JoLin
Vice Admiral
- Joined
- Aug 18, 2007
- Messages
- 5,146
This applies to the 1999 Chris Craft Express Cruiser I'm planning to buy, and I'll describe the layout and issue as well as I can.
When I first went to sea trial the boat, I popped the deck inspection hatch over the (enclosed) fuel compartment and got a definite gas odor. My surveyor wasn't there that day, but my friend (a former surveyor and friend of MY surveyor who was filling in for him) didn't want to take it out (neither did I). The broker called in a mechanic that same day who checked all the hoses and thought the problem was with the gasket between the tank and sending unit. He replaced it and we rescheduled the sea trial.
Yesterday before the trial first thing I did was to pop that hatch again, and I smelled a gasoline odor again. It was obvious that the mechanic had replaced the sending unit. This time my surveyor was there with me. He looked over all the hoses again, found another inspection hatch next to the mid-cabin, sniffed in there and smelled nothing. He poked down around the sides of the tank and found no raw gas or anything sticking to his "probe" that smelled like gas. His conclusion was that the fuel compartment (not the tank, the compartment) was poorly ventilated- a C-C design flaw. We left the hatch open for awhile and the odor dissipated significantly. Closed it back up and by the time we returned from the sea trial the odor was all but gone.
If you picture the design of this boat, from the stern forward, there's the engine bay, then a full bulkhead, then the plastic fuel tank (compartment), then another full bulkhead that forms the back wall of the mid-berth. The surveyor noted that the tank was very securely mounted, the hoses looked fine, and he doubted there was any leakage from the tank itself based on his probe test. He suggested I might want to vent the rear of the fuel compartment and run an exhaust hose through the engine bay to an exhaust vent on the outside of the hull. I'd have some fabricating to do.
I've also read a blurb or 2 on the net that indicates that a plastic tank can allow some fumes to pass through the material.
Looking for some thoughts on this topic. Thanks.
When I first went to sea trial the boat, I popped the deck inspection hatch over the (enclosed) fuel compartment and got a definite gas odor. My surveyor wasn't there that day, but my friend (a former surveyor and friend of MY surveyor who was filling in for him) didn't want to take it out (neither did I). The broker called in a mechanic that same day who checked all the hoses and thought the problem was with the gasket between the tank and sending unit. He replaced it and we rescheduled the sea trial.
Yesterday before the trial first thing I did was to pop that hatch again, and I smelled a gasoline odor again. It was obvious that the mechanic had replaced the sending unit. This time my surveyor was there with me. He looked over all the hoses again, found another inspection hatch next to the mid-cabin, sniffed in there and smelled nothing. He poked down around the sides of the tank and found no raw gas or anything sticking to his "probe" that smelled like gas. His conclusion was that the fuel compartment (not the tank, the compartment) was poorly ventilated- a C-C design flaw. We left the hatch open for awhile and the odor dissipated significantly. Closed it back up and by the time we returned from the sea trial the odor was all but gone.
If you picture the design of this boat, from the stern forward, there's the engine bay, then a full bulkhead, then the plastic fuel tank (compartment), then another full bulkhead that forms the back wall of the mid-berth. The surveyor noted that the tank was very securely mounted, the hoses looked fine, and he doubted there was any leakage from the tank itself based on his probe test. He suggested I might want to vent the rear of the fuel compartment and run an exhaust hose through the engine bay to an exhaust vent on the outside of the hull. I'd have some fabricating to do.
I've also read a blurb or 2 on the net that indicates that a plastic tank can allow some fumes to pass through the material.
Looking for some thoughts on this topic. Thanks.
