Helllllllllllppppppppp please 89 tank and hose replacement
 

George had said they foam the hose in and not to touch it 8 years ago.
Hose is crumbling now so I thought I would put a fire extinguisher box in the
liner to gain access to the hose and foam. So I drilled a 2 in hole forward
of the hose to take a look. There is a glass partition between the hole and the hose.......

Does anyone have pics of an 89 20 sf in these areas?

Anyone know folks who worked the line in Sarasota back in the day?
Any and all ideas are welcome.

verytiredfrustratedsandman

Any shops restored one from 87- 90s?

I have an '89 as well and had to pull my hose out with the bucket on my tractor lol! There wasn't any foam around the hose but it did have a nice kink in it where the liner was sitting on it. No idea how I'm going to get the new hose fished in there :confused:

Thanks Otter.

Maybe use one size smaller in diameter and wire it to the old hose and fish it in while pulling the old one out?

George was right when he said leave it alone 8 years ago, but it has failed now....

Shazbot.

Hey Sandy, is your fuel fill located even with front of consul, port side? My brother had his arse kicked on his 88 18 SF while replacing tank, fill and vent two years ago. I was not there, but can ask him. His memory is MUCH better than mine!

Vezo

Yeah Otter said the liner crushed the hose about 1/3 - 1/2 its size and that is the problem.
Just off the phone w Ole and Don Herman.

YIKES
Gonna drill a hole in in fill cap and put an eye in it and use the forklift.
Wire the new hose to the old and lots of soapy water to fish the new one in.

How many ft of hose? a few coat hangers wired together to get length?

Not sure sure how to answer that. I think I remember my brother removing a S#it ton of foam below forward deck, I'm guessing where fuel fill is pinched.

Do remember FossilMan is a member here and, I believe a family member of sunshine tanks there in Fla.. Cool guy, very helpful and reasonable. He told me $10/gallon is a BS way of quoting tank prices. Good Luck.

I replaced hoses and tank on a 20' 1986, PM me if you want bunch of pictures.

PMs sent

So I am putting a pie plate under the fill to gain access
to the hose clamps. Pull the fill hose out the pie hole
Chain the fill to fork lift w gentle pressure and pray.

Thank you Tracker!!!
New tank should be here tomorrow

So last night I straightened a 1/4 " eye bolt.

This am I got a cast eye and put lots of soap down and around the hose.
The hose itself was hitting the underside of the cap and lifting the starboard side of the boat off the bunk with clamps removed...

More soap there and the hose let go. So I put the hose through the 9" pie plate hole and tried again. The hose is moving well now. Burned up my cut off wheel last night so I will Sawzall the old hose back and wire the new and old together to pull the new with the old.

Tank still not here.

Will wrap new hose w 3 " plastic cling wrap and soap it up for the pull.

Feeling much better tonight. Thought I might have to cut more holes.

Yum beer.

Sounds like you're having fun, that's all that matters:D

I feel your pain. Replacing mine currently and the hose is as hard a brick. Not much flexing.

if you can reach down to the corner were you have the deck and it makes that hard 90 degree bend I used WAX paper to shield the inside of the bend felt like if I got too much soap on the fuel line it might make it hard to pull on when i got it close to the tank . the wax paper made all the difference for me to get it around as there is no real radius to pull around.

I can reach that far now. Thanks for the tip.
The hose is petrified rock. Can't believe it hasn't
crumbled/failed.

If I remember when I changed mine (23') the fill and vent were wired together and the hose has wire as a stiffener.

Hose has wire reinforcement
New tank came w brass pickup elbow and copper p u
Tubes. Copper???

Use old aluminum pu's ?
They are I excellent shape.

Sandy - my 88 18SF had its tank replaced. I may still have the receipt… It was around $1500. There was a pie plate access right in front of the fill hose. I had no idea how hard those tracker tank hoses were to get out!

Yeah Danny, the pie plate is necessary.

that's not good...

gonna cause a galvanic reaction....


bronze fitting - they need to be separated from aluminum with a stainless insert - or,use aluminum fittings...


not sure where you got that tank manufactured,but,they should known better than that...

Tell me about it

Elbows are brass. Today class we are going to make batteries.
Lead solder
Brass
Copper
And aluminum.

And these folks do this for a living?

RDS built the original tank but had a 2 month wait...
Sunshine is 6 wks.

when I had my shop:

ONLY tank manufacture is used was patriot marine,waretown nj

it was always a turn around of right about 2 weeks,at the most !

EVERY tank was PERFECT ! WEMA fuel sender / pick ups were provided

i'd run up,drop old one off and pick up the replacement

very simple process !


the more I learn about supplies/parts in florida - the more I shake my head in disbelief !

As I said when we first met, you must get word of mouth recs for everything.

So, the chat with the builder was fun today.

Why did you use brass elbows soldered to copper pick up tubes in aluminum?

