Sailing Vessel Triteia - A Cut Above The Sludge - Episode 5 - Cleaning The Diesel Fuel Tank

[@TheSusieTom]

I'm six years behind schedule watching

[@bobbybaldeagle702]

Your doing a fine job there. You seem to be enjoying what your doing, and not rushing through each project.. The end result will show your diligence and eye for detail... This is a journey to an awesome reward. Stay the course and hold your focus on the end prize, an awesome treasure you will find... Be blessed...BBE..

[@SailorJames]

Thanks! yeah I like to do jobs 1 time if possible so I just try to do them the best I can, Thanks for watching.

[@Every_Day_Adventure]

Lots of progress of a bunch of little battles, I am enjoying watching your hard work.

[@SailorJames]

Thanks! yes slow and steady wins the race, or at least that what I tell myself at the end of every day :)

[@rickbertram238]

you're doing a great job. she's coming along

[@formosa41]

Nice work! Love those boats. I need to go watch the previous videos now....subscribed!

[@AndyUK-Corrival]

Looking good James, coat of bilge pant makes huge difference.

[@Phils_Photos]

Nice work James

[@simonjames46]

Wow that tank was filthy! Nice work!

[@SailorJames]

Right? I was amazed actually!

[@alansellen4561]

Job well done 👍

[@jamestim319]

Nice job! You won't have to worry about diesel bug for a while!

[@lorettaleger1891]

Your doing an excellent job

[@terriswig493]

you work so hard good job

[@richhamel6810]

Nicely done, she'll be beautiful when it's all said and done.

[@mhazel4777]

love the video, used to clean the fuel tanks onboard ship and land they make a cleaner you could have sloshed around in there poured out new tank easier but for the video this was good.enjoyed it.

[@SailorJames]

cool, yeah I read up on cleaners but ended up just wanting to have access ports so I could know 100% that all the junk was out so I didn't burn through new fuel filters and because I know the ins and outs of it all! Thanks for watching!

[@mhazel4777]

yea later if you have to you can clean the tank easy if you get bad fuel without having to remove tank hopefully.

[@jsmitz237]

@@mhazel4777 what cleaner do you speak of?

[@gangisspawn1]

I have no idea what all the drill holes were for when you were jigsawing anyway. But i enjoy watching your mechanicing videos!

[@daleskidmore1685]

Just imagine going out to sea and having that sludge mix into the fuel.... Look forward to seeing the new engine. Atb.

[@SailorJames]

Yeah I wasn't interested in pushing that stuff into my brand new fuel filter and newly rebuilt engine... :)

[@manfredschmalbach9023]

For the bacteria, we had good results with drain cleaning chemicals (one tablespoon for a tank like Yours with every other full refill). But be careful, some newer high pressure injection pumps (TDI or common rail) react pretty huffy with any added chemicals in their diesel supply; so it depends what kind of engine You want to feed with it. Keeping water and gunk out of the tank is way better than constantly killing the gunkdwellers. What helps a lot against condensation is keeping the tank as full as possible at any time - not much air, not much condensation potential.

[@manfredschmalbach9023]

;-) commented prematurely ... gm20 = prechamber low pressure injecting, so a bit of drain cleaner or chlorine shouldn't be a problem.

[@boardelia]

Hey there, which cleaning chemicals did you use to dissolve the sludge ?

[@boardelia]

How did you seal the hole bro ? Thanks for sharing the video, good work there ;)

[@sailingdijan9128]

Nice Job, love the boat! Where are you located? west coast? I'm sailing and live aboard an older Ericson 35, classic! Started to document my journey with our own channel too! Now just need to stop and upload some videos. Stay tuned! I subscribed, looking forward to your next video! Have fun! (I just caught up watching thought #4 was the newest.)

[@SailorJames]

Yep, I live in Los Angeles and have my boat tied up near San Pedro, I just subscribed to your channel, look forward to your videos!

[@andersjakobsen9906]

I Norway we call it Diesel animals. That fungi that lives in there. Bio protect 2 is a product we use to prevent it. And it's important to keep the tank as full as possible,-to keep moust of the condense away. Love the paint gun. Was it all electrik?

[@SailorJames]

yes it was electric and you can spray it upside down or sideways, really amazing!

[@andersjakobsen9906]

Really cool. Do thay have it on Amazon maby??

[@SailorJames]

totally... heres a link to the one I used... amzn.to/2ziNSo6

[@andersjakobsen9906]

Thanks. They doesn't ship to Norway :-( But now I have the name and number so I can search for it. I have one, but its ear driven. This was so much simpler to use. Dont need it, but want it ;-)

[@veleroalbatross]

Good job with the tank! I use a flexible one, small. Which kind of paint did you use for the storage bunk?

