1975 Morgan Out Island fuel tanks

[BobHorn]

Anybody know what the fuel tanks are made of? Had an early Irwin 41 with leaking tanks and it was a major project to seal them.
Thanks,
Bob

[JoshDad]

I have a 1970 40' Morgan Cruising Ketch that is being refitted. My tank is what is commonly called "black iron", which is steel. My tank was leaking after a thorough cleaning. After exploring as many options as I could find, I've decided to glass the bottom of the tank; which requires cutting off the top in my case. I do not have easy access to any of the sides. I will then fabricate a flange to reattach the top to the tank. There are some YouTube videos of this process you may find useful. Good Luck!

[BobHorn]

On the Irwin I ended up cutting three access holes in the top of the tanks, two baffles, hence three sections. Then cleaned, etched, applied resin and fiberglass cloth. Major operation. Would not want to do it again.

[gonesail]

seems like it would always be better to replace a defective tank .. cut it out if needed. have a new one fabricated. build a mock up to make sure it will fit. speaking from experience.

[Mother1ship]

Mine appear to be aluminum, but i don't know if they may have been replaced at some earlier time; i've only had th boat for four years. No problem with my tanks, sh's a 75 OI ketch like yours...

she's for sale, BTW -- asking $44,900 in Kemah, TX

just sayin. . . .

[Peter Swanson]

Aluminum in my 1977 Morgan. But surely you can see a portion of the tank to determine the metal.

[pcmm]

on my 1978 OI 41 my tanks are steel, BUT there are a lot of different configurations including integrated tanks My fuel tanks are all under the stbd side deck

[Peter Swanson]

Aluminum in my 1977 Morgan. But surely you can see a portion of the tank to determine the metal.

[Hudson Force]

My 1973 Morgan Ketch had steel tanks that were not yet leaking; however, they were showing corrosion and, as I was in the process of replacing my Westerbeke for a Yanmar, I replaced the tanks with aluminum. When I was able to more closely inspect the removed steel tanks, I was thankful for my choice to retire them.

[BobHorn]

Don"t know about Morgan tanks, obviously, but on the Irwin they were under the floor and there was no way to remove the tanks other than in pieces. That then left the issue of replacing them with one or two smaller ones and then tying them together.