original owner. Jimmy's Marine has performed all of the service work and from what they recall the fuel tank had a small leak.
The boat runs fine but my concerns are with all the weight being at the back of the boat. The original internal fuel tank is located roughly in the center of the boat which makes for much better weight disbursement.

 

[pgarick]

Scary update to this.

Just for the sake of asking, I called around today and tried to get a quote for fuel tank repair or replacement. In both cases I needed a defibrillator.

The least expensive route was going to be in the 2500.00 -3000.00 range, the more expensive route 4000.00+

After further review it has been decided that the external tank will work just fine

 

[sundrop]

I think I need to learn more about fiberglass. $3k???

 

[trigger22]

There will be hours of labor involved in that job before it is all said and done and then the cost of materials. A close friend of mine does fiberglass repair for a living and I've seen a few of his jobs where he had to replace a tank. It isn't pretty.

 

[meenyt]

If I were you, and for that kind of money, I would just be sure to drain the internal tank and use the externals. If you have room, you could possibly locate the externals more to the center/front, and just run a longer fuel line. Hope I never have this problem. Good luck.

 

[pgarick]

If I were you, and for that kind of money, I would just be sure to drain the internal tank and use the externals. If you have room, you could possibly locate the externals more to the center/front, and just run a longer fuel line. Hope I never have this problem. Good luck.

According to Jimmy's, the tank was drained and capped (there is an access point in floor) Not enough room towards the center of the boat for a tank without tripping over it. That all said it will remain where it's currently located. It works just fine but I am not thrilled with the additional weight.

 

[Drum Runner]

I think I need to learn more about fiberglass. $3k???

Probably not unreasonable.
It's like my price to replace a sole is high (several thousand high) from the client's stand point. From my stand point, I'm not going to ever get rich doing it if I had them lined them up 2 miles deep down the road.
When you are talking about yanking soles, replacing belly tanks, transoms, stringers, it gets labor intensive and material expensive if you do it right. Labor is what the big killer is. These aren't quick afternoon jobs. Cure times further slow down the process.


Alot different than a shade tree job with some southern yellow pine ply, a squirt of liquid nails, and a handful of sheetrock screws.

As far as learning fiberglass, it's not real difficult. To become efficient enough and creative enough to make money doing it may take some time though.
But simply lamininating glass...nothing to it. The real skill is in fairing it.

 

[pgarick]

Probably not unreasonable.
It's like my price to replace a sole is high (several thousand high) from the client's stand point. From my stand point, I'm not going to ever get rich doing it if I had them lined them up 2 miles deep down the road.
When you are talking about yanking soles, replacing belly tanks, transoms, stringers, it gets labor intensive and material expensive if you do it right. Labor is what the big killer is. These aren't quick afternoon jobs. Cure times further slow down the process.


Alot different than a shade tree job with some southern yellow pine ply, a squirt of liquid nails, and a handful of sheetrock screws.

As far as learning fiberglass, it's not real difficult. To become efficient enough and creative enough to make money doing it may take some time though.
But simply lamininating glass...nothing to it. The real skill is in fairing it.

From my research everyone appears to be in the same price range. So I got to thinking. Perhaps I have a raised deck built in front of the cooler, this would give plenty of room to store a fuel tank and other things.

Just a thought at this point. Certainly would be much less money

 

[sundrop]

Do you have batteries in your console? Move them to the front or rear and put a tank in the console. Bow mounted tanks have to slosh a lot and cause trim issues as the weight greatly changes between full/empty. Venting would have to be done with a check valve too so fuel didn't slosh out of the vents on rough water. And FYI a lot of boats have rear mounted tanks, my Sea Pro did and so do a lot of bass boats etc. So that placement isn't bad. Just keep your load forward as much as you can to compensate..

 

[pgarick]

Do you have batteries in your console? Move them to the front or rear and put a tank in the console. Bow mounted tanks have to slosh a lot and cause trim issues as the weight greatly changes between full/empty. Venting would have to be done with a check valve too so fuel didn't slosh out of the vents on rough water. And FYI a lot of boats have rear mounted tanks, my Sea Pro did and so do a lot of bass boats etc. So that placement isn't bad. Just keep your load forward as much as you can to compensate..

