1979 V22 Deck alteration and Tank removal project
Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2018 2:53 pm
Hi Everyone
I am currently knee deep in the lengthy project of the tank removal and deck alteration on my 1979 V22 Revenge. This boat has the plastic tank manufactured by Tempo, and the reason for me initiating this project was twofold:
1. I hated not having good access to the tank and associated hoses. The deck plates access is insufficient for real access to these areas.
2. The tank was originally manufactured as a 70 gallon tank. Due to shrinkage problems, the tank now holds less than 55 gallons when completely full. Also last summer I suddenly started having water in the tank, with over $1,800 of replacement parts having to be added to my Suzuki-Johnson engine due to water contamination. Both high and low pressure fuel pumps, and filters were replaced. The water in the tank overwhelmed my existing RACOR fuel-water separator.
This project is laborious, and requires the removal of both consoles so that the deck can be removed. Whaler fixed this in later models. I removed the deck, and cut it at the approximate location that the later model decks are separate. The cut was made by circular saw at the blue tape area with a fine blade. The results were pretty good.
https://garys22revenge.shutterfly.com/pictures/121
You can see the cross section of the cut here
https://garys22revenge.shutterfly.com/pictures/119
I have since gone back and epoxied the bottom of the deck after removing some minor wood rot, and epoxied the ends. Now on to the tank. The tank had about 12 gallons of stabilized fuel in it, from last July. The fuel has been sitting unused since that time. Here is pic of the what the first gallon of fuel looked like after coming through the fuel pick up.
https://garys22revenge.shutterfly.com/pictures/117
Not so great. After a few more gallons, the fuel looked a little more reasonable.
https://garys22revenge.shutterfly.com/pictures/116
It is hard to see, but there is still a little bit of water at the bottom of the glass. Where was this water intrusion coming from? Seemed to be too much for condensation, but who knows for sure. When I first got the boat I cleaned up the brass pickup at the stern of the tank, and built a new neoprene gasket, which upon inspection had held up pretty well (two years, little degradation). The picture here is from a few years ago before I cleaned it up with a wire brush and re-installed it.
https://garys22revenge.shutterfly.com/pictures/26
On to the tank. Here is the fill plate. Looks like a water intrusion candidate.
https://garys22revenge.shutterfly.com/pictures/118
After wrestling the fill hose off a little bit, a clear problem emerges.
https://garys22revenge.shutterfly.com/pictures/114
Upon removal, the hose is completely fused to the 90 degree fill, and is so heavily corroded I was able to easily snap it off. The aluminum was all highly pitted and corroded on both the top side and bottom side. The attachment ring on the inside of the tank was made of steel, and heavily rusted. This pic is after I cleaned the fill plate up a bit--terrible.
https://garys22revenge.shutterfly.com/pictures/111
At this point, pulling the tank still made sense, so I got after it. First with removal of the foam. I started with a hack saw blade, but found that a drywall saw was much more effective.
https://garys22revenge.shutterfly.com/pictures/110
And was eventually able to remove the tank. I actually only had to saw off half the foam to remove the tank, the foam had very little bonding power to the tank itself. The tank wall was very wet. Prior to tank removal I removed approximately 15 gallons of water from the tank cavity. In this pick you can see the foam still lightly bonded to the tank cavity side. I was able to remove it in one piece by simply stepping on it.
https://garys22revenge.shutterfly.com/pictures/107
https://garys22revenge.shutterfly.com/pictures/106
Now on to the tank. I hate the idea of an aluminum tank, as it will corrode. It is a certainty. There is not a great fit for an existing Moeller tank in the tank cavity. So I inspected the tank. The last gallon of gasoline was a terrible, mucky sludge.
https://garys22revenge.shutterfly.com/pictures/108
and after draining it, there were lots of pebbles and a stainless steel bolt in there.
https://garys22revenge.shutterfly.com/pictures/109
The tank itself was structurally sound, with no leaks, but its shape is deformed, reducing the tank volume to 55 gallons from the original 70, as you can see in theses picture links. The bottom of the tank (at the bottom of the V-part of the tank) moves up to 5-inches towards the top of the tank.
https://garys22revenge.shutterfly.com/pictures/101
https://garys22revenge.shutterfly.com/pictures/100
https://garys22revenge.shutterfly.com/pictures/99
Now I am looking for advice. Do I re-use the tank and have a new fill and vent plate manufactured? I assume that a tank shop could weld me up one. Or, do I spend the money on the new tank? All advice is appreciated.
