Fuel Tank Pickup Problem

[Undadar]

I have a 1984 Hunter 34 with what I believe is a stock diesel tank. This is a new boat to me and I discovered that it will only use about the first 5-7 gallons in the tank (and then effectively "runs out of gas"). I suspect the pickup line is broken/cracked inside the tank. I have not yet attempted to remove the pickup line to inspect nor do I know if it is even removable. I am wondering if anyone has experienced this. If so, how did you fix? Otherwise, does anyone have any words of wisdom? I would prefer NOT to do my typical of attempting to disassemble something and ending up with a $$bigger$$ mess on my hands. I half expect that there is a hard line inside the tank connected to the pickup "fitting" via a rubber hose. Is this correct?

Pictures or links appreciated!

Thanks!
JdFinley.com | Sailing, development, and life with JD

PS: X-Posted on SailBoatOwners.com

[mitiempo]

The normal pickup tube on any tank I have seen is metal all the way. Either removable or a welded part of the tank.

[CalebD]

Sounds familiar. We have a 1967 Tartan 27' with a Monel gas tank for our atomic 4. It is a 20 gallon tank. We can only use about the top 12 gallons before the pickup tube begins to suck air.
I wanted to pull the gas tank this winter and replace the pick up tube which I'm sure is just corroded but I only got to pump out and filter about 1 gallon of 'crud' (mostly water and whoknowswhat) from our tank instead.
You won't have the ethanol related problems I think I am having with diesel fuel but if your pick up tube is cracked or corroded it could limit your tank capacity as ours has become, giving us effectively half of the capacity of the tank.
10 gallons goes a long way when you are not going far though. I want to fix this soon too.

[saildog1]

Had this problem in an Ericson I used to own. I fond that the pick up tube was soldered into the fitting that screwed into the tank was sucking air where the solder failed. I just re-soldered it and it worked fine.

[Undadar]

Thanks everyone. Sounds like I should be able to disassemble and figure it out without totally destroying the tank. Fingers crossed.....

JdFinley.com | Sailing, development, and life with JD

[Faster]

On a Hunter 40 the fitting threaded out and the pickup tube came with it. Hopefully you'll have clearance to fully remove it. It's likely cracked at the point you 'run out of fuel' but if it's broken off you'll need less clearance to remove it.. but you'll still need the clearance to install the new one.

This particular boat also had the 'air in the fuel at all times' problem until we removed and resoldered the pickup tube.

[TropicCat]

A 27 year old fuel tank might have a fair amount of crud floating in it. When the fuel level is high the crud floats higher and as you lower the fuel level in the tank it may be clogging your fuel tank pickup.

Clean the tank and see what happens.