Project Log: Wednesday, December 8, 2010
I took part of a day to visit a local tank builder, whom
I'd decided to use to build the custom tankage for this
boat. It was helpful to meet the people involved,
see the operation, and discuss the various details of
some of the tanks in person before making the final
commitment.
After obtaining quotations from a number of companies,
and in several different materials--welded plastic,
aluminum, and stainless steel--I elected to hire Triple
M plastics of Kennebunk, ME to build the tanks from
nitrogen-welded 3/8" polypropylene. The reasons
behind my choice involved not only price, but
convenience, past experience with the company, customer
service, and the nature of the intended installation for
the tankage.
Since the new tanks located outboard of the engine room
would be relatively tight to the hull, and similarly
confined on their inboard edges, I was concerned that
aluminum fuel tanks would be challenging to install
properly. Aluminum tanks are fine as long as there
is good air circulation around the tank, and as long as
any moisture is able to drain and dry. In my
intended installation, I'd have to build fairly complex
support cradles against the hull to hold the tanks in
place while providing the requisite ventilation, which
seemed an unnecessary annoyance and time drain
considering that plastic tanks could be simply foamed
into position.
The quotes I received for building any of the tanks from
stainless steel were incredibly high--even worse than
I'd expected--so I was able to quickly eliminate
stainless steel from consideration for any of the tanks.
Preparing for this meeting, I'd ordered three fuel tank
sending units, which the company would install for me.
The day before my appointment, the units I'd ordered
arrived, but unfortunately the supplier erred and sent
only one of the correct ones; two others were intended
for use in water tanks, not fuel. I called and
straightened out the problem, but this meant that I was
unable to deliver the senders when I went to my
appointment, though the supplier was going to drop-ship
the proper senders directly to the tank company.
In this photo, the correct sender is the one on the
left, made from aluminum. The two darker-colored
ones on the right are the incorrect water tank senders,
made from PVC. |
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