Yup, I'm still out here and as Art mentioned, spending some major time cutting both gas tanks out of the floor The way this tank deal was done still irks me, but I'll be glassing the floor back in tomorrow! Get some new carpet and then I'm BACK on the water. Find me a 34 pitch prop and go for the high teens

Craig

mlt, mind filling us in on the gas tank happenings?
being a cat owner also i would be interested in what happened and get some isight on what to look for.
I hope this is noting contagious with Advantages cats, but knowing what and possibly why would allow some of us a heads up.
Thanks in advance.

I'm sure Craig will respond but you could go to the HotBoat.net forums and look under Cats and Tunnels....do a search. There was quite an extensive discussion on this issue.

MnFastBoat, I'll try and be brief. Send me an e-mail if you want to see some pictures! Anyway, each sponson has a fuel tank mounted in it. The tank is bolted to a forward bulhead and a rear bulkhead. The tank sits on three strips of carpet that are about 6" wide. They run from the side of the boat to the bottom of the sponson on the floor. The back bulkhead has a drain hole near the bottom to drain any incidental water back to the bilge pump in each sponson. The carpet in mine got wet because the drain hole is about 1/2" above the bottom of the boat. Then when the white gel coat was shot all over the engine bay, that hole was closed up about 50% from the bottom. So now if some water got in that back bilge area and sloshed forward or you got caught in some rain, the water won't all drain out of the tank compartment. The water soaks into the carpet and starts corroding the tank away. I therorized this because when I cut the other tank out fromthe port side, the tank had no signs of pitting on the bottom. Why? because the drain hole was just about on the bottom and 100% open. As a side note, on my boat the bilge pump sits on a piece of 1/2 plywood glued to the floor. So all of the water would never be pumped out. If you were on the lake for a couple of days, a portion of that water will not drain until you jack the front of the boat way up and pull the drain plugs. Just what I think happened. I have been taking good photos all along the way for interested parties and any other poor soul who runs into this problem and wants to fix it themselves or show the shop how the tanks mounted prior to firing up the old Sawz-all!!! Advantage did give me 2 new tanks for free and said they would also help with the carpet that was destroyed cutting the tanks out.

Craig

[email protected].

Hey Craig,
Post a couple of pictures! Would like to see what you went through.

Hey Craig,
I had to replace the tanks on my 26 redline cat a few years back. I had Viscious One from this board do it, but all I did was remove, and re-install the interior for him, and to save me a few bucks on the repair. After seeing the floor cut out I'm glad I didn't do it myself, but I'm no glass guy, and it came out great, as I'm sure yours will too. It all went back together fine, and the new floor looks great.

Craig, thanks for the info.
Now I have added another item to my todo list when I pull the motors this spring.
Will be checking all the drain holes.
I would never be able to do anything like this. Am truly sorry it happened to you. Or anyone for that mater.

It was a messy job, but not a tough one. Once you sat and looked at how it was put togther it helps a lot. I think what I put back in with the extra supports and tabs it's at least as strong as it was before, without a lot of excess weight. A friend got me a good deal on a beautiful piece of marine plywood, it's going to be a shame to glass it! 7 ply vs. the original 5 ply, and the new stuff did not have one knot in it where the original does. I sat the tanks on some of that foam they make wet suits out of. I also had the tanks coated with that stuff they use for spray in bed liners, had them use a smoother mix. Won't absorb any water, and needless to say opened up the drain hole.

The boat needed new carpet anyway, the original stuff only lasted 4 years before it was like walking on gray wood! I'll glass it all back in Sunday and drop it off for the carpet Monday.

Anyone know how to reduce the size of some jpegs? Mine are still about 400-500k, too big to post here. I saved them and reduced quality, but they won't go down anymore in file size. I'd like to post a couple of before, during and after!!!

Craig

Craig,
if you want, send them to me (email). I'll reduce them for you.

Art