Diesel Fuel Tank Replacement Advice

[Nicholson58]

Originally Posted by Concordia

Folks - Replacing one of three rusted-through diesel fuel tanks in my cutter. It is on the starboard rail and holds approximately 28 gallons. Debating replacing with epoxy coated steel, aluminum or stainless steel. For those that have done this, what material did you use. How thick and grade of material? Did you stick with a traditional sight tube or go with a mechanical fuel gage?
Thanks in advance.

Ours are original Camper & Nicholson58 Inconel 3/16” thick welded, 1984. High nickel alloy will never fail. 5 diesel and 4 water tanks, all shiny like new.

[dfelsent]

Our tanks are 1972 welded monel. Still tight and shiny inside and out.
Awesome alloy. Expensive today.

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by Celestialsailor

These are the gauges that I have been using when I build my aluminum tanks. I weld an 1-1/2" female bung in the top of the tank and thread it in. They come in various lengths.

We have a 4 foot garden cane, goes down the fuel filler cap. Came with the boat and has been regularly dipped in diesel for 33 years now. No way will that ever rot

Pete

[Americanrancher]

Originally Posted by chrisr

we are in the process of replacing our 20 yo 600L stainless steel fuel tank (who says stainless last forever ??)

after a lot of research found that where we are (tahiti), a custom made welded plastic tank is the most cost effective option. recall the material is 8mm thick. manufacturer gives 10 year guarantee on workmanship and lifetime guarantee on material.

no corrosion issues...ever

in my experience sight glasses work ok for a while but get fogged and soon are next to impossible to read. also liable to breaks & leaks. this time around we are installing an ultrasonic sender. in due course i'll report back how it works

cheers,

This is what I am using and I think it is great. Mine was made in Maine USA to a custom design. I have an electronic fuel gauge that has failed in less than 2 years. Ben S/V DAWN

[svfinlandia]

Originally Posted by coopec43

I have aluminum tanks.

I've bought glass tube and fittings (including tap) to plumb into the tank but haven't done so at this stage.

If you use a bit of clear plastic tube as a "sight glass" many marinas will ban entry to your yacht as it would be considered a fire risk. Others would require a tap to turn off the flow of fuel if the glass sight glass broke.

I'm sure the Johnson site glass has approval but last time I checked they were around $A120
]

I think I would feel safer with a piece of Tygon tubing as a sight glass than I would glass. Glass is rigid and easy to break.
One of the rules on my boat is “no glass at all”! (Except for the rum bottle, of course).

Al, S/V Finlandia

[GILow]

Originally Posted by Shaneesprit

I have a 1000L of fuel (Heating oil) in a plastic outdoor tank at home, UK has 100,000s of these, most much bigger than mine, Also almost every piece of industrail portable diesel powered machinery uses a plastic tank!

never known a leak or issue from a reputable manufacturer, other than 1 custom design where fibreglass used inside and someone sealed the inside joints with Silicone sealant, while this didn’t leak it did destroy all 16 of the engines cylinder heads. In a month. (Engine was also not burning regular fuel)

I agree, the stuff is perfect. Coopec just googles irrelevant stuff and posts the results as if they matter.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by Pete7

We have a 4 foot garden cane, goes down the fuel filler cap. Came with the boat and has been regularly dipped in diesel for 33 years now. No way will that ever rot



Pete

Reminds me of a fellow yachtie at my marina. She bought a new boat and found what she thought was the dip stick for the fuel tank. She complained to us that it was too long, couldn’t worked out what the PO was thinking.

Turned out it was the lower mainsail batten.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by dfelsent

Our tanks are 1972 welded monel. Still tight and shiny inside and out.
Awesome alloy. Expensive today.

But great for hair accessories. [emoji6]

[Emmalina]

Originally Posted by GrowleyMonster

Nice. Just epoxy, no reinforcing cloth or fibers? I assume you just made a female mold and poured it in layers, rotating as needed to coat the inside of the mold? What is the final thickness, approximately? I have a fairly heavy boat with a 4-107, and only a 14 gallon tank! It would be nice to be able to custom fit the tank into the bilge. I figure I could cast polyurethane foam in the bilge for a male plug, lay up a mold around that, and melt out the foam with acetone, for a perfect custom fit.

Bafles were plywood moulds of the shape of the hull then it was about 10 layers of woven roving and a lot of epoxy !

[coopec43]

Originally Posted by svfinlandia

I think I would feel safer with a piece of Tygon tubing as a sight glass than I would glass. Glass is rigid and easy to break.
One of the rules on my boat is “no glass at all”! (Except for the rum bottle, of course).

Al, S/V Finlandia

The "glass" is well protected. (I'm quite sure you could buy one with Tygon(?)






Product Description

Range of application
Serious Glass Sheet Level Gauge is a kind of sight glass level gauge which can show the
liquid level directly. These type level gauges are widely used in boiler steam water level,
tank level in chemical industries or petroleum field etc.
Technique Parameters:
Glass type: borosilicate glass/mico/quartz glass tube
Gasket material: graphite gasket
Pressure for steel ball shut off automatically: ≥0.2Mpa
Steam pressure: ≤0.6Mpa. Steam sheath joint: G1/2″male thread

[coopec43]

Originally Posted by GILow

I agree, the stuff is perfect. Coopec just googles irrelevant stuff and posts the results as if they matter.

Geez Matt! How pathetic

I bet you've installed a plastic one and are trying to justify your choice.

Get a life!

PS Did you find yourself a one man life raft?

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by davil

=============================
did you wire it to 12 volts?

There is a remote-reading version available. You should be able to just change out the face of the gauge without even removing it from the tank.


https://rochestersensors.com/product...spiral-gauges/


See also:



https://rochestersensors.com/product...cal-float-arm/

[GILow]

Originally Posted by coopec43

Geez Matt! How pathetic

I bet you've installed a plastic one and are trying to justify your choice.

Get a life!

PS Did you find yourself a one man life raft?

1. No, mine are fibreglass. I built them myself, they work well.

2. No. My life raft is a brand new four person, more than the two of us need, but that’s the way it is. The smaller model didn’t have a roof and I think the sun is as much of a threat as the sea around where we cruise.

3. Getting a life…? Well, I’ve sailed only 3000 miles since the refit, but I’m guessing that’s more than you. And I’m setting off for two weeks of the Gulf St Vincent and the Spencer Gulf tomorrow with the Admiral. Where are you going? Will you Google somewhere? Apparently Google-travel is the new thing.

[wsmurdoch]

I have two of the Rochester 8680 gauges on my boat, one in each water tank. They work fine. Both have the linear scale. I have a label beside each of the gauges that gives the remaining gallons of water in the tank at each 1/8 of the scale and also tank capacity at the completely filled level. My only problem with the gauges is that they make noise at times when the boat motion rocks them back and forth. The twisted brass strip, the metal piece on the top of the cork float, and the round metal rails (all loosely connected) conspire to rattle as the water in the tanks sloshes about.

From an ebay listing. (Mine are brass/bronze.)

[Disailor]

Originally Posted by GILow

One more vote for this approach. So many shapes and sizes to choose from, plus many manufacturers allow you to choose the number and position of fittings for fillers and pickups.

Yup. I replaced a leaking steel tank with an almost exact size plastic fuel tank. Been 20yrs now & outside of the initial swelling still tight.