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Bertram31.com General Bulletin Board
Re: Fiberglass gas tanks and ethanol
Posted By: Ken Scheben In Response To: Re: Fiberglass gas tanks and ethanol (Harv)
Date: Monday, 19 June 2006, at 10:33 a.m.
I too have been running a Bert with 2 Fiberglass tanks from the mid 80s for the past 3 seasons. I have a blown head gasket on my starboard engine that is getting repaired this week and I am anxious to see if the "black goo" that so many have mentioned is present. I am assuming that if it is not there, then my tanks are liley to be OK since my understanding is that the goo comes from the leaching of resins from the fiberglass tanks. I live on Long Island and after having the E10 fuel in my fuel system for this length of time, I would guess that damage should be visible if there is a problem. I am keeping my fingers crossed at this point.
I have been told that if my tanks need to be replaced, the total cost of the job would be roughly $10K (for aluminum tanks). Most of that cost would come from replacement of the forward tank which seems to run from the port to starboard side and would require at least 1 engine to be removed to extract the tank.
I would be anxious to hear of any results that are achieved from recoating the inside of the tank. It would be the only reasonably inexpensive option for me if I do end up finding the black goo.
Ken S.
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