On a side note, the foam that held the tank in place was mostly dry throughout which surprised me, as you can see from this cross sectional picture.
https://garys22revenge.shutterfly.com/pictures/105
I am currently knee deep in the lengthy project of the tank removal and deck alteration on my 1979 V22 Revenge. This boat has the plastic tank manufactured by Tempo, and the reason for me initiating this project was twofold:
1. I hated not having good access to the tank and associated hoses. The deck plates access is insufficient for real access to these areas.
2. The tank was originally manufactured as a 70 gallon tank. Due to shrinkage problems, the tank now holds less than 55 gallons when completely full. Also last summer I suddenly started having water in the tank, with over $1,800 of replacement parts having to be added to my Suzuki-Johnson engine due to water contamination. Both high and low pressure fuel pumps, and filters were replaced. The water in the tank overwhelmed my existing RACOR fuel-water separator.
This project is laborious, and requires the removal of both consoles so that the deck can be removed. Whaler fixed this in later models. I removed the deck, and cut it at the approximate location that the later model decks are separate. The cut was made by circular saw at the blue tape area with a fine blade. The results were pretty good.
https://garys22revenge.shutterfly.com/pictures/121
You can see the cross section of the cut here
https://garys22revenge.shutterfly.com/pictures/119
I have since gone back and epoxied the bottom of the deck after removing some minor wood rot, and epoxied the ends. Now on to the tank. The tank had about 12 gallons of stabilized fuel in it, from last July. The fuel has been sitting unused since that time. Here is pic of the what the first gallon of fuel looked like after coming through the fuel pick up.
https://garys22revenge.shutterfly.com/pictures/117
Not so great. After a few more gallons, the fuel looked a little more reasonable.
https://garys22revenge.shutterfly.com/pictures/116
It is hard to see, but there is still a little bit of water at the bottom of the glass. Where was this water intrusion coming from? Seemed to be too much for condensation, but who knows for sure. When I first got the boat I cleaned up the brass pickup at the stern of the tank, and built a new neoprene gasket, which upon inspection had held up pretty well (two years, little degradation). The picture here is from a few years ago before I cleaned it up with a wire brush and re-installed it.
https://garys22revenge.shutterfly.com/pictures/26
On to the tank. Here is the fill plate. Looks like a water intrusion candidate.
https://garys22revenge.shutterfly.com/pictures/118
After wrestling the fill hose off a little bit, a clear problem emerges.
https://garys22revenge.shutterfly.com/pictures/114
Upon removal, the hose is completely fused to the 90 degree fill, and is so heavily corroded I was able to easily snap it off. The aluminum was all highly pitted and corroded on both the top side and bottom side. The attachment ring on the inside of the tank was made of steel, and heavily rusted. This pic is after I cleaned the fill plate up a bit--terrible.
https://garys22revenge.shutterfly.com/pictures/111
At this point, pulling the tank still made sense, so I got after it. First with removal of the foam. I started with a hack saw blade, but found that a drywall saw was much more effective.
https://garys22revenge.shutterfly.com/pictures/110
And was eventually able to remove the tank. I actually only had to saw off half the foam to remove the tank, the foam had very little bonding power to the tank itself. The tank wall was very wet. Prior to tank removal I removed approximately 15 gallons of water from the tank cavity. In this pick you can see the foam still lightly bonded to the tank cavity side. I was able to remove it in one piece by simply stepping on it.
https://garys22revenge.shutterfly.com/pictures/107
https://garys22revenge.shutterfly.com/pictures/106
Now on to the tank. I hate the idea of an aluminum tank, as it will corrode. It is a certainty. There is not a great fit for an existing Moeller tank in the tank cavity. So I inspected the tank. The last gallon of gasoline was a terrible, mucky sludge.
https://garys22revenge.shutterfly.com/pictures/108
and after draining it, there were lots of pebbles and a stainless steel bolt in there.
https://garys22revenge.shutterfly.com/pictures/109
The tank itself was structurally sound, with no leaks, but its shape is deformed, reducing the tank volume to 55 gallons from the original 70, as you can see in theses picture links. The bottom of the tank (at the bottom of the V-part of the tank) moves up to 5-inches towards the top of the tank.
https://garys22revenge.shutterfly.com/pictures/101
https://garys22revenge.shutterfly.com/pictures/100
https://garys22revenge.shutterfly.com/pictures/99
Now I am looking for advice. Do I re-use the tank and have a new fill and vent plate manufactured? I assume that a tank shop could weld me up one. Or, do I spend the money on the new tank? All advice is appreciated.
On a side note, the foam that held the tank in place was mostly dry throughout which surprised me, as you can see from this cross sectional picture.
https://garys22revenge.shutterfly.com/pictures/105