[QUOTE=Jupiter Sunsation;3224116]Most builders simply don't have that kind of cash laying around right now.

QUOTE]

That is the problem. Also, it is a can of worms that no one wants to open. Any way you look at it, its not right. At the bare minimum, there should be some assistance from the factory.

Yes and no. Why were the bladders installed in the first place. Cost, weight savings, size? Cig refused them and stuck with aluminum as did other manufacturers. What was the real benefit at the time?

Good point!

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 ;)

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 .

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?

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.

be willing to bet they come with a disclaimer now.

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

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