We took Drift Away to the fuel dock to be pumped out last week. Before doing so, I ran the fuel polishing system to check for water in the tanks. Not only will a diesel not run on water, but it would mess things up real good. I turned on my homemade fuel polishing system and let it run for a bit and as usual, I removed gallons of water. Where is it coming from? The tanks are molded into the hull. Do we have a hole?
Jim on Sea Eagle suggested that rain water could be leaking in through the deck fills. That much? It seemed unlikely, but I decided to remove the caps to inspect them. The gaskets were intact, but kind of hard instead of soft and pliable like they should be. As part of my spare parts inventory, I have gasket material of the right thickness so I decided to make new ones.
I removed the old gasket and traced it onto the new material. I then simply cut it out with scissors.
LOL! Yeah, I know. It looks like crap. But would it seal? Maybe, maybe not. Time to try something else. How about an Exacto knife?
Not looking too bad, eh?
New gasket on the left, old one on the right.
~sigh~. Although it looks awful, I figure it will seal better than the old one and so I used it. I think, though, that I'll take Jim's advice and simply take one of the deck fill caps to the hardware store and get O-rings to fit.
Sometimes I take the long way around the barn.
Jim on Sea Eagle suggested that rain water could be leaking in through the deck fills. That much? It seemed unlikely, but I decided to remove the caps to inspect them. The gaskets were intact, but kind of hard instead of soft and pliable like they should be. As part of my spare parts inventory, I have gasket material of the right thickness so I decided to make new ones.
I removed the old gasket and traced it onto the new material. I then simply cut it out with scissors.
LOL! Yeah, I know. It looks like crap. But would it seal? Maybe, maybe not. Time to try something else. How about an Exacto knife?
Not looking too bad, eh?
New gasket on the left, old one on the right.
~sigh~. Although it looks awful, I figure it will seal better than the old one and so I used it. I think, though, that I'll take Jim's advice and simply take one of the deck fill caps to the hardware store and get O-rings to fit.
Sometimes I take the long way around the barn.
"O" rings and Teflon grease in the threads. That's what I do every spring ( the light grease part)but gallons of water seems horrifying and sound more like water in the diesel from the pump itself.
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