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Tankage material
- Thread starter mjsiega
- Start date
starcrafttom
Active member
if you are looking at gas motors make sure the tanks are not fiberglass. many older boats have glass tanks, and they are great, but now that ethanol is in the gas it eats up glass tanks and the goo end up in your engine. I think alum or plastic are the best chooses.
Plastic water tanks eventual give that "plastic" taste. Not sure if you can filter that out. Plastic holding tanks eventually allow the smell to permeate through, plus they hold the smell and stain in them making them impossible to clean out. I know I tried cleaning all the hoses and holding tank in my boat once to no avail. I eventually just decided to get new hoses and a new tank. I read somewhere that you can wrap all your hoses in saran wrap to "slightly" with an emphasis on slightly, reduce the odor the hoses give off. There's a reason why a lot of boats for sale advertise "new head" or "never used head". I was thinking stainless for all would be best? How does stainless steel compare to aluminum for fuel tank construction?
Stainless or aluminum are not good holding tank materials. One of the best tank materials is monel--and there are a few boats with monel tanks around.
For gasoline aluminum is the best, as long as it is kept out of the water--foamed in tanks will not last long. If the aluminum tank is properly built and then etched, stronchium chromate epoxy primer and a good paint--then put on strips of plastic with 5200, and kept above bilge water it is good for both diesel and gasoline.
Water: SS is one of the better materials. But the seams have to be properly made. often the best tanks have only one side and the ends welded/soldered, with the other sides folded or bent.
For waste, the plastic remains the best. Odor is determined on how your use the tank and keep it clean. We have not had probelms for many years. Using fresh water helps, keeping the tank clean, and washing after use helps. Proper hoses and fittings help. Proper vents help.
For gasoline aluminum is the best, as long as it is kept out of the water--foamed in tanks will not last long. If the aluminum tank is properly built and then etched, stronchium chromate epoxy primer and a good paint--then put on strips of plastic with 5200, and kept above bilge water it is good for both diesel and gasoline.
Water: SS is one of the better materials. But the seams have to be properly made. often the best tanks have only one side and the ends welded/soldered, with the other sides folded or bent.
For waste, the plastic remains the best. Odor is determined on how your use the tank and keep it clean. We have not had probelms for many years. Using fresh water helps, keeping the tank clean, and washing after use helps. Proper hoses and fittings help. Proper vents help.
starcrafttom
Active member
why would foamed in tanks not last? my alum gas tanks are foamed in and have been in the boat since 84?? what should I look for as problems.
starcrafttom":1eq6eo8x said:why would foamed in tanks not last? my alum gas tanks are foamed in and have been in the boat since 84?? what should I look for as problems.
Tom- You'll no doubt get a more expert opinion on that question than I can offer, but from what I know about aluminum and it's alloys, the issue would be corrosion, eating away at the tank. One would want to be sure any salt water that gets to the tanks or between the foam and the tanks is washed out, and not left to attack the aluminum.
The other source of corrosion is when two dissimilar metals are in contact with each other. I would think the tanks are grounded both to drain away any static electricity upon fueling, and to provide a ground for a fuel gauge, if one is installed.
Now the rub! Connect a bunch of metal things up electrically like you do with a ground system in a boat, and you can create galvanic cells (batteries) in the process. These can drive corrosion of some of the parts at lightening speed!
The saving grace is that you have sacrificial zinc anodes on the motor and motor mounts, shafts, and other places in larger boats. The anodes are made of a more active metal (zinc) than any of the electrical, wiring, or other metal parts of the boat, and, since they're all connected together electrically, the more active zinc sacrifices itself away into the water instead of the rest of the metal, and therefore in the process protects the rest of the (metal) parts of the boat!
Therefore, I'd make sure the tanks didn't show any evidences of corrosion, usually shown as a powdery, whitish condition, and that they were grounded well, especially checking the connections, maybe even with a meter for resistance between the tank and a little further up the wires to see if the terminals were corroded and therefore resistant. We've all seen corroded wiring before, especially on some of the solderless connectors.
The other thing to check is to be sure your zincs are all there and connected well, without poor connectivity due to corroded bolt connectors and their threaded receivers on the motors.
Basically, you have to have the grounding system, and once you have it, then you have to have good zincs, and, to boot, everything has to be connected well.
And that's about what I know, or at least, think I know. I will add that I'd look closely at the welded seams of the tanks, as the welds are areas where the metal structure has the most irregularities, and may be more subject to corrosion than flat rolled extrusions. Ditto for the inlets and outlets and their welds.
By the way, can you see into the area around the tanks, etc., or is it all sealed up or painted?
You probably know a lot or most of this, but, as I said on the thread about posting, it sometimes makes sense to write so that everybody can understand what's being said, regardless of their own background. (Then, too, I'm just a retired science teacher, and can't help doing it!)
Say hello to Susan from Cathy and me!
Joe. :teeth :thup
Hey Tom-
Just reading over my earlier post, I find somewhat of an omission!
You don't want water, salt or otherwise,to lay around the tank, if possible.
Either seal it off completely, in a dry condition, after cleaning it up, or open it up so it can be washed out routinely and then left in a dry condition.
Water and air are good, but not trapped next to an aluminum structure that contains gasoline. Sooner or later, nature will find a way to reduce the aluminum to it oxides, just like it's done for billions of years.
That's why we mine aluminum oxide ore to get and smelt aluminum, not mine non-existent aluminum metal pockets within the Earth, although the parking lots from some tail-gate parties would be a richer source!
Joe. :teeth :thup
Just reading over my earlier post, I find somewhat of an omission!
You don't want water, salt or otherwise,to lay around the tank, if possible.
Either seal it off completely, in a dry condition, after cleaning it up, or open it up so it can be washed out routinely and then left in a dry condition.
Water and air are good, but not trapped next to an aluminum structure that contains gasoline. Sooner or later, nature will find a way to reduce the aluminum to it oxides, just like it's done for billions of years.
That's why we mine aluminum oxide ore to get and smelt aluminum, not mine non-existent aluminum metal pockets within the Earth, although the parking lots from some tail-gate parties would be a richer source!
Joe. :teeth :thup