Fuel tank leaking
 

I have a 2005 39 Outerlimits Quattro,which i purchased brand new in 05.Ever since day one i always noticed a gas smell,which i was told was common with an Outerlimits.Over the past couple of seasons i have noticed the smell getting stronger,always coming from the cabin.My mechanic and myself noticed yesterday a small amount of gasoline in the shower bilge.I was told some years back that Outerlimits uses the vacuum bag fuel cells.After speaking to Outerlimits yesterday i was told that since the ethanol has been increased in gas,that the bags are deteriorating.I was also surpised to hear that they expect me to pay for this to be corrected.My answer to this was that i didn't have a choice of what type of tank should go in this boat,so why should i be held responsible for this?I was also told by some people with first hand knowledge that this has been a common occurance with the 39's.I was also dumfounded to why Outerlimit's did not send letter's out to their customers making them aware of this issue.Is Outerlimit's more concerned with their "bottomline",than the safety of their customers???Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.Thank you.

At the same time how can you expect a business to fix something because of a change in fuel which was completely out of their hands??

Thats like saying 10 years from now if you bought a 2015 Gas powered vehicle and in 2020 gas no longer existed and electric cars ruled the road. And you want Ford to refund you your money.

Situation sucks but on a six year old boat that a company has nothing to do with it, I dont think you have a complaint.

Tanks have to be replaced/repaired on all the older Skaters too. Like soldier4402 said, it's not like OL knew gasoline was going to be re-formulated. I do find it weird that you had a small of gas all along and that it is common. I have not heard that about OL's.

don't think it was limited 2 39's!!! have a friend w/ a 42 that had the prob!!!?????????

But I would say maybe OL should have at least sent a warning message or something of that nature.

But with that said when does the responsibility for a product from a manufacture end. Your boat is 6 years old clearly out of any warranty. How long would you really expect a company to be liable for something, specially something out of their control?? If you smelled fuel the day you bought it you should have brought it back.

Boats are not cars where they have 5 year warranties, boat constantly break and people use them poorly. There is no way one could expect a boat maker to stand behind everything on a boat after five years.

Believe me ,after 25 years of boatingi know boats constantly break .The issue is that they chose that type of tank because they wanted a 39 foot boat that could run 100 miles an hour! If they put an aluminum tank in ,the top end numbers would have make the boat harder to market.To me ,that was a chance that they took,that did not pan out.

IMO I would think OL would do the labor for free and just have you buy the new parts. Since you bought the boat new. If you are the second or third owner it would be understandable for them to charge.

Thank you CLA, i actually left the owner of the company(who i have known for 11 years through the poker run circuit) a message actually saying that.

I strongly disagree. Outlerlimits should have at a minimum notified all their owners that a serious life threatening prolem was occuring. Same with Skater.

Now, if outerlimits were half as good a company as some of the higherend production boats, they would replace every single one. By law they are responsible for defects up to 5 years after construction begins. This boat is barely out of that range. Tiara had a fuel tank recall in 1999-2000, mostly due to bilge water causing excessive corrosion on extended range aluminum tanks. They recalled the affected models all the way back to 1980. We as a boating community should demand higher standards instead of accepting lowers ones that will end up getting us killed in a 6 year boat, solely for the reason of saving a few pounds. I don't know how they sleep at night.

You have to replace bladders at best every 5 yrs. They are nice for the weight savings but need constant maintenance. I can't tell you how many bladders we have replaced over the yrs but its quite a few.

The boat didnt have a default with it. The gas does. If you poured a cleaner on the deck that ate all the paint off, would you expect the builder to repair the deck free of charge? Its not REQUIRED to run ethanol mixed fuels. It was the owners choice to put a fuel in that has changed drastically without checking to see if he had the proper tank for it. OL couldn't have known that fuel was going to change to something that would dissolve the material they use in their tanks.

I feel for ya, it definately sucks having to spend the coin to upgrade your tanks to keep up with the new fuel standards but it is what it is. I have a few diesel trucks that will be yanked off the road in a couple of years because they builders didn't install smog compliant equipment back in '04. That doesn't mean I expect them to continually upgrade the truck to meet the new changes that keep showing up.

Your missing the point. There was no defects in the tank. Its the gas. OL cant control what the market produces or the owner puts into his boat. If your buyer of that kind of boat that cost that kind of ching, you should be aware of what it was made with.

I feel for this guy and it sucks. I can clearly understand if the boat was 2-3 years old, but its not. The boat was bought to do a certain thing that is go 100+ and they used a rubber tank to maybe save 100lbs-200lbs. To me to use a rubber tank in a non race boat to save a couple hundred lbs to maybe get 1 or two MPH is assanine, but thats just me.

Well said, as much as I hate big business and think the majority are crooks. There is only so much they liable for.

Good point, but these fuels have been around for a while now. Ethanol has been in gas since atleast 2007. That would of been year 2 on his boat, and should have been recalled IMO. Don't expect quality standards to improve much if we aren't going to hold these kind of builders up to a higher standard.

I just did a tank and there not that heavy . I think all the OL's are getting aluminum now.

I don't know if Outerlimits should or should not pay for this, but what does this say about their engineering? I would be disappointed if this was my boat. The reason you buy an Outerlimits is that you didn't want a Bayliner. If I was building a boat in 2007, durability of the fuel tank with ethanol fuels would have been way up there on the priority list.
Outerlimits builds a beautiful, high tech boat, but they missed the mark on this. In my business, I would take care of this because I would personally be embarrased.