I have been doing this for 30 years.

So you have been making batteries for 30 yrs?

I have had tanks come back after 25 years and you can always remove the fittings.
You cant do that with aluminum.

Have you heard of Tef Gel?

No.

Great stuff for dissimilar metals like SS and aluminum.

I have been doing this for 30 years.

You mentioned that.

Did you pack the tank for shipping?

No one of my guys did.

The pallet was 1/3 the length of the tank and then wrapped in cardboard and 2 straps.
I made a claim with the shipping company.

What was wrong with the way is was shipped?
I`ve shipped tanks cross country that way and never had a problem.
This was just cross state.

It looks like the fill fitting got pushed down and the fill hose will lay on top of the tank
and rub the epoxy off the corner and top of the tank.

Well the 90 cut may not be exactly perfect.

It would be 2 45 cuts and that is kind of important as rubber has a high carbon content.

Can you send me pictures?

Not until Monday, the tank is at General Sheet Metal getting new pickups.

Why are you getting new pick ups

I don't like galvanic corrosion.

I have never had a problem and I have made thousands of tanks.
You can`t get aluminum pickups out. Mine come right out.

I got my 26 year old PU out with just a wrench and some muscle.
No heat. No penetrating oil. I`ll send you pics Monday.

Oh Boy. That seriously sucks. Sorry Bro. My buddy is a professional welder (over 30 years, haha). He took a serious look at the tank I removed from the 79 MA. Says we can do this. Need to find supplier of all fittings. Dismantle old, or original?, to learn about baffles. Then pressure test to 5 pounds have it Robert Certified. That's the plan. Good luck Sandy. Convo with your builder makes for a better read than Saturday morning cartoons!!!

Vezo

Well, I am a walking cartoon and can voice many of our favorites.

General has given their blessing on the welds and work done.
They will make it what I want and are a pleasure to work with.

Mine was tested at 5 lbs. General said 2-3 is fine.
They didn't like plug welds on top of the baffles but said they would not
cause corrosion issues...

CG said there is no ABYC on rec boats, but they would flag his pickups on
any for hire vessel. Only alum or ss is Comm ABYC.

Hey Bro, think he might sell you two pickups, one sealed, a 90* fill, vent and sending unit mount, all Aluminum for my new tank? That'd be friggin awesome.

If he wants to sell a GOOD sending unit as well, would need to be about 7.5 inches, same for each pickup.

use a WEMA sender - NEVER had one fail !


ANY good welding/fabrication shop will be able to make up pick up tubes - from aluminum...

me,i like internal pick ups !

tank coating:

clean,scuff sand,clean again,followed by a chemical etch prime,then coat it in interprotect 2000 - correct thickness.set the tank on strips of starboard."rough up" the starboard and glue it down to the hull - AFTER you test set the tank,to determine if the tank sits level....

this is the way to go !

They did etch ,prime, and coal tar epoxy

The p ups just raised a big red flag.
And the shipping

Put a v notch in the bottom of the pickup.

Would you happen to have a photo of a V- Notch P/U and screen?

Vezo, Part II

No screens for me. Let the filter do its job.
Pm me your number and I`ll text one to you.

I like 3/8 ID aluminum tubes with an upside down V in the bottom of the tube.

This allows flow if you pick up a leaf of drop a piece of foil in the tank.

I have not posted many pics in a good while now.
I have a battery back up case on my phone and the port is only for charging.
Grrr. I took it apart when I first got it and broke a cheap tab so I am afraid
of doing more damage.

Tank is out and fill hose as well. The coffin is wet so a new one will be made
next week as friends are visiting from Vahmont this weekend.

Zig only wants a Sailfish, Swordfish, and a Wahoo.
No problem.....hah.

I am considering making some tanks from fiberglass (an entirely new topic :)) but I am looking for a supplier for aluminum tanknow fittings. Fittings will be welded to mounting plates that will go on the glass tanks. Can anyone point me to a fittings supplier? Need pick up, vent/fill, and a sender plate.

I`ll ask the folks at general sheet metal.
Bill`s grandfather worked w the CG to develop the standards of production to abyc back in the early 60`s.

Thanks :) will contact them when the time comes

You do know e 10 melts glass tanks right?

not all "fiberglass" is created equally - meaning,not all fiberglass is effected...

Resins have come a long way in 50 years.
As have fibers.

Much like composites.

I`m sure Shine is way ahead of me, but others read these posts and I try to
make folks think and evaluate choices as I have learned the hard way thinking
I was ahead of the curve.

You have much to offer here as well.

I think Don Herman`s resin is a cool 1,000 clams per barrel.
Isophthalic or some such stuff.

Novolac epoxy or vinylester might also work well.

Cheers,
GFS

As we dig,we find. Seems the slacker deck needs some putty to fill some voids
between stringers and the deck.