Gas on top of tank

[Duckman224]

Today, 09:43 PM
I own a 2003 18' Angler center console. I bought the boat new, sold it to a friend and recently got it back. The boat has been covered and hasn't been used in 3 seasons. I recently took the cover off and began to clean her up. I noticed the smell of fuel when I was cleaning out the bilge area. I opened the portholes on the deck and noticed gas on the top of the fuel tank, not flowing but wet and ran my finger under the foam that's holding the tank in place and got a muddy looking mushy mess of gas smelling slop. I'm just a little confused as to why there is gas on top of the tank? Evaporation? There's a vent line that runs from the tank to the top to the fuel fill and looks like it should just recirculate bank into the tank. There isn't much room to really see much. I shined a flashlight down the fill line but I see no light inside the hull. Now before I go cutting the floor out to get to the tank I was wondering if anyone has had a similar issue or any information that could lead me in the right direction.

 

[tpenfield]

I would not go cutting the deck or using power tools in general until you have drained the tank and relieved the gas issues. Could go Boom

 

[Scott Danforth]

your going to have to remove the floor

drain the tank, flood the area with water

 

[tpenfield]

Is there a large hatch area over the tank that can be removed without cutting the deck itself? Looks like (from pics on the web) that you may need to remove the center console and the helm seat to access a large hatch that can be removed. That should get you access to the fuel tank without cutting.

Got any pics to post?

 

[Duckman224]

Unfortunately the floor has to be cut in order to get to the tank. The boat went back to the manufacturer in 2006 because of a loose and leaking gas tank. They replaced the tank. You can see the old repair job as the gel coat has worn off the floor a little. It's about a 1 inch strip in the shape of a large rectangle that fixes the floor were it was cut. I was thinking I could sand that down and prob see where there saw line was and just follow that. I'll try and get some pics on here soon. I'm still a little baffled as to why there is fuel on the top of the tank. I can shake the boat while I'm standing in it and there is still some gas in the tank. It dose not appear that it is coming from under the tank and up over the sides.

 

[ahicks]

Connections for fill and vent lines, as well as the sending unit/fuel line pick up would all be potential areas that could leak on to the top of the tank.

 

[Duckman224]

Cleaned everything up the best I could, checked all fittings and it appears to be slowly coming up from around the sending unit. I'll be removing it and prob replacing it.