97 Mainship Fuel tanks Leak

[Captain Dave T]

Hello All,
I am looking at a 1997 Mainship 350 which has a port side fuel tank leak. Of course have a few questions, any info greatly appreciated.
- Has anyone had their tanks replaced ?
- Did motors have to be removed ? Was wondering if there is another way, To
take the interior apart, looks doable, its needs to be sanded/varnished.
Flooring definitely needs work.
- Thoughts about cutting them up in place, installing maybe smaller tanks ? or
2 each side. with an access hatch for easy inspection. Really hate to pull good
working no issue motors.
Thx in advance for any info, Pictures would really be great.

Anchors Up!
Captain Dave

 

[tiltrider1]

I can not speak for the Mainship. Generally, tanks outboard the engine require engine removal to replace the tanks.

Repairing tanks in place rarely works.

You can offer to buy the Boat once the seller repairs the tank but this often ends up with a temporary patch that leaks a year later. If you go this route you will need some type of arrangement were you can walk if you don’t feel comfortable about the repair.

You can estimate the repair cost and then make an offer accordingly. Problem here is that it is very easy to underestimate the real cost of removing and replacing fuel tanks.

I had to replace fuel tanks on a Uniflite 42 once. It was a big job that continued to get more difficult with each step.

I personally will not make an offer on any boat that has a leaking fuel tank. However, any boat can develop a leaking fuel tank at any time so the only way to be really safe is not buy a boat.

 

[Comodave]

I pulled both of the engines in our last boat, one each winter, to replace the fuel tanks. But my back went out after I got the first engine out so I never replaced the tanks. I made a houst/crane to pull the engines. Once I had everything set up it took less that 2 hours to pull the engines and about 2.5 hours to reinstall them. So a yard should have the required equipment to pull the engine and they likely would be faster than me doing the work. Getting the old tank out once the engine is out should ne fairly easy. As to cost having a yard do the work I would guess about $10K..