18 Fuel Tank question

[erebus]

Originally Posted by Beaver

Hey Zachary, my FT4037 has about a 2 1/2 inch raised portion for the hose connections that at first glance makes it look like I am going to have to cut into the bottom of the hatch to make it fit. Did you have to do this? I have only removed the hatch so I haven't had a chance to dry run it yet.

I didn't have to do any custom fab for tank clearance.
I did however at the same time replace the coffin lid in its entirety because the previous owner had hacked up the original to access the rotten holes in the top of the original tank.
Pieces were missing and the core was a rotten soggy mess.
Just threw it away.
New piece of 3/4 coosa board which I glassed all over, dropped right in over the new tank.

Only thing I would have done differently when I installed my tank, is I would have put a drain in the aft end of the coffin. like a thru-hull or summat into the aft bilge.
The coffin is "kind-of" sealed from the deck, but the hole for all the cables and wires under the console went in to the side of the coffin on my 18' a little bit. So not perfectly sealed.
Whenever I'm hosing the deck down I worry that water is running down the cable hole and into the coffin.
With nowhere for the water to go I could be cruising around with a hundred pounds of water in there.
Cant verify that tho without taking off the console and coffin lid.

A few years ago I built a "dam" out of starboard around the hole in the deck to keep any extra nuisance water from draining down there. But I dont know for sure that its not already full.
Might try and drill a hole from inside the bilge and see.
Dont want to poke the new tank though.