Fuel tank replacement and Bait tank Install in 18 Outrage

[FISHNFF]

I wanted to fall in love with my 1988 18 Outrage all over again do I thought I’d have done work done on her. H

31 years seemed long enough for an in-hull fuel tank that sees regular water intrusion. I had a local marine metal shop pull my original tank, which showed significant pitting on the sides and bottom, and fabricate a new slightly smaller tank with heavier gauge aluminum. Smaller because the fabricator allowed space aft to install an automatic bilge pump. The tank was not foamed in and was set on supports to allow water to flow aft.
All new hoses installed and original fill and vent were kept. A new fuel sender is now hooked up to the Yamaha I dash gauge.

The deck was lifted with console remaining and wires had adequate slack to allow the deck to rest on 4x4’s across the gunwales.

The only fault was an apparent factory defect. On the top lip of the rigging tunnel, there was a section maybe 8” ling without gelcoat, and the exposed chopped glass had almost no resin. Looks like during the hull layup Whaler missed a spot. Luckily being on the top lip of the tunnel, there was no standing water. There was some water intrusion into the foam, do the shop ground out the bad glass, removed the bad foam, reformed and reglassed the area. Sorry no pictures.
The deck was solid with no problems.

The second part while the deck was lifted was to install a Pacific Edge fiberglass bait tank in place where the seat would go. The fill and drain hoses were run under deck out through the bilge sump. The 3/4” intake runs out to a bait pump mounted on the trim tab and the 1 1/8” drain connects to a Y-valve in the bilge sump. One outlet runs out over the transom and the other outlet allows full drainage of the bait tank into the bilge.

Will follow up when I pick it up next week!

FISHNFF

[FISHNFF]

BTW the new tank should have a capacity of 55 gallons.

[FISHNFF]

I found the pic the shop took when they lifted the deck off of my 18 Outrage.