REMOVING AND INSTALLING A NEW ENGINE ROOM FUEL TANK IN KP 44 NATIVE DANCER

I had hoped that some other Peterson owner would present this project; since I’m not much of a computer guy, but since no one else has here goes.

       First let me caution you that if you don’t do grease and grime well, don’t even think of doing this project yourself. It was by far the dirtiest job that I have done on Native Dancer. Remember, the reason you are doing this project is that the tanks having been leaking diesel all over every surface in that enclosure for years, so every thing you touch is going to be diesel soaked.  The big issue in removing the tank is access, and the difficulty of the job is proportional to how much stuff that you have managed to squeeze on top of the tank enclosure over the years. In my case there is a 30 gallon auxiliary aluminum fuel tank, a Little Wonder water maker pump and a 110 volt refrigeration compressor. (photo 2) Other Peterson owners that I know who did this tank job do so in conjunction with the removal of the engine. I didn’t want to do that, and in order to make as much access space as possible I first removed the engine exhaust riser and the water lift muffler (photo 1) this will greatly increase your access and the platform under the water lift muffler on the port stringer will give you a small space to stand or rest your knee. Another helpful tip that I have used for years, is to find an old throw pillow and cover it with towel material and you can use this to rest your stomach on while you are lying across the engine valve cover to reach the other side of the engine. For this project you are going to spend a lot of time lying across that valve cover.  My boat has the Ford Lehman and practically every part you need to access is over on the other side of the engine, to include the oil dipstick, starter, alternator and engine driven refrigeration compressor. Once I had the exhaust system out of the boat I decided to next remove the auxiliary fuel tank which happened to be full and had to be drained. Because of the leak in the main tank I have for years carried 8 jerry jugs and a 40 gallon bladder tank that I strap to the cabin top on long passages. After years of slipping and sliding spilling diesel all over the deck trying to refuel the boat in a seaway with jerry jugs, I came up with this little pump idea (photo 14), I strapped a small fuel transfer pump to a piece of plywood and made up an inlet hose long enough to reach anywhere I might strap my jerry jugs and another hose to reach into my fuel fills. I installed a cigarette lighter plug for power in the cockpit, so now I never have to move the jugs; I just move the inlet hose from jug to jug and pump the diesel.  I also use this when refueling from the dinghy. I just keep the jugs in the dinghy and pump the fuel into the tanks. The point of all this is that in order to empty the aluminum tank, I put the hose down the fuel fill inlet and pumped the tank dry into my jerry jugs. The removal of the tank created enough room to easily remove the water-maker pump and refrigeration compressor leaving “only” the leaky tank to remove. This took me all of day one.

      Day two. 

 Before starting to remove the floor covering the tank, I took careful measurements of the existing floor. I drew lines with a magic marker around the perimeter where the plywood floor met the hull and walls to establish a line for the reinstallation of the new floor. Since I had no idea what the tank really looked like, I started by making a perimeter cut on the plywood floor about 6 inches in from all the walls.  I did this by setting the depth on a circular saw to just over ½ in and dropped it into the plywood. I then pried the plywood off exposing a blob of rust that didn’t much look like a tank (photo 3), I tried to take the plywood floor out in as large pieces as I could to use as templates for the new floor. I laid all these pieces on a sheet of plywood and laid out the dimensions for the new replacement floor. Once I had cut out the new floor, I also laid out the dimensions with blue masking tape of all the things that I plan to reinstall over the top of the tank. (photo 12).  In my case it will be the auxiliary fuel tank, the 110 volt refrigeration compressor and I will be adding a new Kubota diesel engine driving a 160 Amp alternator and refrigeration compressor. On my boat all of the tank enclosure was put together with stainless steel ring shank nails and trying to get those little buggers loose gave me a new respect for them. Don’t worry too much about doing any damage to anything tearing this out because you’re going to have to replace most of it. The only things I took care with was the enclosing walls, I didn’t want to turn this into a bigger project than it already was. I then scraped about 5 or 10 pounds of rust scale off the top of the tank and the leaks and holes became readily apparent. (photo 4)  I then took a long look at just how I was going to be able to lift the tank out. The tank is held in place with 4 2x2s glassed to the hull side and nailed to a ledger board on the engine side wall.  I cut the 2x2s away from the hull wall with a Sawzall; I then tried prying the tank up and out, and even rigged up a block and tackle, but could only move it around just a little. It seemed quite heavy, so I decided to investigate the inside of the tank. With the Sawzall equipped with a metal cutting blade I plunged into one of the existing rust holes and cut an opening into the  rusty tank top (photo 5) , to my surprise after having been abandoned for over 10 years the tank contained almost 15 gallons of diesel, that could pass for varnish. I had hoped that I would have the tank out this day, but the delay of having to dip out this diesel and get rid of it took the rest of day two.  

