gerg
Well-known member
Ok, so I have a 1991 2510 DV, which has a 172 gallon stock fuel tank. Even though I already upgraded to very fuel efficient F150's last year, I've been jonesin for more range to hit the canyons.
Now this boat already had a couple of unusual upgrades (see the last photo below). In the deck are two large fish boxes and a 30 gallon livewell that I never used because it's basically a fish drowning cube. The design was terrible for keeping fish alive and I hated it. Full of water, it was about 260 pounds of added weight.
So what I did was to have this live-well cut out. That's the first picture below. The grime was the result of a mineral oil spill out of my M260 tank. It cleaned up nicely with a power-wash.
As it happens, the hole was big enough to hold a 60 gallon fuel tank with supports and fittings. At 6 pounds per gallon, that's more weight than I had in there, but it's only going to be full for a few hours until it burns off on the way out.
I'm really not worried about it from a stability standpoin. First, I already know that there was no effect from the full livewell. Second, the added weight is low in the hull, so if anything it will lower the c.g. and improve handling. The additional weight isn't a big deal, I can shift some load forward or just bring skinnier crew members along, maybe a super model or two instead of my usual supersized buddies.
Each engine gets its own main/aux/off switch and will still flow through racor filters. The fill will be convenient but the vent will be on the opposite side, so I'll have to have someone watch it while filling. There will be a deck hatch to get to the float dial and the fittings, but that isn't a big deal since I already have a hatch there for the live-well.
This brings my fuel capacity to about 230 gallons, which at an avg of 1.5 nmpg (I use that figure to account for rough water - it's better than that usually) provides a pretty comfy range even for the northeast canyons. I figure I can hit the hudson or atlantis with enough fuel to troll for 10 hours and still have a safety factor.
I don't have any pics of the finished project yet. I'll add those later.
Now if only the weather and my family and work would cooperate.
Now this boat already had a couple of unusual upgrades (see the last photo below). In the deck are two large fish boxes and a 30 gallon livewell that I never used because it's basically a fish drowning cube. The design was terrible for keeping fish alive and I hated it. Full of water, it was about 260 pounds of added weight.
So what I did was to have this live-well cut out. That's the first picture below. The grime was the result of a mineral oil spill out of my M260 tank. It cleaned up nicely with a power-wash.
As it happens, the hole was big enough to hold a 60 gallon fuel tank with supports and fittings. At 6 pounds per gallon, that's more weight than I had in there, but it's only going to be full for a few hours until it burns off on the way out.
I'm really not worried about it from a stability standpoin. First, I already know that there was no effect from the full livewell. Second, the added weight is low in the hull, so if anything it will lower the c.g. and improve handling. The additional weight isn't a big deal, I can shift some load forward or just bring skinnier crew members along, maybe a super model or two instead of my usual supersized buddies.
Each engine gets its own main/aux/off switch and will still flow through racor filters. The fill will be convenient but the vent will be on the opposite side, so I'll have to have someone watch it while filling. There will be a deck hatch to get to the float dial and the fittings, but that isn't a big deal since I already have a hatch there for the live-well.
This brings my fuel capacity to about 230 gallons, which at an avg of 1.5 nmpg (I use that figure to account for rough water - it's better than that usually) provides a pretty comfy range even for the northeast canyons. I figure I can hit the hudson or atlantis with enough fuel to troll for 10 hours and still have a safety factor.
I don't have any pics of the finished project yet. I'll add those later.
Now if only the weather and my family and work would cooperate.
