I am going to share my fuel tank story. It’s not a happy tale and gives me a $hitty feeling to tell but I am going to hoping maybe it helps another Parker Owner.
I filled up my fuel tank on my 2005 Parker 2520 XL prior to Winterization just like I have for the last 14 seasons. On 1 April (FOOLS) I pulled the cover to get my work started prior to launch. The plan was to install a new fancy VHF Radio and 2 new VHF antennas. As I am sitting in the wheelhouses deciding where to mount the radio , I smell gasoline. I open up the far aft hatch and there is a little fluid in the bilge, not unusual, perhaps 1/2 an inch. I sop it all up till as far as I can reach and see is dry. The fluid is a gasoline/water mix. Paper towels used to sop up the fluid smelled like gasoline but would not light on fire so I wasn’t panicking, thinking maybe it was just a small amount of gasoline that had seeped out of a hose fitting over the Winter.
The next day, HOPING for a dry bilge and fumes dissipating, I am crushed, more fluid in the bilge! This time the wet rags go up WOOSH! As in all gasoline. I sop up all the gasoline again. Next I remove both fill and vent hoses from the tank, no fuel coming out of either tank fitting. I check hoses, no leaks.
I go aft to the sending unit and remove 1 screw and gasoline squirts out the screw hole. I put the screw back in and wipe down the top of the tank carefully, no leaks around sending unit. I leave clean dry clean paper towels all around the area of the sending unit. Figuring I will leave them overnight and check to see if there is a slow leak around the sending unit.
I clean up all the gasoline in the bilge again.
Next morning the paper towels I left on the top of the tank, covering the sending unit are bone dry.
Look in the bilge, wet again pure gasoline
Boat is slightly elevated on trailer so cockpit will drain. I grab a wooden dowel, tape some paper towels to the end and stick it into the drain located in the V-berth floor. Pull the dowel out, paper towels soaking WET
and yes it’s gasoline.
I dry out the bilge aft one more time, next morning it’s wet again with gasoline.
At this point I ASSume my tank HAS to have a hole in it.
CONVINCED that I have a fuel leak, I make the decision to have the tank pulled.
(Opportunity here for all the Monday Morning QBs to chime in to explain all of things they would have done before cutting the deck. YES you’re better then me, so lay it on if you like.)
I routinely fish 25 miles offshore, frequently alone other times with my son or life long friends. Water is sometime 40F never warmer then 70F.
I take my wife, kids and young Granddaughters out in this boat.
Again over the course of 4 days with nothing leaking from the top of the tank, I have raw gasoline in the bilge both aft and forward under the V-berth even with the boat slightly elevated.
At this point, I have lost confidence in the fuel tank and am not gonna put a friend or family member on the boat till this gasoline leak is resolved.
Gasoline gets pumped out, hole gets cut, tank gets pulled.
Tank looks VERY GOOD, no culprit, not even close.
However a Parker fuel tank sits in a “BOX” that is sealed, well mostly sealed. There was about 8 gallons of gasoline in the box.
My buddy is a professional fuel tank builder and was gonna build me my new tank. I ran the old one up to him for him to get dimensions for the new fuel cell. He looks at my tank and says this one looks good, why you replacing it?
We pressure test and after pumping up, yes some bubbles around the sending unit gasket.
Bbbbut do you remember a few paragraphs back I thought I confirmed that it wasn’t leaking? I removed a screw and gasoline shot of the screw hole, stopped leaking when I replaced the screw, so I
ASSumed the sending unit wasn’t the problem.
Here is what happened, the fukcing sending unit gasket LEAKED, it leaked all Winter, about 8-10 gallons that all ended up in that Parker Fuel Tank Box and soaking into the foam. After leaking about 8-10 gallons there wasn’t enough fuel pressing hard enough against the gasket so it quit leaking. I bet if I had left the screw out a cup or so of gasoline would have leaked and then it would have stopped.
I still had 8 gallons of fuel in the BOX and that’s why the bilge kept slowly filling up with gasoline, it was the 8-10 gallons of fuel seeping out of that BOX.
The “problem” was as insignificant as a sending unit gasket that I could have fixed in 10 minutes after running the boat and burning up some fuel!
YES I am an idiot!
YES you would pressure tested the tank before cutting the deck and found the leak!
That still would not have stopped the 8-10 gallons of gasoline returning to the bilge day after day or given me peace of mind that my tank wasn’t leaking, as gasoline dripped into the bilge for however long it took for those 8 gallons trapped in the BOX to drip and evaporate till the box was eventually dry.
That BOX might keep the tank nice and cozy but it’s a rotten bastard as far as I am concerned for finding a fuel leak.
Fukc it I wasn’t gonna put a 15 year old fuel tank back in a deck that has to be cut to remove the fuel tank, so I had a new fuel tank fabricated. If anyone is looking for a tested 150 gallon Parker tank albeit 15 years old, I have one for sale.
Job is still not finished and I am pulling my hair out. Company offered a 1/2 pay leave May-August due to covid-19er and I took it figuring I could fish and now I don’t have a boat.
How’s that old Alanis Morissette song go again
Isn’t It Ironic????
Hope someone can learn from my experience.
Note: Parker Boats was of absolutely ZERO help, called customer service and was not allowed to speak with anyone. I was given an Email Address, I sent a couple of Emails the first week of April, still no response. Local Parker Dealer was unable to look at the boat till after Memorial Day.
