Are Transparent Diesel Tanks Possible?

[MicHughV]

...My first boat was a steel Roberts 38. Being mostly penniless at the time, I built it without an engine as I could not afford it. Besides the lack of engine, that boat had a lack of a lot of things, but I had a hoot with it. It was my home for about 15 years. I was in my 20's then and nothing was impossible. I even wrote a book about it, but that didn't help my finances either.

...Ok, after you've quit laughing, I did manage to sail that boat to a lot of places under sail power alone, but there was the occasional "oh s**t" moment.

...Eventually, the writing was on the wall, and I put a diesel in it. But, still being rather broke, could only afford a little 17 hp Volvo diesel. With that Volvo came the wood tank. It provided a modicum of power and speed, whereas before I had nothing. No wind, meant I was not moving, so even moving slowly was heaven.

...After some 10 years, my finances improved and I removed that little Volvo...I say little, but the damn thing had a flywheel on it the size of a house, and replaced it with a bigger Volvo....27 hp....still small, but soooo much better than 17..I had to remove the old wood tank to access the engine to remove it at which time I had the aluminum one made.

I can't really explain the sludge in the bottom of that tank. I picked up diesel fuel from a variety of places, some of which were likely a little suspect of the quality of fuel they were dispensing. I have also read that there is a certain micro organism that lives in diesel fuel and when these micro organism die, they sink to the bottom of the tank . True or not, I don't know.

That little 17 hp Volvo was a tough little engine....raw water cooled to boot...it was about as basic a diesel as you could get. I asked a lot from it and it always delivered.

Trust that answers your question.

[Heathenly Twins]

Originally Posted by MicHughV

...My first boat was a steel Roberts 38. Being mostly penniless at the time, I built it without an engine as I could not afford it. Besides the lack of engine, that boat had a lack of a lot of things, but I had a hoot with it. It was my home for about 15 years. I was in my 20's then and nothing was impossible. I even wrote a book about it, but that didn't help my finances either.

...Ok, after you've quit laughing, I did manage to sail that boat to a lot of places under sail power alone, but there was the occasional "oh s**t" moment.

...Eventually, the writing was on the wall, and I put a diesel in it. But, still being rather broke, could only afford a little 17 hp Volvo diesel. With that Volvo came the wood tank. It provided a modicum of power and speed, whereas before I had nothing. No wind, meant I was not moving, so even moving slowly was heaven.

...After some 10 years, my finances improved and I removed that little Volvo...I say little, but the damn thing had a flywheel on it the size of a house, and replaced it with a bigger Volvo....27 hp....still small, but soooo much better than 17..I had to remove the old wood tank to access the engine to remove it at which time I had the aluminum one made.

I can't really explain the sludge in the bottom of that tank. I picked up diesel fuel from a variety of places, some of which were likely a little suspect of the quality of fuel they were dispensing. I have also read that there is a certain micro organism that lives in diesel fuel and when these micro organism die, they sink to the bottom of the tank . True or not, I don't know.

That little 17 hp Volvo was a tough little engine....raw water cooled to boot...it was about as basic a diesel as you could get. I asked a lot from it and it always delivered.

Trust that answers your question.

Wow, you've certainly had an interesting life! Did the book not sell or is the subject matter too niche to make much regardless? I met a writer on a flight to Colombia a few years ago that said even if you sell reasonably well you only make something like 20k a year but I suspect he was pretty niche too. Definitely not Stephen King, Haha.

I'm trying to figure out the whole making money while cruising thing, too but it sounds like the vlogging and writing methods are pretty tough.

I think I read in another post you had an MD7C, right? I have a similar engine and yeah, I could see it going forever with the right circumstances. Too bad parts are hard to come by. Thinking of going to a Betamarine.

Anyway engineless on a big steel boat? You have nerves of steel! 😆

I kind of got a taste of engineless cruising last summer and yeah, I've experienced the 'high' of finally doing 1.5 knots in the right direction, lol. I bet you're an excellent sailor compared to the motor everywhere with just the main up for stability set.

What are you sailing now?

[MicHughV]

Heavenly Twins....I've sent you a private message (PM)....

[allanc]

---- and then you have a fire on board and you discover that plastic will melt at around 125 deg C and diesel ignites at 210 deg C and then your insurance company writes to you, if you are still around, to tell you the inconvenient news and that you should have realised this before thinking that it was a good idea---

[Pillroller]

Just a thought. My steel tanks developed a leak after 34 years. I went to my friendly fabricator for a quote for steel or Stainless. giving him the old one as a pattern. "Why do you want S.S. ?". Longevity I said. "How old is this old tank, and how old are you. A mild steel will outlive you by a long way." Nuff said. I got a mild steel at half the price of S.S.

