175 gas tank/deck question-gctid394507

[Guest]

The gas tank in my 1750LS is made from the old plastic material and in the AZ heat combined with E10 gasohol the gas smell coming out the ski locker is horrible. We checked, and couldn't find any leak anywhere plus the main smell is in the ski locker and not the engine compartment so it has to be the old material tank. Since we have the boat in outdoor storage and not in the garage any more it got a lot worse.....

As I hope that I can get a new material tank from Moeller which meets the 2012 EPA requirements I have some questions for those who removed the floor in a similar age bow-rider:

Is the carpeted floor glued to the spars/frame or is it simply screwed in?

Is the floor made from multiple pieces of plywood or does it go all the way through?

This will also be a good time to replace the idiotic carpet with Durabak. It's rare to have a 16 year old boat which only saw use for a total of 3 years and a total of less than 40h so it's worth bringing it up to new standards......

[Guest]

no one ever ripped out the floor in an older 175/185/195? Can't believe that! It's plywood only, no glass, and there has to be some rotten ones already as most of them weren't stored for umpteen years in indoor storage like mine.....

[Guest]

Ive got a 2006 model and I wouldn't have a clue on how to get the gas tank out.

There is a small access panel in the centre of the floor just in front of the engine cover but that only allows access to the wiring etc. if you removed the engin the tank may come out by sliding back.

The floor on mine is glass over play and it is not screwed in or anything like that.

I agree, someone must have done this before

Good luck in finding them.

[Guest]

I just had the gas tank replaced on my '12 180. The sent it back to the factory, and cut the floor out to get the gas tank out. The floor was glued and screwed, and was one piece of plywood, heavily impregnated with resin (I know from chunks they left behind in my bilge).

[Guest]

Juergen, check the Completed Projects section. There have been several people that have replaced their floors and documented the process.

[Guest]

Thanks for the replies! Looks like I have to work on my search skills as I didn't find the older threads in the completed projects.

Looks like Bayliner did improve something in the newer models as my floor is plain plywood without a sign of resin or fiberglass.....

Now if I only would know whether the tank from a new model fits my antique model. It's Moeller model 2321 but unfortunately Moeller didn't respond to my question whether that shape tank is available with a less permeable plastic material.

My plastic gas tank is under the floor between two spars so there's no way to slide it anywhere. The only way out is to remove the floor and pull it upwards. Everything looks like it's a very tight fit and I don't want to take the tank out or even do exploratory work before I know that I can get a replacement which fits in there.

JeffBowser wrote:
I just had the gas tank replaced on my '12 180. The sent it back to the factory, and cut the floor out to get the gas tank out. The floor was glued and screwed, and was one piece of plywood, heavily impregnated with resin (I know from chunks they left behind in my bilge).

What was wrong with your tank??? A 2012 model should have the new material already........

[Guest]

Worst case you could get a metalshop to make you up a stainless tank to the same specs as your old one. That would be a huge improvement over a plastic one.

[Guest]

Macca wrote:
Worst case you could get a metalshop to make you up a stainless tank to the same specs as your old one. That would be a huge improvement over a plastic one.

I fully agree but at that cost I better get rid of the boat and buy a new one...... Didn't find any local place willing to do that as I already thought about that too (Al or SS). The tank is such an odd shape that I can actually understand them.

Couldn't find anything of help about the floor attachment in the Completed Project section and I went through manually, around 50 pages. May have to tear off some carpet in the rear to see how they attached the floor.

The other bad news for me is that Moeller doesn't respond. Just shot off an email to Bayliner and I hope they will at least bother to respond. The problem with an old model.....