Fuel Tank Location 71 Seafari
 

Just inherited this boat from my grandfather. I am attempting to replace the seats, but I am not sure where fuel tank is located and don't want to risk drilling a hole into the tank. Any help would be great!

Re: Fuel Tank Location 71 Seafari
 

Welcome aboard and Happy Independence Day wishes to you and yours. Grandfather must have thought highly of you! Great boat!
:cool:
The fuel tank should be directly behind the step down into the cuddy cabin. There should be a removable panel 2' wide or so and maybe 3' long (to the right of the cooler in picture). The fuel tank sits beneath that.
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...rifloor002.jpg

Re: Fuel Tank Location 71 Seafari
 

Brenda, just noticed you're local! We should get together sometime - I've made lot's of little "tweaks" to my Seafari over the years you might be interested in!

What type of seats do you have? Most of the deck is cored with balsa, but the section where the seats attach is cored with either 1/2" or 3/4" plywood. I installed a galley seat in mine, and the entire area under the galley seat has a plywood core.
http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z...leySeat011.jpg
Would suggest you drill any holes oversize, like 5/8", but don't drill thru the bottom layer of glass. Fill the 5/8" hole with thickened epoxy, then redrill with 1/4" and tap the hole for machine screws. Holds much better than the typical sheet metal screws most folks use, and the epoxy will prevent water from getting into the wood core. Denny

Re: Fuel Tank Location 71 Seafari
 

You might know the answer to my next question then..I have the original bimini top and a second bimini that attaches to the front one with a zipper (second is for the back half of boat). The front one is on the boat, but I can't find brackets to attach the second top. Either I am looking in the wrong spot, or brackets were never there.. Any advice/suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Re: Fuel Tank Location 71 Seafari
 

Is there a track on top or side of the coaming? I mounted my sun top (Rear top) on a track so I could slide it aft, where it lays down on transom, or partially forward when bimini top is up (I tie it to rear bow of bimini in that case), or all the way forward to lay on top of windshield, where I used to stow it when trailering. Mine isn't the OEM top, but I think they may have mounted similarly for same reason.
Here's a shot of mine from 1975 with the original Navy top and an aft bimini or sun top I had made up. Don't think I had the slide on it at the time. http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z...fari_small.gif
Here's a shot of current top.
http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z...aripics017.jpg[/image]
Here's a close up showing track/slide on rear top mount. http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z...esPart2044.jpg [image]

Re: Fuel Tank Location 71 Seafari
 

I don't have the slides like your picture. There is nothing at all that I can see where this thing would go, hence the confusion. Just the fishing rod holders.. But no brackets. I am quite sure my grandfather never used the aft bimini, as we found it in his shed rolled up. My dad said the boat came with a full zippered camp type top. This is pictured in the original photo, but we found no signs of the curtains as we searched the shed and attic. Anyway, I'm thinking there may not be hardware for the top on the boat, I can send a picture of the top and fittings that are on the boat if that helps. By the way your boat is AMAZING! Very inspirational!

Re: Fuel Tank Location 71 Seafari
 

Thanks Brenda. The 72 brochure has some shots of the full "Camper Canvas" as it was called, so that might give you some idea of how it was mounted. You might want to install the slides like I did, as that will give you a lot of flexibility for where to put the aft top when you want to fold it down. The slides can be put on the top, inside or outside of the coaming, depending on the width of the bows in the top.

Got your PM, but I'm currently down at my daughter's house in Margate and those files are on my desktop computer at home. Will send them when I get home, probably on Wednesday. Here's the link to my photobucket account - lots of boat porn there to look at! You need to post some pics of your new inheritance! Is it an outboard or I/O model? Denny