Access to Fuel Tanks

[Chuck Waygood]

Halcyon had asked and others my be interested in accessing your fuel tanks from above for clean out or other purposes. The former owner of my 35 TE fly bridge had fuel problems (long story) and had hatches cut in the deck, as well as standard fuel inlets put into each tank. Photos are attached showing the hatches and the inlet in the main (center tank). I will try and respond to any questions.

A-List Fuel Hatches 007.jpg

A-List Fuel Hatches 003.jpg

[skye peak]

thanks for the photos. I have to replace the fuel level sending unit and that looks like the best
way to do and have future access for maintence.

[Halcyon]

Chuck, thanks for the pictures, very helpful. In the picture of the center tank's top I can see the fuel guage sender just above the '12' in the photo date and I assume the "Diesel" filler was added for access. My guess is the two larger hoses (first and third to the port side of the guage sender) are the supplies and the second and fourth are fuel returns. My boat appears to have the tank vents coming out of the side of the tank at the top by the filler. I'm guessing the other hoses we see are vent lines passing through the area? What is the line furthest to starbord with the valve, a gen set?

[Chuck Waygood]

Halcyon, you are correct on the fill and return lines and the other two are the vent lines. The third hose to starboard was part of the Floscan system installed on the boat. It has a snap in end just aft of the valve and presumably went to a floscan canister on the starboard aft side. Since I am not familiar with how that system works, I do not know the effect of the dead end at the valve. I am attaching a couple of additional pics, one showing the main tank through the bumper hatch and you can see the sight glass on the left of the tank. The center hatch has two "supports" above the tank to avoid compression of the hatch. And then you see the right hatch and the fill for that tank. This boat has an interesting history and was equipped with everything for a 76 year old retired Navy Commander, who ran it for 8 years. I have a way to go to restore all the systems.

[skye peak]

very interesting, I made a "sight glass" tee'd into my genset feed line.

so your genset appears to be aft of center tank? not offset to port? what size generator and what
year is the boat?

[Chuck Waygood]

Yes, genset is aft of center tank and is 8kw. The boat is a 35 TE flybridge manufactured September 1, 2002 according to the info posted here. The sight glass on the center tank is a great way to double check on the fuel level sender. I wonder if it was standard equipment.

[Halcyon]

My 2003 doesn't have a sight glass, I wish it did! I have attached a photo of the flowscan setup on my boat. All the equipment is mounted on the stern of the port tank.

[Chuck Waygood]

Your floscan set up looks good. For some unknown reason, the installer for my boat put the sensors in various places . Then someone disconnected a starboard sensor that had been installed way aft near the fuel vents; thus the hose ending with the shut off valve by my main tank in the photo that I presume had continued to that aft sensor. I believe my system is the 7600 model, providing rpm, total hours, fuel usage,etc. So what effect does the disconnected fuel line have? It went to the sensor originating from what looks like the principal unit.

[Halcyon]

I did not do the install but I did read the installation instructions. They are very specific about keeping the sensors away from the motors. This results in a lot more fuel line length than I would like but it works. I am curious why there are no booster pumps in the fuel system, it seem to rely on the motor's pump alone. Could be a pain to bleed with all this hose!