88 Trophy 2160 Fuel Tank Replacement Help-gctid378543

[Guest]

Lately my bayliner has been a [email protected]$Ôé¼~┬Ñ*+#. If I had more strange icons to represent curse words I would use them.

New engine, sweet new remote kicker set up, bunch of other maintenance and fishing goodies given to her this winter and spring. Is that enough for her? Nooooooooo. A fuel in the bilge problem was noticed at first fill up several weeks ago. Looked like the fill hose was seeping, had it replaced (it was pretty cracked and worn). No more gas in bilge. Great.

Yesterday went down to splash and begin break-in of the new base engine. Gas in bilge, lots of it.

Got the boat tilted to run off into a catch bucket, clearly there is a drip coming from under the tank.

$&@?!#%^*+=~Ôé¼┬ú┬Ñ!

Looking for pointers on cost, tank supliers, and any experiences pulling out the old aluminum 60 gallon behind the bulkhead separating wall. Pull motor, check. Cut out bulkhead, huh? Will old tank slide out without floor cuts?

Best type of tank to replace with? Things to watch out for while doing this?

My mechanics will handle as much work as my depleted wallet will allow.

Thanks for any input. Cleveland Ohio is my location.

Jarrett

[Guest]

These tanks are known for corrosion issues but 25 years isn't too bad. That being said, the tank on your Trophy is relatively easy to pull without cutting into the floors. Pull the engine, remove the low bulkhead the separates the engine from the tank remove hoses, whatever bracing there is and there you go. Putting the new one in to properly protect it from the original corrosion issues is important and there are several threads here that talk about it.

Coastline is the company in Bellingham WA. http://coastline-tanks.com/ who built a new tank for my Victoria and also originally made these tanks for Bayliner; including the Trophy. They do a very good job and they will ship. There was also a Bayliner plant in Ohio as well so there is probably a local manufacturer there. You might try sending an E-mail to Bayliner customer care with you HIN to get a name.

[Guest]

Thanks Wayne, that procedure is what I was figuring. Glad the task does not require the floor to be cut. That looks like a seriously time consuming endeavor. I suppose the bulkhead needs to be replaced and re-glassed when the new or repaired tank goes back in? I'll take care to make sure the reinstalled tank has complete air flow around it.

I found a quality aluminum fab shop close to home who will inspect and repair or re-fab a tank replacement. On a side note they make some cool aluminum swim platforms:

http://www.alummetalfab.com/

Had a salmon trip planned in two weeks...what a pain. One of these days I will just post a pic of the whole @#$% boat in "Completed Projects" and list the work done over four years of ownership.

Jarrett

[Guest]

Sorry to hear of your tank issue. Seems to be happening in these vintage boats.

When I measured my tank in the same boat, it is wider than the engine hole. I didn't measure the length, but could check it tomorrow. So unless it is shorter than the engine hole and can be tipped out sideways, then the floor is going to have to be cut. Or you could pop the whole top off - it was done by someone else here a while back.

[Guest]

orca wrote:
Sorry to hear of your tank issue. Seems to be happening in these vintage boats.

When I measured my tank in the same boat, it is wider than the engine hole. I didn't measure the length, but could check it tomorrow. So unless it is shorter than the engine hole and can be tipped out sideways, then the floor is going to have to be cut. Or you could pop the whole top off - it was done by someone else here a while back.

I have to admit the tank I replaced was on my Victoria, but I remember looking at the trophy tank when I first acquired it and thanking Bayliner for a very similar tank placement as I was figuring it would probably need to be changed.

I don't think it will pull straight out but with the engine out of the way you should be able to maneuver it around to get it out. Of course it's crucial to have it empty.

[Guest]

Thank you my 2160 brothers...if anyone has this project or a similar cierra project completed your input is appreciated.

[Guest]

Pow wowed with my mech at lunch. He thinks floor cutting will be necessary. Anyone accomplish this replacement without cutting the deck?

[Guest]

Someone on here removed a section of floor, carefully sawed a access hole into the tank, and then coated it inside with some sealer/repair stuff and made a gasketed aluminum lid to cover the hole. Also instead of glassing in the floor after the fix, they left it as a removable panel that allowed inspection and further repairs if necessary. Thought that was a cool way to do it in my opinion. My boat had a new tank installed in 96', and when/if it comes time to replace again I will just repair it in this manner.

The issue was the rubber strips used to prevent chaffing are acidic and when wet they eat the tank. If the tank was pulled and replaced some of that silicone hose from the local import tuner shop would be a good substitute.