The boat in question is a 2005.

Fwiw, my 2000 37 OL has aluminum tanks, but it's also a heavier boat all around than your 2005.

If you got two boats of this caliber and worrying about a fuel tank. I wish I had your worries

Still the tank and boat was built before this kind of fuel was out there. If companies did fix every little thing, products would cost a lot more. When your computer is out of date after 6 months do does HP buy you a new one? I dont think so.

IMVHO if I had a six figure costing boat I sure as heck wouldnt be putting ethanol in the dang boat.

I cant see the tank leaking being OL's responsibility , because they did not manufacture the tank, however I think that the right thing to do is that OL should fix the boat at whatever their costs are. Meaning their cost on the new tank , plus whatever it costs ol to pay their employee to do the repair.

You state that since DAY 1 you noticed the smell.
Maybe there is more to this than the obvious.


I agree that the change in fuel that may be the cause of this cant be the responsibility of OL.

But saying that, I think that OL ( when they first discovered the effects of ethanol on their tanks) should have sent a bulletin to all their customers and to all the boat dealers that may be dealing with their used boats stating the problem.

The heads up would surely have been a good corporate move for safety reasons and also would have given those affected a chance to remedy their problem during non boating months so that they didnt lose a boating season that in a lot of cases is fairly short.

Joey,

If your fuel tanks are leaking, I would not use the boat. If you're really not sure, call Ronnie... him and I will come down and take a look.

He didn't say he owned 2 of those boats. Re-read his post.

I would be pissed.

The bladder manufacturers when I talked to them all said that they only last about 6 years with 10% and less life span with more ethenol. So I guess you can question why OL would use them, I am not sure at the time that your boat was made that OL would have known that these things did not last as long, I am sure they thought that they would last longer then the alluminum.

i think they use the bladders not for weight savings aluminum tanks can crack and leak too my 3 cents wourth

There is a 2006 at LOTO that a guy had the tanks changed also in his 39. He also smelled gas from day one. The ACL tanks are really for race boats and there is only about a 70 lb.weight savings over alum. Get someone that is good to do it;you have to cut the floor open.

In many states the ethanol fuels started in 2000-2001. Mo for example.

Agree,at least the could have made the floor with a removable section so it won't have to be cut out,sorry thats a disgrace.

bada-bing, General consensus, listed above, seems to hold Ethanol accountable for your dilemma.

You are in position to collaborate with OL, Reggie Fountain (He posted), other manufactures, most of the OSO members and others effected.

The collaborated group would cite your specific dilemma when contacting Congress for a solution. The question to Congree; "What Do We Do About This" is straight forward and not only deserves response, but answers.

Short term, this suggestion may not solve your problem. However, OL and others involved with boats and Ethanol should recognize your dilemma as an opportunity. The opportunity for OL is, subject to reversing the Marine Ethanol, the boating industry should regain traction. The general economy is one thing, disparity situations like yours, is another.

Were I, at the helm of OL or any other effected Logo, negative cash flow negates customer service. (That is, if the linear line of growth is down, with no foreseeable relief.) Companies cut their loss and run, all the time.

On the other hand, as OL and others collaborate, it may be seen as light at the end of the tunnel and ultimately support your negotiation with OL.

Hey, we met last week at Ocean Beach, i have the 2005 blue/silver 39 O.L. My boat had the bladder tanks as well, the prior owner had them removed and took the opportunity to install a new cockpit. The floor does have to come out, icluding the back seat. Another O.L. owner withn our boat, "Whataride" (scott) had the same problem and had the bladder tanks and cockpit done down in F.L., you may want to reach out to him. It could be a nice option if things become acrimonious with the O.L. factory. I would not expect restitution from O.L. at this late date. P.M. if you want to discuss further. -Frank

AS I recall.....:rolleyes:

Jimmy Johns (yes the sub master) had a fuel leak in his brand new 42 OL 05-06 and had to cut the floor out to repair when it was down at LOTO. Not sure if bladders or alum.

I assume OL paid for that in full. :popcorn:

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2.../OLquality.jpg

MILWAUKEE 2005

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...0285Medium.jpg

Probably should have gotten with O.L. seven years ago whe this condition began. I sure could not operate a boat with gasoline fumes/smell for that long.

As a former employee of Ol. We did not know of any issues with atl fuel cells back in 04 Every boat built with the cell in them had a fuel smell from permeation especially if the full cover was left on. Once the fuel changed it caused havoc not only in Ol's but in other high end boats.
In short dont leave fuel untreated in a bladder or tank for extended amount of time and not expect issues down the rode

I have owned over 12 boats, of them a hustler broken tank. Then 3 skaters all needed tanks leaked out sides. Have had 3 outerlimits lucky so far no problems.You cant beat up any boat manufacture they dont intentionally build sub standerd products. Skater has had over 100 tank failures and no one says much.

How about Yellowfin, and Bertram just to add a few.

You smell gas in a boat and you do nothing??? You smell gas in your new lambo and still drive it??

Come on.....

Ya. I Agree. Cant Get On On Post Stuff That Is Not Totally Fair Thats All.

U old fart, U do come up w/ some reasonable logic 1's in awhile!!! I agree!:lolhit: