well- Hi Pete- I can tell you when I purchased my 1980-424 in 2005 the survey was clean-but- the PO acommpanied me down the river,overnight to Whittaker Creek,NC ,and I think when I was at dinner[he couldn’t make a dinner I was buying] mopped up the leaky stuff to insure a good survey the next day.He also slept back “there”to give me the “opportunity” to sleep in the “V” berth.I slowly discovered after purchase-very ,very slow,subtle drippings[beads and droplets] of fuel on the flooring underneath the tanks.They were itty bitty leaks-however-the wood framing was becoming saturated with fuel.It continued to get worse and I’m convinced there were small pin holes/leaks everywhere on the sides and bottom.
This is a serious issue with all our 424’s and must be addressed because of the realistic life of the aluminum fuel tanks[20 years?].
I worked with Deaton’s Yachts -Oriental,NC to mitigate the issue.Not wanting to pull my 73 hp Westerbeke 1994 engine we elected to “saw zaw” the tanks and remove the pcs out the Port locker[2 days].Ordered and installed 2 smaller tanks and installed thru the locker-purchased from orig.OEM,Florida-interestingly -the wood frame after it dried -was perfectly intact,dry,and like new.I thought I would have to replace it also.
The downside- 2 smaller tank capacity- 53 gals?- this isn’t adequate and I ‘ll have to come up with more tanks and space.All of the 424’s have to address the issue due to age.I am not happy with my fuel capacity of 53 gals.
— On Wed, 10/29/08, Philippe Fontaine <> wrote:
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