[Guest]

TimRod popped the top on his - http://www.baylinerownersclub.org/fo...-2459-offshore , and his pics are still up. This is what I will consider when the time comes.

[Guest]

Thanks for the link Orca it did not pop up in my forum search. Looks daunting and expensive as I don't have the barn and tackle to accomplish the job. The pics are helpful to see whats going on down there. I still think the tank might come through the engine compartment with the bulkhead cut , maybe cut the deck around the engine bay.

Seems like the tanks on these are not foamed in, agree or not?

I'm pondering a ttrip to the bayliner factory (not far from me) and a sit-in until one of their oldtimers pulls the tank for me at a reasonable cost. :kidding

[Guest]

Yeah, not foamed in. I beleive they come out pretty easily once you have a hole large enough to pull them through.

[Guest]

For folks with the same issue, my 88 2160 has a coastline (WA) made take manufacturer #614-B, bayliner #B9393.

Tank appears to be 36"x36"x12"', beveled to the hull and glased at corners.

Engine hatch opening is 36"x34" with a taper to 30" at the transom.

Doubt the tank is coming out w/o some cutting.

Still thinking about finding some old time bayliner workers to split the hull.

Cutting the deck to the cockpit might work, seems the most economical option w/o a barn and tackle at hand.

[Guest]

Reel Power wrote:
For folks with the same issue, my 88 2160 has a coastline (WA) made take manufacturer #614-B, bayliner #B9393.

Tank appears to be 36"x36"x12"', beveled to the hull and glased at corners.

Engine hatch opening is 36'x34' with a taper to 30" at the transom.

Doubt the tank is coming out w/o some cutting.

Still thinking about finding some old time bayliner workers to split the hull.

Cutting the deck to the cockpit might work, seems the most economical option w/o a barn and tackle at hand.

Splitting is what you do to a tractor, on a boat you remove the cap. Splitting makes it sound more awful than it is.

I think for most cases, it's far easier to do some fiberglass work to repair the deck than it is to pull the cap off or at least raise it enough to remove a fuel tank.

[Guest]

Sooooo I just love the intermittent boat issues that are @#%[email protected]# hard to diagnose.

Recall I had a suspect filler hose replaced after a significant amount of gas was found in the bilge after 30 gallon fill up post-commisioning. All ok for a week, then significant gas in bilge again. The boat also sits a bit bow heavy on the trailer which appeared to allow some of the errant gas into the forward bilge.

When last we left off the boat was tilted to drain and enough fuel was still trickling out from under the tank to give the appearance that the tank had sprung a leak. I couldn't identify the actual leak from the tank (almost impossible to access) but the drip...drip manner of the flow from under the tank seemed too persistent to be coming from fuel stuck in the forward bilge. Appeared the tank had sprung a leak. Maybe not, batman.

I gave it a week during which the boat was tilted with any leaking fuel flowing into a catch basin. Went down to the rig two days ago and voila no more flow, hardly any fuel in the basin. Still had 3/4 tank of gas. Dry bilge. All hoses, connections, etc. were dry. All hoses, lines, filter, etc. have been dry since the first leak with the exception of the filler hose (it appeared to be seeping). I did notice that the prior leaking appeared to correspond with increased air temperature and the boat being moved around.

This morning I had my 3/4 of a 62 gallon tank of gas, a dry bilge, one canceled vacation and a plan.

I was going to drive the boat around on the trailer to get the gas sloshing around good and see what if anything developed. Took a ride, nothing to note in the bilge at first. Then I saw one drip of gas come off the fuel filter. Then the fuel leaking verrrry slowly from the top of the fuel filter was noticable. At the least it is clear that the filter gasket is buggered. Whether there is a venting problem is another issue to look at, i.e. why was so much gas going to the fuel filter if the vent was working proper. The anti-siphon valve may need to be replaced too.

Thank the boating gods I think I have found the mystery leak and it is not a $3,000 project.

Weird thing is the fuel filter has not shown any overt signs of a leak prior to today's experiment.

Gremlins love boats.

Jarrett

[Guest]

Got her in, replaced a dead battery, used the kicker motor to charge battery one, turned over quickly and ran like a top. Got 1.5 hrs. break in time on the new motor, dry bilge, happy captain.

Moral of the story: if you suspect your tank leaking give it some time on the hard to rule out all potential sources. Took me three weeks to clear up the issue.