Hi I'm Tom

[Tom S Wingard]

I am looking at a 1997 Navigator 5600 and it has a leaky fuel tank, I have seen this on a couple of others. One have had a plate welded on the outside.
we have been told several ways to fix the issue, replace but that would have to be done by adding several smaller tanks linked together. Repair by epoxying the inside or welding on the inside and then epoxy. but the tank has two baffles. Some have told us to have it pressure tested to pinpoint the current leaks.
Does anyone have any experiences with this kind of issues, we live in Seattle area and the boat we are very interested in is currently in Marina Del Rey.

I will add these tanks are aluminum and the leaks are very barely noticeable and only at a couple of spots...for now!

 

[Comodave]

Welcome aboard. There are a lot of ways that people have fixed fuel tanks. Personally I would rather replace them than to try to repair them. My thoughts are that if it is leaking in one or two places now how long before it is leaking in more places. And leaking fuel is a tough thing to deal with. They will usually leak at the worst time, like when you aren’t on board so the fuel gets pumped overboard and now you have an environmental issue to deal with, think potentially huge fines. But others have been successful in repairing them so maybe…

What are the issues in replacing it with a similar tank? Maybe pull an engine. It isn’t as tough as it sounds. I have pulled them on a previous boat and it was fairly easy. Did a lot of planning and some pep work. But when I was ready to pull the engine it only took 3 of ud 2 hours to get it up and on the deck in the salon. Its not like taking the engine out of the salon. Then you would likely have room to replace the tank.