posted 07-08-2011 10:45 AM ET (US)            

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When I replaced the tank in my 21 Outrage I siphoned from the fill tube. I expected there to be a gallon or so left in the tank, but I was almost completely dry when I pulled it.

If you're worried about getting every last drop you could put the siphon hose through the pick-up tube and jack up the front of the trailer. That's about the best you could do. Not sure what kind of varnish/residue will be left on the tank walls, however.

posted 07-08-2011 12:09 PM ET (US)            

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It sounds like you have an older Outrage or Revenge style tank set up. The pick up hose would be best. When you got it as empty as possible, I would put in a couple gallons of fresh gas with ethanol in it, slosh it around, pump/siphon it out, fill the tank with clear gasoline and Seafoam or some other quality fuel treatment and pump put another gallon to clear your feed line and filter.

Have a couple of spare hydrosorb filters and a means to install them. How old is this tank? The hoses might be shot.

John

posted 07-08-2011 04:49 PM ET (US)            

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You don't have "old gas"--you have extremely old gas. Ten-year-old gasoline would be quite suspect in my opinion.

I'd just remove as much of the gasoline from the fuel system as I could using the existing hoses to extract it from the tank. You should be able to remove all but a tiny fraction of the tank's capacity. Then fill the tank with fresh gasoline. Any old gasoline will be only in a weak concentration in the new fuel.

posted 07-08-2011 04:57 PM ET (US)            

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I would pull a few fuel samples into a glass jar as well. We all know the gas is dead, but you also want to check for scale, and debris. You could have a quarter tank of gas and water.

Has the boat not been used in 10 years, or just the tank?

Since you have separators/filters I would plan on have spare filters ready to go the first time you get some serious sloshing in the tank.

posted 07-09-2011 12:39 PM ET (US)            

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On my 22 Outrage I can access the pickup tube plate thru the floor. With some ingenuity I was able to make a tool to allow me to remove the screws that held it down. I then used a siphon and pump to remove ALL of the old fuel and gunk that was sitting below the level of the pickup tubes.

I replaced the gasket with a fresh one from Florida Marine Tanks. I also used bolts with socket caps (for use with a hex key (Allen wrench) to make any future removal a little easier.