     Day three.  The work space is so cramped that it seems unlikely that more than one person can work there and with only one guy working,  the tank is just too awkward and heavy to take out in one piece,  so I decided that the easiest way was to cut it into two pieces. Once the fuel was removed the tank was light enough that I could pick the hull side up a few inches and jamb a piece of 2x4 under it to give  more room for my Sawzall blade to operate. I then extended my previous opening cuts to the hull and to the engine side wall making an opening in the top of the tank large enough to get the Sawzall down inside the tank. I then took a new Sawzall blade and broke it off so that it was about 1 inch longer than the stroke of the Sawzall. I did this to give   some assurance that I wasn’t going to cut into the hull when I made the bottom cut. This turned out to be not that big a problem as the stringers under the tank are about 2 inches thick and with the amount I was able to wedge the tank up, as long as you are somewhat careful with the angle you hold the tool, you can make this cut without seeing seawater. Once the bottom cut was done, I removed the wedge from the hull side and wedged the tank away from the engine side wall to give myself a little more clearance there. The whole cutting operation took no more than an hour. I then wrestled the smaller aft half of the tank up onto the forward side half and just slid it over the top of the engine valve cover and dropped it onto the floor of the pass-through. My wife and I then moved the main boom over the opening cockpit seat and rigged a block and tackle and hoisted the small end through the seat hatch opening (photo 6), once that was done I tackled the larger forward end. (photo 7) Unfortunately, no matter which way I twisted or turned it I could not get it to fit through the cockpit seat  opening , so I wrestled it into the aft cabin and lifted it up through the companionway door. Photo 8  shows the cavity left by the tanks removal. The stringers the tank rested on are in good shape, so I am leaving them. I then gave the whole area a cleaning, and degreasing. This completed the tank removal.

The New Tank:

        I had the new tank made of Aluminum and with its much lighter weight I can maneuver it around.  I gave some thought to having the tank made an inch or so smaller so that it would pass through the cockpit seat, but decided that would probably cause more fitting problem down below with its changed dimensions, instead I decided to take up the cockpit floor, and pass it through there.   For anyone interested in the dimensions of the tank see  photo  9  of my drawing that I made for the fabricator, as well as the photo of the new tank.(photo 10)

      I had the new tank made here in Townsville, Australia by Dick Beetham Aluminum Fabricators his price of $1,030 Aussie ($772. US) was $200 less than the local boat yard quoted me and about the same price I had paid to have the other fuel tank made in Ft. Lauderdale Florida fifteen years ago. Dick picked up the old tank pieces on Monday and had the new tank back to me on Friday. The new tank was an exact copy of the old with only minor changes to the fuel feed. The old tank was a gravity flow with the outlet at the engine side near the bottom. I had Dick install a suction tube system exiting out the top. The one thing I regret was not having an inspection port made, but I just didn’t think of it at the time.

The Re-installation:

         To remove the cockpit floor you first have to remove the steering pedestal. This requires disconnecting the steering cables and throttle and shift cables.  I took off the compass and disconnected one side of the chain from the steering cable and then dropped  it down the pedestal tube. Pay attention to which way the chain goes back on or you may end up turning left instead of right when you put it all back together.  In my case I took this opportunity to replace all the steering cables.  You can save yourself some grief if you disconnect the throttle and shift cables from the transmission and injector pump leaving them attached inside the pedestal and take all of that out as a unit. From there it is just a matter of unbolting the pedestal and lifting everything out. The lid to the  cockpit floor is held down by 24 1/4in. bolts, and came right out with no issues. 

       The most important  tip I can give you concerning the re-installation is to have everything removed along the side walls of the entry into the tank cavity. The  tank is going to have to go straight in, in the exact position that it sits in the boat, it will not go in sideways and then turn, the space is just not big enough.  If you have plenty of clearance along the fore and aft  walls it will be a piece of cake, if not you will use a lot of bad words and end up hurting your poor wife’s feelings, who is only doing her best to help. (You can tell which way I tried first.) I dropped the tank down through the cockpit floor opening onto my trusty pillow on top of the valve cover then tied a small line to the filler neck and another line with a slip knot around the small aft end of the tank. You will need these so that you can lift up on the far side of the tank as you hunch it into place. From there, I just slid it straight into the opening and using the ropes lifted the far side and slid some more until it just dropped into place  like it had always been there. (photo 11) Now it is just a matter of putting everything back that you took out, but that’s tomorrows job, it’s time for a few beers to celebrate. 

      The floor re-instalation in most cases is just straight forward carpentry. The tank is held down with 4 2x2s laid across the top of the tank and glassed  with several layers of glass tape and epoxy to the outboard hull and screwed to a cleat on the engine side wall, then  if you took careful measurements and used the old floor as a template the new plywood floor should drop right into place. Then it’s just a matter of plumbing the tank and reinstalling all the old stuff you took off and anything new you decided you could fit on the floor. In my case I moved the water maker to a new location and installed a small Kubota diesel driving a large 12 volt alternator and my refrigeration compressor.(photo 13)

       The tank removal and installation took a total of  4 days . Replacing the floor and re-plumbing and re-wiring took considerably longer especially in my case where I planned to install the Kubota diesel which required heavier stringers for its motor mounts. I spent over a month on the Kubota installation. It was way more work than I anticipated. The tank removal and installation was a greasy dirty job, but anyone who can do the other types of projects that I have been seeing on the web-site can easily accomplish it. I wish I had done it years ago.