fuel tank removal
 

upon removing carpet and lifting the hatch on the rear tank I found the foam surrounding the tank to be saturated with water,. So I think I need to remove that tank and reinstall with new foam.
Are there any tricks or is it as straight forword as it appears . 1976 28ss thanks for any insight

I also have a vintage Cigarette, 1977.You may want to replace the tank if you are going to all of the trouble of removing it!Older Cigarette's are nortorious for leaking fuel tanks.I used a piece of 1 1/4"copper tubing with the end cut open for about 3" up one side and spread open to dig the foam out.

Good Luck
Rob

You can also use I think it is Accetone to melt the foam. Just pour it in there and watch it melt away. This will save you some time after you get the BULK of it out.

Jon

be carefull I know if you melt styrofoam in diesel you can make a napalm-like substance (so i've heard)

28 SS Typically people will replace the foam and the tank if there is a fuel leak.
I would suggest to leave it alone until you run into this condition.
Boats are typically wet especially if you store it outside.
If you feel you need to pull the tank it is not a small project.
I'm not sure but I believe you may have two tanks one one each side of the bulkhead in the center of the hull.
To get the fuel tank out is one thing, once it is out are you going to test it? If you are how are you going to test it? If you put pressure to the tank, how much pressure are you going to pump into it? Be real careful here, if you put too much pressure into it you will blow the baffles out of the tank and have another big repair on your hands. And when you reinstall it precisley how are you going to do it. You need to space the tank off of the bottom of the hull to a particular dimension, what is that? And then you have to install the foam. You need to have the hull warm and the tank anchored down solidly before you kick the foam. If you do not anchor the tank down it will rise with the foam. You also need to use a gasoline oil resistant foam, otherwise you are wasting your time.
Good luck with the project, but do keep in mind that moisture is typical with most boats but fuel in the bilge is deadly.
Post what you deside to do.
Good luck with the project.
Brian

If my memory is right it's 5 lb. of air pressure is all you need,easy to do.The hard part for us was the removal,had the whole boat spended from the rafters just by the tank (21' parmount)and it took my brother and his 220 lb. friend jumping up and down on deck before it broke loose.Hope it's not so bad for you and you get her fixed soon.:cool:

Depending on the depth the of your tank you can use a hand saw to cut the foam around the edges.
Then you just have to pry it up and out.
Chances are if its wet, your going to find corrosion on the bottom of the tank and if you start trying to clean up you will pork right through the thin corroded aluminum.
Been there ,done that, time for a new tank.

28ss
just did this job on my 1978 cig, nasty job. the tank can look ok bit have little pitted spots under the foam. if you go to the trouble to pull it up from the floor [no easy task] as there is no good way to dig out the foam under the tank, i would replace it.Ron Harris

I have four saddle tanks that were foamed in. I also thought about melting the crap with denatured alcohol or acetone. The sides of the tanks are jammed against bulkheads, and the foam is high density in those areas. I used a flat ended crobar to dig the bulk of the crap out.

I have one tank left, and may try a pressure washer with slice through with a thin stream, about 2500 PSI. If that works I will be happy to shopvac the water out.

Good Luck!!!!!
Bulldog aka Ronnie

PS- my tanks were full of small pits from water contact. I may also try to coat the replacements with epoxy paint. I need to do this soon too!!!

Update

So far I have been able to remove the foam from one side using crowbar/cut tubing . The tank will slide side to side so it is loose .
The problem I have now is the tank can't be lifted straight up. the
floor is in the way. So I have to get the foam out from the front and back to rock/tip tank out. For this I have to acetone that foam out .
There is not enough room to chip out foam. I will have tank inspected maybe replaced if necessary by the way this is single tank in center of stringers approx. 50 gals.

Thanks for all the input.

Don't count on the acetone working if it's the expanding type foam you are using it on. It didn't work on mine.

To get out a 23" deep "V" bottomed tank in a compartment with only 1" of foamed space on the sides was a real challange.

I used and electric drill with old augar bits of the "brace and bit" type to route out the foam. Cut off the bit tapered square ends and used two 12" long 1/4" drill extension shafts. To suck out the debris used vacuum cleaner with a klugged narrow, anteater wand.

After clearing foam out of the sides and ends, laid lenght of 2" angle iron along one top side of tank and pryed against it to rock tank free

That was the easy part. The tank was 1" wider than the hatch opening and rotating, if possible, would only have made it wider. Found a solution to remove the tank intack that avoided having to cut up the deck.

Please be careful, most any chemical that would melt the foam is very flamable. NO source of spark. Have fire extingiuser close

Be sure to post that in Packin Airs Microwave thread, LOL

Good luck with the tanks and foam, as mmwalters said, be sure to have a fire extinguisher close by. if the stuff is flamable, it probably isnt good for the skin or eyes either.

I used a hand saw (cross cut wood type) to run down the sides of my tank. That loosened the side but couldn't get the bottom to free up, had to use a fork lift and chain on lifting rings (I was lucky they where there) to pop them out., almost lifted the boat off the trailer but they did come out. I did not foam new tanks in. Old tanks did not leak but severly pitted and corroded in spots that foam had small pockets of water. I don't want to ever go through that again. Find an alternative method of holding tanks if you can.

The foam is polyurethane, and as far as I know there is nothing that will dissolve it. There is a solvent that is used to flush out foam packaging machines, but it barely softens the stuff. Before learning this I tried acetone, meth chloride and just baout anything else I could think of. The HP water sounds pretty good, but if I remember correctly we tried that and my 11 HP machine would not touch it. I think it would work, but more pressure would be needed.

The typical tank installation where it is surrounded by 100 percent foam is a invitation to accelerated problems. It leaves no way for dampness to be vented. After seeing the pitting caused of lack of ventilation, when reinstalling the tank I used100% foam only on the bottom. On the sides only foamed the corner areas from bottom to top. On the midpoints of the sides and ends made vertical foam pads. That gave good support but left plenty of air space to ventilate moisture .

I had removed my tank for inspecting and testing. Because it was still useable sandblasted it with a $20 Chinese kit. Where needed filled spots with industrial epoxy then 2 coats of industrial grade ply mastic expoxy mud like paint.