Fuel tank Alum or Plastic
 

Need to replace a fuel tank (possibly both since I will be in there) which is preferred for a 33' Sonic?

WHAT ARE YOUR TANK DIMENSIONS? I HAVE A NEW PLASTIC AND USED ALUMINUM 40+ GAL ON BOTH. LOVE TO GET RID OF THEM, JUST COLLECTING DUST.
MIKE
[email protected]

Plastic tanks permeate fuel ... now, with so many plastic tanks, there is even a specification developed (by/for NMMA, I think). Its something like .4 gm/gal/day. Bottomline is you will always smell fuel due to this. Some hulls are vented better than others and minimize the amount of smell. Most of the "complaints" are remedied by adding vents to the cavity where the tank sits to dissipate the smell. Just google "fuel smell in bilge or fuel smell in ski/rod locker" and you can read for hours. :rolleyes: We now have a boat with a plastic fuel tank and can constantly smell fuel. It has been pressure checked and there are no leaks (be careful, though, anything over 3 psi can rupture the tank, only use 1-2 psi to test) . The smell with plastic tanks is common. If you do get a plastic tank, I would try to be sure it is SAE/JAE (or NMMA ?? ) certified/rated. Also, plastic tanks swell with exposure to fuel, so be sure that you account for this when installing such a tank. There are guides by companies like Moeller that tell you how much the tanks "grow" once they get saturated with fuel. FWIW.

Jett-I will measure when the boat arrives but the current tanks hold about 90 gallons.

Glen is the 33' going to make a comeback.
RB

I had a 1985 33' Sonic and the tanks were indeed 90 gal capacity.