New 25 gal tanks/cleat/coverboard install.

M

Mighty Bite

New member
Among other projects, I finished installing a pair of the new 25gal capacity tanks from C-Dory. In resolving the cleat situation, I drilled out the old cleat screwholes so I was dealing with clean material, filled the holes with epoxy and gel coated to finish them off. I then put a seal coat on the new front (marine plywood) cleats, after which I fiberglassed them to the cockpit floor. This is essentially what the factory is now doing on their installations. I used aluminum angle to attach the strap loop for the tank and screwed the angle down to the cleats, flat side forward. Then I installed a pair of the new style fiberglass coverboards to the front of the cleats/angle.

The lateral cleats for the tanks I mounted to the underside of the splashwell as opposed to putting them on the floor. For this I used a couple thick pieces of composite deck material.

I went a step further and borrowed an idea from Ted Heuer of "Sea Duck" and we cut a sight slot in the front of the coverboards so it would be easy to view the fuel level at a glance and to monitor the level while filling the tanks, which has always been a problem for me. The end result made for a very functional, sanitary and sharp looking install. I have pics of it in my 3rd Byte album if you want to check it out.
 
Very nice job! Perfect! The cutouts for viewing the fuel level along with the level markings are a great touch. You'll be proud of your job every time you look back there.

My boat is presently at Les's and should be completed soon. She has the new tanks, covers and cleat arrangement, and I have to say that the factory's new setup is very nice. Rather than looking like an afterthought, the new design looks like it belongs. Clean and simple. I especially like how the new cover boards, well, cover.

Again, great job! :thup
Corwin
 
Wow, That is some nice work! Very nice install. You should be happy with that for a long time to come. I really like the view slots for the fuel.
 
Very Nice Job!! YES....the fuel view holes are extrodinare !! WOW...what a concept...being able to SEE your fuel...even when ...or especially when refueling. GREAT JOB! and.... I like that counter cover and shelf too over the wallas. One smooth level spot... Cool.
 
Very nice job! I have a question though. You stated that
I then put a seal coat on the new front (marine plywood) cleats, after which I fiberglassed them to the cockpit floor.
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As I look at the image of your floor cleat I don't see any fiberglass mat, cloth, or woven roving. Did you simply secure it with catalyzed polyester resin or perhaps epoxy(West System)? Also, did you remove the blue paint from the floor before you bonded the cleat? And finally, I think I see three bolts protruding from the bottom of the under-splashwell block. Is it thru-bolted? I must say that your projects show remarkable workmanship! I too have the 25gallon tanks (since January)and was going to install them with Stainless Steel threaded inserts. However, your approach has one significant advantage.
Look Ma, no holes!
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Adeline, I didn't do a good job of sequentially documenting the steps w/ pics, so I'll try & fill in any holes in the process.

I used West System epoxy to seal the marine plywood cleats. That isn't blue paint on the floor, it is gray gelcoat which I cleaned and lightly sanded where the cleat was going to be adhered to the floor. Cleaned same with acetate before bonding. The floor isn't flat as you know, so I took a 2"x4" cut to fit underneath the side trays amd span the width of the cockpit. Place a jack in the center of the boat to hold the 2"x4" snugly against the bottom of the trays. This gave me a way to reverse jack (if you will) the cleats tightly against the cockpit floor. Worked great, and I bonded the cleats to the floor with West System epoxy. After it cured I removed all the junk, jacks, 2"x4", blocks, etc. from the cockpit and proceeded to cut fiberglass cloth to fit the cleats, lapping the floor by about an inch or so. I stapled the cloth to the cleat on each end to keep it from shifting and proceeded to wet it, here again with West Syst. I applied one layer of cloth, and in all 3 coats of West.

The lateral cleats are bolted thru the splashwell.

The thing I worried about most was having enough spacing to fit the floorboards in after I finished. Spent a week hemming an hawing before I pulled the trigger on the job. Measured 50 times, cut once kind of thing. It worked out perfect, as the floorboards wound up fitting perfectly and I maintained the maximum expansion space for the tanks that would be possible to get, which varied from 3/8" to 1/2" north and south.

Another word on the sight cut outs. Pack a lunch! It is no wonder these boats are rugged. The glass is some kind of tough stuff. We cut them out with a router (sharp bits too) and it was a tough job. The router would only take off such a small amount at a time. It took about 30 passes to cut out the 1 3/4" wide slot. On the second board, we drilled a hole on either end of the slot, made a centerline and drilled overlapping holes (one size smaller) the rest of the way down the slot. That saved routing out a lot of material and proved to be much faster. Using a jig saw to cut the slot after the initial holes are drilled would probably be faster but I'd wager you better have a little backlog of blades. Plus you would have a litle more finish work to do to clean up the edges than a router.

If the factory could work the sight slot into their coverboards that would be really cool. They are always looking to improve and upgrade their product so I think it may be a realistic possibility.

Didn't mean to make a novel out of this, sorry for being so wordy, but hope this may clear up your questions.
 
Nice job on your installation! Information like this to me is the beauty of this site. BTW I'm going to copy your installation when I get time; I've been dissatisfied with my 25 gal tank retrofit since it was done 3 years ago. Regards, Mike on Westward
 
Thank you for the detailed explanation. With gas prices skyrocketing those tanks could save us some money when we fill up ashore instead of @ the marina. For example, ocean salmon out of Ilwaco, Washington usually requires a fill-up after 2-3 trips. I should be good for 4 or 5 after my re-fit. For me, that's a typical trip.
 
Mark,

Nice job! The detailed information is exactly what we want.

I also have a 2004 22 and have a couple of questions. Are these the tanks that came with your boat? They look the same as the ones that came with mine but I don't think they will hold exactly 25gal - something slightly less. Are the covers from C-Dory? Is the factory using a newer cover than what I have? It seems to cover all the way to the underside of the splash well while mine only go up to the top of the tanks and are starboard.

Thanks,
Steve
 
Thanks for the nice comments. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.

Steve, I picked my boat up in late June of '04. Chances are your tanks are the same as mine. If that is the case, you have 20 gallon tanks and the old style cleat coverboard setup. So you definitely have the older style (pre 6 or 8 weeks ago) coverboards.

I ordered a pair of the new style (Moeller, I believe) 25 gal. tanks this spring and when I found out they had re-engineered the cleat installation and come up the new style coverboards, I ordered these as well. All from C-Dory. The fact that the new system is not predicated on drilling holes in the cockpit floor is a big plus

I wanted the extra fuel capacity and when I saw how they engineered the new coverboards I couldn't resist those. C-Dory has not been installing the new coverboards very long as they are a brand new upgrade. They did a great job engineering them. The coverboards are fiberglass as opposed to starboard making them easy to clean and they look like they belong. They are roughly 1/4" fiberglass around the perimeter of the board with a thin (guessing 3/8" balsa core in the main portion of the board. Perhaps as a stiffener for the board.

Another, little item of note regarding the new tanks. On the 20 gal tanks, which I replaced, the fill spout had an inside diameter of .90. The new 25 gal tanks have an ID of close to l.10. Doesn't sound like a big deal but the new tanks fill faster with less propensity to barf back, and will fill fuller easier than my old tanks did. Geez, I realize my sentence structure is wanting but I hope you caught my meaning.

Bottom line is that the folks at C-Dory are listening to us, and most importantly are serious about continuing to take the extra steps to make these great boats even better! I like it!
 
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