Building a Fibreglass Fuel Tank - Step by step

Mark runs you through how to build a Fibreglass Fuel Tank for a boat as he continues the Haines Project Boat.

[@osvaldogomes7578]

Good job and costs saving. You should have holes on top of the baffle to not hold air, between the center ones otherwise you will not be able to fill completly the tank.

[@mrcrankyank]

Learning a lot from this series mate, can’t wait to see the finished product!

[@geoffstein3896]

Mateeeeee you're doing a great job... Getting closer now mate, cannot wait for the next video 👍

[@matthewedgar9824]

Keep them coming!

[@jlo5545]

Great job mate, thinking I might do this on my cruise craft rebuild.

[@noexpectationsfishing3790]

Amazing stuff, great to see

[@pauljohns1016]

I love the video great work that should be a great boat

[@romz90]

hanging for the end result and costs great vid mate

[@sailson8612]

I was hoping to learn from you what type of surface agent/wax you used in your last coat of resin? I assume the wax is fuel resistant as well.. Tip: To save you a lot of time you can use a shop vac grinder attachment to catch most of your grinder dust so the clean up afterwards is much easier.

[@vg23air]

I considered a non metal tank approach, but with ethanol, too risky for me not knowing what will definitely work. I recall horror stories of small planes and boats having their tanks melt. One was in the news in CA where the tank melted overnight and all the fuel ran down the road.

[@douglasthompson2740]

How are you going to tig weld without setting the glass on fire in place?? Especially those filaments that are inside glassing the SS in place? I sure wouldn't want to attempt it. I am sure you have a plan. Even with inert gas inside the tank the outside could light off. The project is coming along nicely. Good work.

[@1982mako224]

I would not have put the metal fittings at the aft end of the tank. I'd have them at the front end. When you accelerate the fuel will all be forced to the back of the tank and you will have these forces applied to where the tubing passes through the tank.. I also fear that you will have leaking issues where you glassed around the tubing. This area should be gasketed.

[@Fluid36]

That’s the happy face of a man who is finally starting to see the fruits of his labour. Great job on the tank, can’t see any way it can leak apart from the fittings which you just need to maintain each year. Will be great when the other sections are foam filled and then floor in. Are you going to leave the rear bilge area open or floor level and sealed?

[@ADVENTURES_ADRIFT]

Yeah it’s good to see some results, that’s for sure! Bilge area will be open for easy access. That will be covered later down the track.

[@philipthomas1285]

How many gallon /litters of gas thoes the tank hold?

[@christom1592]

Very informative mate, love the videos! I hope you don’t have dramas with vapour lock between the middle baffles, the first cavity and last will be able to breath but the middle ones may have a cavity of air above the highest holes cut in the baffles.

[@ADVENTURES_ADRIFT]

That’s a very good point Chris, I might have to drill some holes up nice and heigh to stilt that from happening. Looks like I’ll be doing some patch work on the tank lid 🤣

[@Fluid36]

You could have drilled some holes in the stainless pipe within each section

[@ADVENTURES_ADRIFT]

@@Fluid36 I don’t believe that would of worked for two reasons. The first being that it’s very difficult to drill stainless steel, particularly on a round pipe in that space and secondly it would create air locks like Chris mentioned, the fuel would block off each hole as the level rises.

[@Fluid36]

@@ADVENTURES_ADRIFT good point

[@Maddfisher]

Hey mate I have a question I have an old aluminium fuel tank in my boat and I keep getting dirty Carbies because I think it’s dirty on the inside is there any way you clean the inside or do I need to pull the tank out and replace it cheers mate love your videos great job

[@ADVENTURES_ADRIFT]

In all honesty James, if it’s dirty and old it probably won’t be worth trying to clean / flush it. A new tank would be the ideal thing for it. Alloy tanks don’t last forever, especially with if there’s corrosion present. If a new tank isn’t in your budget a flush right through and an inline fuel filter / water separator might do the trick, with lots of monitoring.

[@trentclifford6250]

Pressure test?

[@donnyconny3523]

I have read that epoxy will not hold the gasoline. I think I read that because gasoline is a solvent eventually it will dissolve the fiberglass.

[@ChompsCustoms]

Love it mate, I'd hate to be the bloke Tig welding that up 😂 doable but not at all fun! Only critique is longer videos please, I need 30 mins atleast !

