Jupiter Sunsation

Good point!

offshoredrillin

I dont disagree, however when saccharin was introduced as the newest sweetener, it took years to find out how bad it was, yet people still use it, you can liken it to virtually anything out there from food, to electronics, cars even in the film I use. As technology advances, what is cutting edge today may be obsolete tomorrow. How one builder decides to use certain products honestly cant be factored as the general public has no clue as to the reason one decided. Hypothetically suppose the mnf of cigs tanks said "I need your account I will do the tanks at the same cost of the others just to keep the company afloat", now in hindsight that paid off. ultimately this is just another extremely small vein of how our government screws things up for the "common good". It doesn't make it right, it makes it the way it is. How long before ethanol starts eating away at hoses and such on cars? it rotted away my fuel line on my Harley over the course of one winter...

I guess my main point is the problem isn't so much the tanks, its the corrosive corn fuel and farmers lobby to subsidize it and force it on us. IE: big gov. oh and we need health care too lol

RunninHotRacing163.1

Cmon now Jass do you really expect every manu to redo all these affected tanks when they had no idea about Ethanol being added and what or when will they add to the fuel next .these tank redos are small price to pay compared to what we spend on these boats and part of maintenance .maybe Osama will do a stimulus package for this since its the phuckin ethanol thats causing it .

pm203

They are still selling bladders. Have they been modified for ethanol use or are they still going to sucumb to the same fate as the older bladders?

SS930

Point well taken and one I thought of as well.

The only issue I see with this argument (and why I didn't bring it up) is who in the world would put a fuel cell/liner in a ultra high performance boat that wasn't compatible with all types of fuels.... Race gas, alky, diesel, etc??? I know any fuel cell I've ever bought for racing (cars) has always been rated for alky and other types of non std fuels. We're talking about boats built to possibly run 1500+ hp engines, the use of non-std fuels should obviously have be taken into consideration. The tanks should certainly be built to run av gas, high octane, diesel, alky, kero, etc. I can see the argument if we're talking about house boats or cruisers, but in this case we're talking about carbon fiber ultra high performance race boats, these things should have real fuel cells in them that are compatible with all types of fuels, including alcohols!

And saying the builders probably dont have the money is no excuse IMO... at least that's never been a defense I've ever heard stand up in court!

IMO it's the manufacturer of the tanks that should be responsible if they were rated for alkies, or the high performance boat manufacturer if they spec'd a lesser cell/liner as they should know these boats could and would be using some exotic engines running potentially exotic fuels.

just my 2 cents.

offshoredrillin

be willing to bet they come with a disclaimer now.

pm203

But, why would anyone use them. What is the benefit over aluminum?

Smarty

Well put! I like your analysis, it is on the money.

37ol

I have a 97 ol and I replaced 2 atl saddle tanks in engine compartment about a year and a half ago. I saw this thread and it got me thinking so I just called them. They asked what color they were, mine were a tannish color. They said they have a new material ,which is black, that holds up to these newer fuels. Was told that it is more rigid and could limit ease of replacement for certain applications. Was told that the 10% fuel will seperate when left in tank and cause a higher concentration at the bottom of the tank and ''could cause problems''. It was suggested that I drain the tanks for winter storage, just what I want to do..........

cowisl

Weight? Also, the foam in them prevents sloshing.