... I'd rather not replace the tank. I do think things like this built 25 years ago may be better than what they are today. My tank is a stock tank, production mode, things like location of (brass, not alum) fittings, the access plate design & construction, they cut corners. If I had a custom tank made, I hope it would be bomber and just like I want. When I add up the costs to modify my existing tank ... buy new access plate, new fittings & tubes + any machine / shop work I can't or don't want to do, for a couple hundred dollars more, I get a brand new tank. Fabricators (of course they are) telling me 25 years out of an aluminum tank is right about the end of it's life. Not sure about you, but seems like with me whenever I contemplate doing something like this when I had the opportunity, and I didn't ? More times than not comes back to haunt me. When I see Greg's picture ... yuk ... for a couple hundred bucks I'll sleep at night.

I'm sort of looking at it like re-bedding a chainplate ... if it takes me a day to take it all apart, another day to put it all back together, if it's 25 years old, maybe I should replace it if the cost isn't too bad. If I wasn't doing anything on the tank, I wouldn't be replacing it until it did fail.

Calder says the same thing as you. He recommends the engine pick-up being no lower than 2" from the tank bottom, in order to avoid sucking up contaminants (you're in good company). On the other hand, that's why I'm installing a polisher, so I always have good clean fuel in the tank. Nevertheless, something to consider, thanks. With my tank configuration, the lowest part of the tank is a very small surface area, so perhaps I should raise the engine pick-up up a bit. Your point is well taken ... at a depth of 2", with my tank design, there is only 1.4 gallons in the tank ... so I probably should put the engine pick up at 2" or so.

And Tom ... no kidding, who likes to motor. This a Tartan 40. The 47 gallons has done just fine for some time, good point, we have never run out of fuel, but there are times on longer ventures where there is no fuel and I wished we had a bit more in the tank ... we can easily go 4-6 weeks of cruising where there is no fuel. Every year I try to figure out how to take weight OFF the boat, not put it on, so far I have not had to raise the waterline. That could be another 100 pounds I don't need. I have thought about doing some longer runs, Cape Cod-Bermuda, Bahamas-Bermuda, Bahamas-Cape Cod, the extra bit of fuel might come in handy, but that can easily be done with a baldder.

Thanks again, cheers, John