Cleaning gas tank

[Bushwacker]

Originally Posted by Vezo, Part II

. . .
I have a 1979 MA with 70 gallon tank removed and shot. Getting ready to order a new one from Sunshine Tanks any day. Could you send a pic of yours, as I am not sure mine was original, and am trying to decide where optimum locations for fill, vent, pickup, and sending unit. I will be duplicating to this tanks dimensions, but believe that I will be filling from the dock in the future, versus trailer.

TIA,

Vezzosi, Part II

Vezo, there was clearly much thought given to the locations of the vent fitting on the OEM tank. On my Seafari, the fill is on the gunnel is on stbd side a couple feet fwd of transom. So when you're refueling at the dock, you'll be in back of boat on stbd side, and it'll be heeled to stbd. They put the vent fitting where the high spot of the tank would be under those conditions, i.e. on port side at very front of tank! This works great at the dock, but if I refuel at a gas station with boat on trailer, the front of tank is lower than the back, and it'll spit gas out the vent before it's really full. For those conditions, I typically get an extra 5 gal in a jug, which I can use to top off the tank once I get home and raise front of trailer with the tongue jack.

I'd suggest using the same thought process to locate the vent on your MA tank. In general I think you want the fuel pick up at the back of the tank and sender in the center. Don't think it really matters where the fill pipe is on the tank, but the vent wants to be at the high spot on the tank when you're refueling and the hull vent fitting wants to be near the filler so you can see it starting to spit gas when the tank gets full.