SO what do you do if wanter gets under the foor of the boat where the tank is since there is no draind id like to stop this before it happens to mine. Its clean almost looks brand new inside new interior sunpan rear seat upper and lower. Fresh water boat. Hope to keep it just as nice. Sounds liek a lot of rot problems could occure

The forward bilge pump on the boat I pictured above is located under the step when you enter the cuddy. After your in and close the cabin door, you can lift up the step (It's mounted on a hinge) and look at it. On this boat. that was also where the filter assembly is for the AC unit. With all the foam around the fuel tank, once it was wet it was practically impossible to ever dry out with out digging it all out. When we rebuilt everything, we did not put foam back in.

jon audiofn on here has a BIG thread about redoing bulkheads /stringers/ gas tank removing from his 302 boat look it up theres hours of pics and posts.

Thanks AIR TIME for directing to audiofn's thread.

Prater,
That is impressive. From what you are saying, there is no place for the water to run threw the bulk head between the fuel tank compartment and the engine bilge, Correct? So any water that gets into the fuel tank compartment will sit there for ever and eventually work its way to the foreword cabin.

Thats what it looks like so far, I will know for sure when I get the center floor up and look at the tank. It looks like a simple bulkhead and hose would have kept this problem from happening.

I have a 1985 357 that I'm dealing with a similar problem. I have a leak in my tank somewhere and am trying to remove it. Front cabin bulkhead is also rotted from water getting into the tank area. No external drain between tank cavity and rear engine compartment or cabin bilge area. Seems like a design oversite by Formula.

I have a 1985 357 that I'm dealing with a similar problem. I have a leak in my tank somewhere and am trying to remove it. Front cabin bulkhead is also rotted from water getting into the tank area. No external drain between tank cavity and rear engine compartment or cabin bilge area. Seems like a design oversite by Formula.

The problem is that they did not glass the tops of the bulkheads, and they did nto compartmentalize all the stringer components. So if one stringer starts to rot they ALL rot. When I put my stringers back in I glassed each piece in individually so this could not happen again. The way the water gets in is it runs down the dash area, down the carpeted bulkhead and onto the tops of the stingers. Takes a long time but eventually you get rot. Nasty rot. When I put mine back together I kept it with no drain going into the bilge or any other way. I figured better to keep the water from ever making it into that area. If water ever gets to the gas tank there is another problem.

Audiofn: I understand what you are saying. I sat up late reading through your 'stringer replacement' thread (all 17 pages)! Impressive resto job you did. My hat's off to you! I did not sleep well after reading that, envisioning me having to do something similar to my boat!

As an update, yesterday I finished draining the gas out of my tank and cutting the front bulkhead under the step area almost flush with the bilge floor. I was able to then pry the tank loose from the foam under it and started to tilt it up from the front, but now, it is stuck in the deck opening, which is not cut large (long) enough to allow the front of the tank to be tilted upward to get it out! I ws going with this approach because about 6 inches of it sits under the rear engine firewall, so it can not be lifted straight up. I'm now contemplating cutting the tank into sections to remove it. (I really hate to cutting on a fuel tank!) Any suggestions on what to use? I was thinking air die grinder to eliminate sparks from an electric motor.

It's the fumes that will ignite. So if you fill the tank with water while you cut the top off, that will cut down the area for the fumes. Once the top is off, drain the water and finish dismantling the tank. Air tools are good, usually the tanks are aluminum so you shouldn't get any sparking.

Is your current tank leaking?