OUTRAGE 18 Water In Fuel Tank: Six Questions

[MisChief15]

I am concerned [about buying a particular OUTRAGE 18 because] I see some water in the fuel tank area.

Q1: on an OUTRAGE 18 is appearance of water in the fuel tank area normal?

Q2: how is the appearance of water in fuel tank areas dealt with?

Q3; if water appears in the fuel tank area, how much water will be absorbed into the foam?

Q4: is there any fiberglass in the fuel tank area to prevent water in the fuel tank area from entering other sections of the hull?

Q5: is water in the fuel tank area a concern?

Q6: is water in the fuel tank area just a fact to accept?

BACK STORY

I am considering buying a classic OUTRAGE 18. I used to have one. Once on my OUTRAGE 18 after a hard rain, there was water saturated up to the [cockpit deck]. I had to use tower to slowly take out the water from the side channels on the sides of the center console. I think the water was coming from the floor, and entering the area through those two hole.

[jimh]

Q1: on an OUTRAGE 18 is appearance of water in the fuel tank area normal?

Perhaps a very small accumulation of water on top of the fuel tank in the form of a few drops of water like a morning dew is possible when there has been a big change in temperature between a previous warm day with very high humidity and the next morning of much colder air, and the boat was covered, preventing any air circulation or ventilation under the cover. Even in Summer in norther areas, there can be very significant morning dew occurring very frequently.

Rain water should not be able to get into the top of the fuel tank area unless the boat was stored on land, the plugs were in place in the cockpit sump drain areas, there was a very long and hard rain, the fore-and-aft trim on the boat on the trailer was low in the stern, the circular deck pry-out access plates had poor seals, and water was allowed to accumulate on deck to a depth sufficient to flood the circular deck pry-out access plates and leak into the fuel tank area.

[jimh]

Q4: is there any fiberglass in the fuel tank area to prevent water in the fuel tank area from entering other sections of the hull?

Yes. The fuel tank is placed in a cavity that is molded into the hull liner. The cavity is made in the same manner as all the other sections of the hull, with a finished gel coat laminate fiberglass. Water in the fuel tank area cannot pass through this fiberglass and enter the interior of the Unibond hull where the foam is located.

The foam surrounding the sides of the fuel tank that is visible in the fuel tank area between the sides of the fuel tank and the sides of the fuel tank cavity is the same type of closed-cell foam used in the Unibond hull, but it was allowed to expand in open air, so the density of the foam is much less than the density of the foam in the interior of the Unibond hull. Water sitting atop this foam should not be deeply absorbed into the foam, as long as the boat has not been neglected by allowing water to settle into the foam and then freeze in cold temperatures. When that occurs, the expansion of frozen water breaks down cell walls, enlarging many individual cells into one much larger cell and permitting water to enter cells adjacent to the original closed cells. As this process repeats, more and more cells are broken and the ability of the foam to hold water increases in depth into the foam.

My first hand experience with the appearance of some minor surface water sitting on the foam surface adjacent to the fuel tank is that this water will evaporate away in a short time if the circular pry-out access plates are removed and the boat is uncovered to open air with some breeze, allowing some air to circulate in the fuel tank cavity area. Typically any appearance of moisture in the foam surround area of the tank dries out in a day or less with exposure to air. I have only seen such an accumulation perhaps once or twice in more than 15-years of owning my boat, usually after the boat has sat covered, but days of rain saturated the cover and allowed rain water to fall onto the cockpit area, creating a very high humidity situation under the cover.

Also, the top surface of the aluminum fuel tank on my boat has a like-new appearance, with a green anti-oxidation paint surface in excellent condition, other than a bit of dirt here and there in areas that are too far from an access plate opening for me to clean easily. My boat was fabricated in 1990. I have owned the boat for 20-years. The condition of the fuel tank surface and the surrounding foam has not changed in those 20-years.

[MisChief15]

Thank you so much Jim. Your explanation in the first paragraph in the Q4 answer (above) clears any concerns I had before.

I feel much better now looking for an OUTRAGE 18.