Did you fill the tank up full before putting it away for the winter? The same thing happened to me about 3 weeks ago. I came down to the garage to detail the cockpit and when I opened the door I could not believe how strong the fumes were! The problem was I overfilled the tanks when putting it away. Gas was trickling out of the overflow valves and down the side of the boat. When I opened the fill covers the pressure just about blew them across the garage. I then siphoned out 5 gallons of fuel from each tank and it fixed the problem. Even if fuel is not spilling out of the overflow it might be over filled. It was a stupid mistake that could have been deadly.

I will be leaving it outdoors with the deck plates off and the hatch half open. It is in an area where it is in plain view, nothing to steal. It had 1/4 tank of fuel so I drained it down into my cars but it filled both of them up. I may have been hasty because after my last post I really have to try to smell it now. When I return I may rip the floor up and inspect or replace the tank. As you can see from the pic my boat is carpeted on wood. Has anyone ever done this before? Do I just start by tearing the carpet out? How is the floor mounted? Screws? bonded? Under the rear seat there are a couple of soft spots so it wouldn't hurt to do it anyway. Where would I find marine plywood to replace it with? The boat is a 1998 with 114 hours on it so is it time?

Thanks much for all the advice.
I head that some BA Boeing 777s have Internet connections. I hope it's true because on a 14 hour flight it sure would be nice to have OSO in the air.

Take care
Roby

I would get a professional like Troutly to come in and check it out with a lighter. Go to lunch, and when you come back, if Troutly is still there, Id say No problem.

Just my .02

I just went through a similar situation. First time i overfilled the tanks and it leaked out of the sender gasket, fixed that. Then just recently I topped the tanks off, send gasket was OK, but still smell gas fumes. I put a coffee can under the boat drain plug and washed down the deck with water and could see small dropletts of fuel floating on top of the water in the coffee can. I pulled the tank in question and found a very small crack in a weld that would open up under pressure and allow fuel to escape.
Tank was less than a year old so I called Mfg. they said they would fix or replace.

Well I didn't smell the fuel anymore but that wasn't good enough. I want to pull the floor up and inspect it. Once I ripped the carpet up I noticed the rotten wood under the back seat. It was still wet. Anyone have ideas on how to pull this floor up?

Roby

pic 2

Dont start the boat, rip out the floor and tank and install new!

Robyw1: I am going through this very thing with my boat. I will try and get pictures up tomarrow for ya to look at. You have to take a sawzall and cut down the side of the stringer. Then you lift that out and make a new one and glass the new one in. Lots of steps missing in there but if you want to give me a call (978) 985-0639 and I will help ya along were I can.

Jon

The wood floor is most likely bonded in a slapshod manner to the stringers underneath (where they slap soaked strips of cloth wadded up across the stringers and roll resin onto the wood and plop it in place).

If you have large areas of floor you want to replace, then set your skilsaw 1/32" deeper than the wood and make cuts across the perimeter of the area you want to replace. Then cut that section up into "strips" so you can begin prying them out. As you get pieces tore out you will be able to better see what you need to do.

I've replaced floors in a Wellcraft before.

I got pieces of Delrin plastic (cause that is what I had leftover at the shop) and thru bolted them on both sides of the stringers with stainless bolts, washers, and nylok nuts (and silicone caulk). Then I was able to use stainless wood screws from the top to hold down my new floor. I drilled thru into the plastic and screwed down from above. I did not have to worry about sealing the screw hole into the stringer and the new floor was easily removeable.

And I got cheap and did not use marine ply for the replacement. I painted it both sides with 2 coats of resin after test fitting it. Regular CDX plywood.

That was in 1985. The boat is still owned by a friend and the floor has remained solid as a rock.

You, however, may want to use marine ply if you have a good source for it.