[@ADVENTURES_ADRIFT]

I shortened this one up because I thought people were sick of listening to my blabber on haha 🤣

[@ChompsCustoms]

@@ADVENTURES_ADRIFT me personally I love the walk throughs explaining what you are doing, Ive never glassed before but my old man rebuild boats my whole life growing up, so I try absorb as much information as possible, If you do moulds etc for live bait tanks etc please take the time to walk through it all step by step 👌 even explaining the different matting and what they do, different weights of matting etc 🤣 and resins! Poly vs vinyl vs waxed and unwaxed, it's so hard to find decent explanations. But you do what you feel is right !

[@ericmcniff1]

what did you use to glue the top down? thickened vinylester?

[@ADVENTURES_ADRIFT]

Yep, thickened with talc 👍

[@KairyuRider]

To make a fiberglass gas tank, do you need a special resin to keep it from breaking down with gas in it?

[@ADVENTURES_ADRIFT]

Vinyl ester resin - fully cured

[@KairyuRider]

@@ADVENTURES_ADRIFT thanks, been wanting to make a custom bike tank. Now I can

[@ADVENTURES_ADRIFT]

I’ve seen some videos on here of guys making bike tanks. Good luck 👍

[@pauljohns1016]

Do you get itchy from the fibreglass?😊

[@ADVENTURES_ADRIFT]

I can’t even remember watch it’s like not to be itch these days 🤣

[@jeepsuc99]

Shld have something holding that pick up in place on the bottom. The vibration will break that over time

[@ADVENTURES_ADRIFT]

It’s welded in place 🤔

[@jeepsuc99]

@@ADVENTURES_ADRIFT it's welded in place on the bottom of the tank? I usually glass a bracket to the bottom. With a long unsupported pick up tube. Over time it will stress

[@MrHauraka]

Any plans for a fuel gauge?

[@ADVENTURES_ADRIFT]

I don’t like gauges on boats, I prefer a fuel flow metre. Then just knowing what the tank holds and managing usage that a way.

[@Billyo234]

Why did you choose to build the tank into the boat out of glass vs using a plastic tank or even a stainless one

[@ADVENTURES_ADRIFT]

Good question Billy. Firstly cost, it was cheaper for me to make a tank from fibreglass than get one build. I also think this tank adds strength to hull and is a better of of the space as far as fuel volume and if it does fail, all I have to do is cut along the floor ether side of the stringers, cut the baffles out and drop a aluminium or stainless tank in with a thermolite hatch lid over the top. Relatively easy fix. I don’t see the tank failing and boat builders are still making tanks like this so I’m confident it will work fine.

[@Billyo234]

@@ADVENTURES_ADRIFT thanks for the explanation and also awesome job so far just watched the entire build series so far can’t wait to see the finished product

[@jb243wp]

Looking great least you will eliminated any corrosion problems for ever, say life of a ally tank, maybe 25yrs, the stainless steel screws in the fuel sender units are the undoing on ally tanks. Two non compatible materials will react over time specially if there's moisturiser about.and stainless tanks can be heavy. Hey I think potentially you may run into a couple problems with welding the tubes in institute. 1. You will need a (skinny) welder who can tig with both left and right handed and potentially can weld using a mirror, few and far between (good ones) 2. You should have left the lid off as the heat of the tig welding might cook the glass up on the inside of the tank, on the back of the tubes, now you have no way of checking this, and no way of extinguishing it if starts to burn.. 3. You could of welded the tubes to the plate first then connecting that front breather pipe to a stub on the inside via a stainless steel straight joiner compression fitting. Hopefully, I'm all totally wrong in those comments, you have put so much time and effort into it. Make sure you film the guy when he's doing the welding. Good luck 👍

[@ChompsCustoms]

Wouldn't need a mirror and there shouldn't be that much heat put into it to make the glass heat up enough

[@jb243wp]

@bmxrydaa Hopefully, you're correct. On camera, it just looked a bit tight for room, it's probably a bit deceiving without physically seeing it in person, cheers

[@ChompsCustoms]

@@jb243wp it's definitely tight and would be a nightmare to weld but it would be doable with the right equipment Would take a very patient welder

[@mellowfellowful]

Hey mate u forgot a vital point when building a glass tank. It must have a nexus or tissue coating for a chemical barrier. Bugger u have glassed the lid down.

[@ADVENTURES_ADRIFT]

That isn’t fully correct Yanans, Vinyl ester resin cured is fuel resistant and can be used for fuel tanks. The coating would be good and over the top but not required.

[@ZombieKiller789]

How many litres she hold?

[@ADVENTURES_ADRIFT]

260

[@SoBoring136]

You have lost a lot of room in tank