[bailsout]

HT,
My tank, original to the boat, I presume, is SS, with an eight inch diameter inspection plate on top which allows me to see all the inside walls. It has a separate dipstick hole and a wooden dipstick that is notched for each gallon. I log engine hours and amount of gallons in tank after each outing. I moved the tank more forward and more inboard. I removed the thru-deck filler, plugged and restored the deck finish. I fill through the inspection plate. It’s an 18 gallon tank and my 2gm20 doesn’t use much. I fill wth a jerry can.

[mvweebles]

Originally Posted by Heathenly Twins

What do you guys think about having the fuel filler accessible under the engine inspection hatch? This would allow deletion of the OEM fuel filler cap which is in the middle of the cockpit floor (prone to water ingress).

If you over-flow, even by a little, where would it run? Bilge? My water tank fills are accessible via a deck-plate which works fine, but overflowing water is not a problem. Obviously, diesel overflow would be a problem.

Concerning sight gauges, they are available and range from simple to robust and should have valves top and bottom. I installed ones similar to these on the 2x200g saddle tanks for my Willard 36 trawler.

https://www.mcmaster.com/sight-tubes...re-indicators/

[Cheechako]

My guess is color is added to aid in UV blocking and damage to the container from the sun.

[MJH]

Originally Posted by Heathenly Twins

I've seen semi-transparent diesel tanks and Jerry cans/jugs but never fully transparent, why is that? Seems like the best choice for safety. Who wouldn't like to be able to quickly check their fuel for contaminants?

If anyone knows of a source for these, preferably a custom manufacturer that can do a small tank and some jugs, please let me know.

Google searches have yielded unsatisfactory results.

M'aidez SVP

Anything is possible if you are willing to spend enough money to get it.

Along with transparent tanks to determine level, a small drain at the bottom of the tank(s) to remove water would be very practical...I have read that some Hallberg Rassy boats have them. They are prevalent in aircraft for the same reason.

~ ~ _/) ~ ~ MJH

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by Heathenly Twins

What do you guys think about having the fuel filler accessible under the engine inspection hatch? This would allow deletion of the OEM fuel filler cap which is in the middle of the cockpit floor (prone to water ingress).

Proper tank fill caps are not prone to water leakage. They have an O ring on them.
Filling in the engine access area will get diesel in the boat eventually and smell very bad.

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by MJH

Along with transparent tanks to determine level, a small drain at the bottom of the tank(s) to remove water would be very practical...I have read that some Hallberg Rassy boats have them. They are prevalent in aircraft for the same reason.

~ ~ _/) ~ ~ MJH

If you are building a tank and have the space a small sump at the bottom of the tank would be great for removing water & sludge.

[MicHughV]

You can always suck out the water and sludge from the top of the tank. I've seen these little hand held pumps with a long hose than you can insert into the tank either from an inspection plate removal or inserting thru' the vent line opening.
Other than that, keep an eye on the fuel/water separator....

[mvweebles]

Originally Posted by MicHughV

You can always suck out the water and sludge from the top of the tank. I've seen these little hand held pumps with a long hose than you can insert into the tank either from an inspection plate removal or inserting thru' the vent line opening.
Other than that, keep an eye on the fuel/water separator....

If you're building the tank, best is to install a tube to the low point so you can just connect a pump down the line and remove the water or gunk. Putting the tube in at fabrication adds little to cost or effort. Fishing a tube down later can be obstructed by baffles and, in the best case, still a braille exercise.

[Rohan]

Originally Posted by Heathenly Twins

I've seen semi-transparent diesel tanks and Jerry cans/jugs but never fully transparent, why is that? Seems like the best choice for safety. Who wouldn't like to be able to quickly check their fuel for contaminants?

This question probably belongs in the engineering section - but what would these transparent tanks be made of? If they were made of glass, they would be prone to breakage. If they were plastic, it would fade and get yellow over time, and then you would end up with the same partially transparent tanks that a lot of boats have now.

[MikeFergie]

Vetus has nice clear “plastic” diesel tanks off the shelf in caribou’s sizes. Really nice. I recently bought a 40l one for my diesel generator I installed.