[C320-list] Fuel Tank Issue

[Bob Borelli]

Last year at this time I viewed 4 Catalina 320's for sale.  1 -1994 & 3-1995.
The first C320 I had surveyed, hauled & sea trialed.
The interior of the boat had faint diesel fuel odor.
I crawled around to visually inspect the tank.
There was a piece of duct tape attached to the lower inboard, forward corner of the aluminum tank.
The tank corner was leaking/

Same aluminum tank on all 4 C320' including the boat I purchased.
So old aluminum tank.
Clean tank, polish fuel?  Remove tank, pump out fuel & cut access openings?
New tank costly.   Overall I've read 20 years is the max life for an aluminum tank.

So when it is time I will replace with a new aluminum tank with access opening on either side of the baffle plate for cleaning.

Bob Borelli
1995 C320 no. 209  'Elusive'
Sailing Associates Inc.  Georgetown, MD

________________________________
From: C320-list <c320-list-bounces at lists.catalina320.com> on behalf of sail-ability at sympatico.ca <sail-ability at sympatico.ca>
Sent: Tuesday, April 21, 2020 6:37 PM
To: C320-List at catalina320.com <C320-List at catalina320.com>
Subject: Re: [C320-list] Fuel Tank Issue

Just to add my two cents; boats of my vintage 1999, were suffering fuel tank failures. I took the tank out and had it cleaned and inspected, preventive maintenance. The tank tested OK so cost me $100 for piece of mind. I also took advantage of the tank removal to replace all fuel lines plus the tank fill line. Survey guy said it needed doing anyways. COVID got me sitting on the bank and just looking at the boat on the Hard!! Someday Soon....
JohnM
1999#574

Sent from my iPhone

> On Apr 21, 2020, at 6:15 PM, Mark Cole <boatnboot at me.com> wrote:
>
> David;
>
> Yes, I think replacing the tank is the way to go, especially with a boat of your age.  The tank I got from Catalina Direct came with an access port installed and no baffle so you can clean the entire tank from that single access port.  Another key addition to keeping your fuel tank happy is to add an H2Out moisture absorber to the fuel vent line.  They aren’t very expensive and absorb the moisture that enters through the fuel vent as you use fuel.  Easy to install, too.  Here is the website if you want to take a look:  https://h2out.com/fuel-guard-avd-2/ <https://h2out.com/fuel-guard-avd-2/>
>
> Mark Cole
> Fiddler’s Green #8
>
>
>> On Apr 21, 2020, at 1:07 PM, David Veeneman <davidv at veeneman.com> wrote:
>>
>> Thanks for all the great advice and info. It’s a no-brainer; I’ll replace the tank.
>>
>> The critical factor for me is that the original tank has a baffle that would necessitate adding two access ports to the tank. However, the tank installation would only give me ready access to one of them.
>>
>> Dave Hupe steered me to a thread from last year that discussed the issue. Mark Cole put a new tank in Fiddler’s Green and discussed the process of installing the new tank. The thread was very helpful.
>>
>> --
>> David Veeneman
>> Dana Point, CA
>> SV Adelante, C320 #131
>>
>>
>>
>>
>