Bobincourtenay
Recruit
- Joined
- Dec 31, 2018
- Messages
- 3
Another old man with his first boat.
An irrational decision led me to purchase an old Sangster 18' fiberglass inboard/outboard boat on a good trailer.
I have not had it in the water yet.
The aluminum decal on the transom is illegible so I don't know the vintage.
I have spoken to two of the three previous owners and they all enjoyed the boat and did not dissuade me from carrying on.
A used 1988 3.0 liter Mercruiser was installed somewhere along the way.
I have run the engine which starts and idles well.
I am reasonably confident in it and the leg serviceability although time will tell.
I am mechanically inclined and handy, have been around boats but knowledgeable enough to know that I do not know much about owning and maintaining a boat that will be primarily in salt water (Comox B.C. Canada) therefore, I hope this forum will be a good source of reliable information
#1 problem - In the first week of my relationship with this boat, I discovered a gasolene leak into the bilge and discovered that the original in-floor fuel tank had been replaced with an aluminum tank which was corroded to the point of not being able to hold any fuel.
I have had a replacement aluminum tank made that fits under the floor boards running between the stringers.
The filler, vent and suction ports are at the stern end of the tank.
One problem that I noticed about the original piping was that both the filler and suction hoses were running under the engine (lower than the ports that they serviced) then back up to the tank.
I could not fathom how the tank could be vented because I imagined that fuel would reside in the loop under the engine preventing air to pass into the tank. I reasoned that I would install the replacement vent hose above that line.
Then I thought that that I would have a pipe installed internally from the vent port to the front of the tank reasoning that the air would make it to the higher elevation in the tank where a void would be created as the fuel was consumed.
After having received the replacement tank, I realized that that may not work either because although perhaps an improvement of the previous layout, fuel would get into the pipe and flow towards the stern anyway and may prevent air from getting into the tank again.
I tend to over-analyze things and hope that I am missing something because this 30+ year old boat must have run with some form of this ventilation system.
The fuel filler port is at the top of the transom and is by far the highest point and I wonder if fuel came out the breather at the side of the boat before topping out the filler neck.
I hope that one of you can envision what I am trying to explain and perhaps talk me off of this ledge.
I have lots of photos on my phone but cannot load them onto this page although I could email them to an interested respondent.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
Bob
An irrational decision led me to purchase an old Sangster 18' fiberglass inboard/outboard boat on a good trailer.
I have not had it in the water yet.
The aluminum decal on the transom is illegible so I don't know the vintage.
I have spoken to two of the three previous owners and they all enjoyed the boat and did not dissuade me from carrying on.
A used 1988 3.0 liter Mercruiser was installed somewhere along the way.
I have run the engine which starts and idles well.
I am reasonably confident in it and the leg serviceability although time will tell.
I am mechanically inclined and handy, have been around boats but knowledgeable enough to know that I do not know much about owning and maintaining a boat that will be primarily in salt water (Comox B.C. Canada) therefore, I hope this forum will be a good source of reliable information
#1 problem - In the first week of my relationship with this boat, I discovered a gasolene leak into the bilge and discovered that the original in-floor fuel tank had been replaced with an aluminum tank which was corroded to the point of not being able to hold any fuel.
I have had a replacement aluminum tank made that fits under the floor boards running between the stringers.
The filler, vent and suction ports are at the stern end of the tank.
One problem that I noticed about the original piping was that both the filler and suction hoses were running under the engine (lower than the ports that they serviced) then back up to the tank.
I could not fathom how the tank could be vented because I imagined that fuel would reside in the loop under the engine preventing air to pass into the tank. I reasoned that I would install the replacement vent hose above that line.
Then I thought that that I would have a pipe installed internally from the vent port to the front of the tank reasoning that the air would make it to the higher elevation in the tank where a void would be created as the fuel was consumed.
After having received the replacement tank, I realized that that may not work either because although perhaps an improvement of the previous layout, fuel would get into the pipe and flow towards the stern anyway and may prevent air from getting into the tank again.
I tend to over-analyze things and hope that I am missing something because this 30+ year old boat must have run with some form of this ventilation system.
The fuel filler port is at the top of the transom and is by far the highest point and I wonder if fuel came out the breather at the side of the boat before topping out the filler neck.
I hope that one of you can envision what I am trying to explain and perhaps talk me off of this ledge.
I have lots of photos on my phone but cannot load them onto this page although I could email them to an interested respondent.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
Bob
