1985 Bayliner 2450 Ciera Sunbridge Restoration underway!

[kcassells]

I will say if you have the resources, space etc it is the way to go. Mickey rebuilds @ 5 boats a year.

 

[Ciera2450]

Thank you all for the advice! I spent a lot of time thinking about this over th weekend. Didn’t get much actual work done trying to figure out what to do. I was only wanting to pull the tank since I had the engine stingers out for rebuild and thought it would be a simple task to just slide it aft, pull it out and check it out. There were no leaks or issues, but I’m convinced to remove it for full inspection one way or the other.

Luckily the stringers are solid. The cockpit area and forward cabin are solid. I believe the cabin and self draining helm area helped keep things dry over the years. The rotted engine stringers and transom are from who knows how many PO,s drilling holes to mount crap and never using sealant or even stainless hardware many times!

The actual outward stringers in the engine bay are solid and all test holes all the way forward are where I can get to them to test.

Back to to the fuel tank removal... let me know your thoughts on my idea please..

i tried to get better pics to show you the area and where I’d plan to cut an access.

Here he is from the stern area. The tank is slid out slightly in this pic. It actually tucks all the way under the bulkhead.

E5BBEB60-C163-4D21-8980-7D43152DD08D by Ciera 2450, on Flickr

This is from the rear berth area with the current access panel removed. That was fun trying wiggle, maneuver, fold the mattress out of there!! Not!

A1A9D13C-CD96-4C64-B4D9-0C607D8A7710 by Ciera 2450, on Flickr


The current access panel cut out isn’t quite wide enough. I’d have to cut an additional 3” or so on each side for the tank width. And about 5” toward the bow of the floor. I would then cut the same width and about 8” upward out of the vertical bulkhead. I think I could cut and remove it all as one piece (imagine shaped like an L ). Then just glass it back in after reinstalling the tank. Tho, I could only glass from the top side. Thoughts on this approach? I’m still not entirely and completely opposed to cap removal but I don’t think this would be too difficult to do and still allow me to get the tank out since I’ve got it stuck in my head to remove and check it out now.
Thanks again for all your advice and insights!

 

[Ciera2450]

Micky I’m kind of liking your idea of just lifting the rear of the cap enough to remove the tank. I don’t have a lot of room but could do that where the boat is sitting now. The gantry I built for the engine removal is in place there already too! I’m doing all this work in my carport and the boat itself just fits. Decisions, decisions. Ahhhhhh the pressure!!!!!!

Either route, I’m pulling the trigger on something by Wednesday. Grinding party set for Thursday! Had a buddy volunteer to help. Don’t think he knows what he’s in for. Lol

 

[kcassells]

Case a beer that day! Whatever you do cut out to put back will work. Add a set of cleats to the underside of the glass opening then lay your pcs. back in, glass and finish.

 

[mickyryan]

nice part about keeping front cap on and lifting back is you can slide it out and back in without worrying about hanging whole cap in air

 

[Ciera2450]

Alright folks! Tank is out. That bulkhead is tabbed front back and bottom edges all the way around. After pulling off the foil insulation stuff and carpet on the inside of it, I could see more of how it was assembled. Apologies, I should’ve dug deeper originally. Bayliner must have sealed the tank in and then dropped the cap.

C9A302C1-1CF5-47CE-9213-65611FD29572 by Ciera 2450, on Flickr

AA36DBB3-E404-45A2-9433-2076014DFC63 by Ciera 2450, on Flickr
A48A1CE7-C94A-4DCD-959E-E4765DBC6D7A by Ciera 2450, on Flickr

9DF36B71-B3A9-46B0-92B5-B8F4A6F83BC8 by Ciera 2450, on Flickr

Here is the tabbing on the bottom of said bulkhead and the next you can see the carpet peeking through at the very top of the bulkhead that is on the berth ceiling (helm area deck, partof the cap). The bulkhead does appea to support the cap in this area but does not appear attached to it. Maybe they laid the tank, then the decking for the berth floor and then the bulkhead.....? I dunno

0D07166B-90EF-40E5-9CCF-75A2A86BA033 by Ciera 2450, on Flickr

481E87DF-68EB-476A-B7E6-7E66174D230C by Ciera 2450, on Flickr


Tank is out! You can see here that I cut the bulkhead vertically 12” and the berth floor forward 16”. This gave me just enough and a little extra wiggle room to get the tank out. I cut right along the stringers without cutting into them. ( or the tank!)