[@SailorJames]

Cool, those bladder tanks are probably great in tight areas! (and much easier to remove than mine was, hahaha) I used Bildgekote on the storage bunks!

[@veleroalbatross]

Yeah! Albatross is only 24'

[@lourdesjorge3240]

Hello, thanks for sharing the video. I wanted to ask you something, I have the same bacteria in the diesel and I want to do the same but without removing the tank from the boat, do you think I will have problems with the gas from the diesel? I have been told to be very careful because even being empty when cutting the steel, the gases could cause an explosion....

[@SailorJames]

Hi, diesel fuel is not explosive or flammable, it’s compostable. So no it won’t explode unless you have gasoline in is (gasoline is flammable and explosive)

[@jeffdurden398]

Thanks for posting this. Just bought a 28 ft mid 70's boat rather similar to yours and was planning on just chucking the diesel fuel tank and replacing it with a bladder but now I think I'll do just what you did. It will save me a couple hundred bucks at least. (1/2 a decent used sail) I know this is an old video, but please tell me you have replaced the thu-hulls.

[@SailorJames]

Hi Jeff, I have not replaced my through hulls yet, I have all new shinny ones bought and I am waiting for my PSS dripless shaft seal and cutlass bearing to come in and then we will haul out and do EVERYTHING. I am super stoked I did my tank as I have never had any issues with my fuel being contaminated with junk.

[@jeffdurden398]

@@SailorJames I found it interesting that the order of things to be repaired/updated you came up with is almost the same as mine. Looking forward to the videos on the through hulls. I'm sure you'll sleep better once they are done. I've seen some Alburg 30's that had the inboard replaced with an 8hp longshaft outboard. There is a guy in the Carolinas who's made a business of it. Did you consider something like that?

[@urabus7875]

nice

[@tedrenard472]

Hi James. Great looking job you're doing there. Is that an electrically powered spray gun or did you have a compressor in the background somewhere. It's a good idea. I'm usually in there with a brush getting covered with the stuff, so spraying looks like something I could use, even if I have to follow up afterwards. About the gunk in the tank. I don't know how much you know about the stuff, but it's usually a form of bacteria that breeds on the interface between the diesel and whatever water gets into the tank, either via condensation or leaks. There's a ton of products they try to flog you, and, as usual, the one with marine written on the container being ten times the cost. I used to use some of them, diesel bug killers, as more bio-fuel has been added to diesel here in the UK. In the end I used my remaining grey matter (matches the hair now :-)). Each year I dump a cupful of bleach into my tank, no more problem. I should imagine a quarter to a third of a cup in your size tank when you refill would see the end of it. I don't do it through summer, as there's less condensation, but winter is the problem. I also tap of a jarful of fuel from the bottom tap on the tank to keep an eye on it every couple of months. Another great video, much appreciated.

[@SailorJames]

I used an "Airless Sprayer" that is electric and can be sprayed even upside down, very very very handy, I borrowed it from work and it made the job so much easier, I used it to spray my engine bay as well and what a dream it was considering how tight and difficult it is to crawl all the way to the back it would have been. I read up on the bacteria that grows in diesel, which I am sure was the root of all the sludge. Thanks for your tip, I will write it in my boat notebook to help me remember later on!

[@jasonscott6731]

Your doing a great job, How are the rest of your marina neighbors dealing with it? Mine get upset when I wash or wax mine let alone do any work!

[@SailorJames]

Everyone at my marina is super chill and its a little "rough around the edges" which is one of the reasons I stayed there and didn't look to move her right away. I could have NEVER done this work at Marina del Rey.

[@svsalacia6495]

Love the video's, I am thinking about purchasing an alberg 30 myself and will have to do a refit myself so any ideas are great.

[@SailorJames]

They are fantastic boats with a large community of owners, The Alberg 30 Associations website has a ton of information if you end up getting one!

[@sailingserenity469]

I did the same with my aluminium tank but in the end it was cheaper to buy a DIABLO fuel tank, 108 ltr $219 aud ( round $ 160 usd..?) they are easy to fit, easy to fit a fuel gauge and so easy to clean...

[@SailorJames]

Rad, I like this tank but will likely end up replacing it in a few years with a larger tank, but until then she is good to go !

[@billleskeep2033]

I think after making that access hole and confirming the awful state of the interior I'd be inclined to search for a replacement tank.

[@SailorJames]

oh I can promise you I was also inclined but my wallet was more determined to make it work!

[@timothythomas1626]

Couldn't Cut the Top Weld clean Tank and Have Top Plate Welded Back On?

[@SakeBarSushi]

If your diesel tank doesn't have an inspection hatch you can easy retrofit one from a company in Australia www.cleandiesel.com.au/shop/

[@davidb.cutter4631]

Stopped watching at 3:24, don't want to hear the noise...