MacGregorSailors.com

For the record

I am not a fan of installing an internal fuel tank in my boat

Ever

Too many issues can happen as a result

I much prefer and enjoy the fact that my engine and my fuel are all outside the cabin area

I go inside a keel boat, where the diesel engine and fuel tanks or lines are in there as well, I can smell diesel and other engine related fumes
all the time

No thanks

G

I would actually rather have a fire start below decks than in the cockpit. Either way, you have about 5 seconds of fire fighting time before you get off. Your Mac is essentially 400 gallons of gasoline once it starts on fire.

Geoff, yours is only 320 gallons, so you get 6 seconds

What u guy,s don,t have an on board sprinkler system !! the one I have is so powerful it came with a 9" control handle

J

beene wrote:For the record

I am not a fan of installing an internal fuel tank in my boat

Ever

Too many issues can happen as a result

I much prefer and enjoy the fact that my engine and my fuel are all outside the cabin area

I go inside a keel boat, where the diesel engine and fuel tanks or lines are in there as well, I can smell diesel and other engine related fumes
all the time

No thanks

G

Agreed. One of the things I liked best about going to a Mac from an diesel inboard was that the fuel tanks and the engine were outside the cabin. The cabin always had a faint smell of diesel.

Catigale wrote:I would actually rather have a fire start below decks than in the cockpit. Either way, you have about 5 seconds of fire fighting time before you get off. Your Mac is essentially 400 gallons of gasoline once it starts on fire.

Geoff, yours is only 320 gallons, so you get 6 seconds

Fiberglass burns real good. Once it gets going your toast.

I agree that diesel below decks can be smelly... only the slightest trace can stink significantly, even if it's just from having it on your hands and touching something. It's important to remember that diesel smells considerably more foul than gasoline, and the smell lingers a lot longer. That being said, I've yet to smell any gasoline fumes, or indeed any foul smells, below decks with my inboard and sealed tank.

The smell of diesel is one reason I recon I will never own a inboard, it makes me feel ill and its always there and permeates into everything.

At least with the tanks at the back in the cockpit I leave the smell behind

kmclemore wrote:I agree that diesel below decks can be smelly... only the slightest trace can stink significantly, even if it's just from having it on your hands and touching something. It's important to remember that diesel smells considerably more foul than gasoline, and the smell lingers a lot longer. That being said, I've yet to smell any gasoline fumes, or indeed any foul smells, below decks with my inboard and sealed tank.

Very good point

I have never noticed a fuel smell while aboard a non sailboat using gasoline with full inboard everything.

G

Yeah, I'm not quite sure why the subject of diesel has anything at all to do with installing inboard tanks on a Mac... who the heck runs diesel on a Mac?!

kmclemore wrote:Yeah, I'm not quite sure why the subject of diesel has anything at all to do with installing inboard tanks on a Mac... who the heck runs diesel on a Mac?!

Some farmer somewhere who can get it really cheap !!

J
PS , I really don,t think its an issue , if u do it right , install a bilge blower & fume alert so as u do not have any insurance issue,s , that being said as I have both already installed I guess u could say I,m half way there if I decided to go that route

Hey! What about those jeep cans they hang off the back of those jeeps? Those look cool on the jeeps when they are off road - I wonder how a set of jeep cans would look hanging off the transom?

Hanging too much weight off the stern too high besides that space can be better utilized for future mods like swim platforms & aft stern Davits for my walker bay & excilerary motor & brkt
J

There is a mod here where someone put a 26gal water bag under the aft berth. According to the web, the plastimo 26gal water bag measures 27.5 x 41 3/8, it doesn't list the height and I don't know if they fill the bag all the way. (I would not use the bag for fuel, just getting a rough measurement) Moeller Marine has a bunch of fuel tanks no more than 6.75 in tall. Add another 1.5 inches for the hoses and fittings and you are only up to 8.25 in tall. I am looking at the 34 gal which measures 60.25 x 26.5 x 6.75. Though I am deployed and my 26M is in storage for another 2 yrs, so I haven't actually measured it to see if it will fit. I think one of these tanks would fit nicely back there. I would be moving 150-200#'s down low and freeing up the cockpit fuel lockers to be generator stowage and a wet locker for life jackets and kids swim stuff. Does anyone have the measurements for a 26M below the aft cockpit, between the two rails where someone would mount a fuel tank? Will it physically fit?

i found some moeller tanks that were 5 .5" holding about 22 gal.
here is one of them
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/LUND-2081954-MOE ... 0777468087
there is only about 7" of clearance in the stern, and the cross members would have to be cut out- and re glassed in- or made to be removeable- with a bolt in fixture.
then a complete glassed in enclosure around the tank,with a small clearance all around. with a seperate air inflow and air outflow- got all the specs from the canadian DOT/coast guard.
the air in air out is the key- so that it will naturally ventilate.

this is a planned mod for me. then the fuel lockers lids will be double hinged- with a hinge length wise in the middle- so that they can fold up and against the cockpit coaming.- or put flat for extra fuel storage under, or other storage

On my STARCRAFT iSLANDER 22 the cockpit enclosed fixed fuel tank housings held 2 x 25 gal fuel tanks they were not seal unit enclosures although the fuel tank vents piped to vent on the outside of the hull so I guess it was ok to smoke on deck !! ?
so if ur fuel tanks or fuel lines started to leak they would leak into the cabin cockpit fioor & down into the cabin floor drain bilges !
J
PS & this was Canada & US coast guard approved