Batteries are actually in the rear as well. I measured the available space underneath the console and there simply isnt enough room to support the fuel tank, that was my first hope.
As it stands now I would guesstimate that 95% of the weight is located in the back 1/3 of the boat. I spent some time today checking to see what would be required to move the two batteries to underneath the console. Will be a bit of work but nothing a couple of hours wouldn't take care of. That would move +/- 150 pounds more to the center of the boat

 

[Drum Runner]

Another option. If you have that cheesy baitwell in front of the console that isn't good for much, cut the guts out of it to extend the room in the console. Have a custom aluminum tank built even if you have to pull the console up and set it over the top of the tank to get it in there. BUT keep in mind, You couldn't ever use the boat for hire per Coastguard unless that tank was vented overboard instead of in the cockpit.

I've never been a fan of having fuel and batteries together. I would leave the batteries in the rear because the ride is the softest at the rear. Vibration kills batteries. Unless you go gel cell. How much fuel do you need? There are tank calculators on the web to help you turn dimensions into gallons.

 

[sundrop]

I admit I am only looking at pics online but the consoles I see look like they would hold a 10-12 gal custom built tank. And you can always stash a little 3.5 gal in the back for emergencies.. DR is right rear is best for batteries center to me isn't too bad but bow would be hard on them and hard to secure well too. Although I don't know how rough you are willing to get with a 17ft skiff... It has to be a real kidney puncher...

 

[pgarick]

I admit I am only looking at pics online but the consoles I see look like they would hold a 10-12 gal custom built tank. And you can always stash a little 3.5 gal in the back for emergencies.. DR is right rear is best for batteries center to me isn't too bad but bow would be hard on them and hard to secure well too. Although I don't know how rough you are willing to get with a 17ft skiff... It has to be a real kidney puncher...

The tank I currently have is a 22 gallon tank. To clarify, I was not considering placing the batteries in the bow, they would be beat all to he** and back. I was however considering placing the batteries under the console ( it appears that the batteries at one time were placed under the console)

I'm not interested in sinking ton of money in to the boat, this is more of a "get by" boat until next summer. Our 12 yr old daughter had a brain tumor removed in 2012 and we're still paying that off, once this is behind us we'll consider something newer/new.

So until then I am making my own list of easy fixes/to do's. Nothing is considered mission crititcal

 

[Drum Runner]

I wish you were closer. Atleast I could take a look at it. Put my hands on it. Maybe come up with a cost effective solution.
Measure the length and width of the inside of the console and the maximum height you can go inside the console. I can play around with the calculator.
Custom aluminum tanks are reasonably priced in the 30 gallon and under sizes and can be ordered online. You give them the dimensions and where you want the fill, vent, and sending unit and they CAD draw it and email you you the drawing for approval. Then they build it and ship it. The tank will be tested and have all of the approval stickers in place.

Or you could shop it out locally but I've always found locally was higher priced and not every local welder is going to be able to placard it.

The best option is to replace the old tank in my line of thought but its cost prohibitive in your circumstances . I can understand that.
This is where I wish you were closer. I don't mind letting some people do their own work using my tools. You save a ton of money and learn in the process. And I can continue working on my boat projects lending a hand as needed.

 

[pgarick]

For the time being I am placing my OCD on hold with the fuel tank. I am however consumed by trying to find a replacement latch for my front storage compartment.
I followed Sundrops advice with soaking for a couple of days then soaking in PB Blaster, no luck. So my search for a replacement latch continues. So far I have found the latches in a size larger, but not what I need. I believe the latch was made by TH Marine. I have called salvage yards but they claim to not have. West Marine/Overtons also no luck. If you have any suggestions they would be greatly appreciated.

 

[trigger22]

This looks pretty similar and is from TH Marine. http://www.thmarine.com/products/Li...tches/Recessed-Rotating-Lid-Locks-and-Latches

 

[pgarick]

Was hoping to replace with white but I am finding that the black latch may be the choice