MacGregorSailors.com

This might be a newbie thing, but I really need some help with figuring out some cockpit storage solution for a V17. If you don't have a V17, no worries, any experience is better than mine in this arena. I am primarily interested in installing some sort of locker into which I can place my 3 gallon fuel tank.

Honestly, I am really new to the whole "boat mod" world so I know nothing about compromising the structural integrity of my little boat by cutting too many (or too large) holes in the fiberglass.

Ideally, I would install a hatch/liner type of rig into the area under the stern of the port side cockpit seat. There is room under the seat (accessable from the cabin) and I would be sacrificing minimal flotation in the process. I was actually thinking that I could spray in foam around the "liner" to compensate some for the little bit of flotation I would lose.

My questions for you are:

1) Is this a doable mod?

2) Is this a wise mod?

3) What, if anything, am I compromising in structural integrity if I do this mod?

4) Do you know of anywhere I might aquire DIY instructions on such a mod?

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,

Rick

The big danger with fuel tanks is allowing any kind of path that lets the vapours into the cabin below.

Most Hydrocarbons are more dense than air, so they settle into the bottom of the boat, wait for a spark to set them off, and then you blow up.

Keeping fuel up top in a portable can stops this from happening.

If you are going to build a locker, seal it so it is air tight from the cabin of the boat (ie, no access from cabin!!), in addition, I would have a way of venting it to the outside.

Handling fuel on a boat is a serious matter - it might be easier to buy a better shaped gas tank than can be neatly stowed on the transom somewhere?