9DF36B71-B3A9-46B0-92B5-B8F4A6F83BC8 by Ciera 2450, on Flickr


i pressure washed it to see what I’m working with. It doesn’t look too bad! There are 15 or so tiny pitted areas that I’ve found so far on the bottom. The sides and top are still shiny aluminum. How can I fill these pits? JB weld? and is regular ZC primer and then paint ok on a tank? I will be cleaning up the area where the tank sits and it will likely free up some vertical room to install the neoprene strips to the bottom of the tank with glue. There is globbed resin and matte all over where it sat. Grinding all that out should give me a hair of room to compensate for the neoprene to be glued to the tank bottom before sliding it back in. It almostt looks like they resined the tank in. Just big globs of resin with a little matte in it in various places all over. There are marks on the tank that match the resin blobs. Also, there is a bonding tab and nothing was attached to it! Not good.


20DA41B6-7D5E-4D16-9170-CD83F5984624 by Ciera 2450, on Flickr


A5B0D80E-1881-4740-8FB6-1D071ECF312A by Ciera 2450, on Flickr


Wasn’t nearly bad as I was imagining. Under an hour and the tank was out. Thank you all for the advice on this!
Guess what’s happening tomorrow?!!!!!???? Lol

53102300-DAB1-4335-9942-C5BF85DA2ED4 by Ciera 2450, on Flickr

 

[Ciera2450]

Btw, with he big hole into the interior of my boat now, I will be taping plastic all around the area prior to grinding to keep most of the dust out of the cabin. I will have to really clean out the berth area very well when done. That’s where I sleep and I don’t want itchies all night long! :lol:

 

[kcassells]

Good for you! Do a 2lb. pressure test on the tank.

 

[zool]

Congrats on getting the tank out Ciera,, Yes, JB weld will work fine, I used it on mine. what u want to do is clean out the pitted areas with a wire wheel, til u get to white metal, then clean with solvent and fill.

I also prepped the tank with Alodyne and Alumiprep, then used por15 silver to coat it all, but u can etch and paint it with oil based paint if u like. POR15 is moisture cured, so its perfect for a below deck tank

 

[zool]

This was the pits filled and sanded

Alodyne treatment

POR 15 Silver

you seem to have less pits than I did. Xylene
cleaned out any shellac from old fuel on the inside.

 

[Ciera2450]

Thanks guys! I was really noodling on what to do but it worked out easier than expect d getting it out.

Zool, really appreciate the pics! Can the alodyne and POR15 be had locally anywhere’s? Like an Auto parts store? I can’t say I e ever seen it, but wasn’t looking either. I like the properties of that stuff. I will likely flush the inside out for good measure but I’ve run 1000’s of gallons through it over the years. It’s only been sitting for a couple months over winter.

that reminds me.... I gotta get moving! :joyous: It’ll be warming up here soon! Goal is mid March to have her back together for the season.

 

[Ciera2450]

Kcassels, I will pressure test the tank just to be sure! I’ve got an old foot action bike pump and I think I can rig something up.

 

[zool]

The Alodyne will be at a local PPG auto paint store under their product number DX503

The Alumiprep will be under product number DX533

POR 15 is stocked at NAPA autoparts

Online, aircraft spruce carries it as BONDERITE M-CR 1201 for alodyne and BONDERITE C-IC 33 AERO for alumiprep.

The combo with the por15 is bullitproof and well worth the effort for a tank you hope to never revisite again

 

[froggy1150]

If you look under their fuel tank epoxies at aircraft spruce they have better stuff rated for aircraft fuel for aluminium tanks. Don't remember name off top of my head. I can try to look it up tomorrow if I remember at work. What I did was I took aluminum brazing rod and filled the deep pits (that was tricky to not damage tank). Then used that epoxy in other areas. Took it to 10 psi and it held for 3 days. I think epoxy was rated 15 psi and had this flexible stretch rating.

 

[mickyryan]

I went with poly tank on mine because of the ethenol in fuel now i figured it wouldn't play nice with aluminum tanks and mine was quite harder to get out then yours, glad it worked out

 

[kcassells]

Nice go at it Ciera!

 

[kcassells]

Kcassels, I will pressure test the tank just to be sure! I’ve got an old foot action bike pump and I think I can rig something up.

Stick to the 2 lbs test for 12 hrs. There are cases where the baffles have blown out and/or the tank lost it's shape with over pressure.

 

[mickyryan]

foot pump might takes you days to get 2psi lol

 

[Ciera2450]

Good point! Lol It’s a big tank. I’ll really use the compressor but have heard bad stories of folks over doing it. And baffled blowing out or tank rupture as kcassels mentioned. One guy I knew the gauge and hose he had attached blew off and he now has a nice scar in his forehead. Gotta be careful.

 

[froggy1150]

This is the epoxy I used on my tank. They have several in this class. I did the research last year and don't quite remember exactly why I chose this one. I think it was the application to brush/spread on