North Palm Beach, need fuel tank builder, help.

Bushwacker · #1 07-08-2009, 12:18 AM

Those I/O's will get 5 mpg, so they don't NEED as big a tank!

I'm curious, since your Seafari is an I/O, does it also have a galley seat?

The reason the vent is at front of tank, is because if you're refueling at the dock, you'll be standing at the BACK of the boat, so there will be an air bubble in front of tank. If fuel fill is on stbd side, the vent should be on port side of tank. If you move vent to the back of the tank, you won't be able to fill tank completely because of the air bubble, unless you only fill it on trailer with the tongue on the ground!

Tiny · #2 07-08-2009, 09:48 AM

That's what I'm hoping :-). Even though I know there is more maintenance required. I think I might be willing to put the vent at the back. We hardly ever need to cap off the tank, except on the occasional run to the Bahamas, and then I can just have everyone stand in front

. I might even be able to get the same amount of fuel in there on a regular basis, just have to lower the bow to get a little more "reserve" in.

The Galley seat was already gone.

Bushwacker · #3 07-09-2009, 12:10 AM

Matt - I would not move the tank vent to the back - Moesly put it up front for a good reason. To get a rear vent to work for an in-the water refueling, you'd have to trim the bow down a lot, which I think would be a real PIA! The Moeller tanks Skip got for their 21 had a raised area in center of tank with vent fitting, so that might be a good compromise. If you get a little creative with the tank flanges or come up with a different way to secure it, you could make most of the tank a couple inches taller and get more capacity that way.

On the Bahama trips, I've made the trip to Green Turtle with two different I/O Seafari's. That trip is about 160 nm and they both burned about 45 gallons compared to about 65 with my old 115 (90 HP @ prop) outboard. Used to burn about 35 gal to Walkers, which is about 100 nm. Denny

Tiny · #4 07-09-2009, 08:54 AM

Thanks Denny. You make a good point. I might just copy the tank that was in there just to keep it simple (and less expensive) on the tank fab, besides I'm not sure I can squeez out much more volume anyhow. It should still hold close to 30 gallons, so it looks like I would need fuel topside anyway, except for West End. Thanks for all the great info.
Matt