Fairline Corniche Replacing Fuel Tanks

telsyork said:
Ok, tanks are out.
They are wedge shaped 60 mm less at the bottom than the top.
Almost all the rust, as expected, is in the bottom plate.
We have decided they are beyond repair and are going for new stainless tanks.
I thought about Tek tanks, but, due to having some good friends in the trade I can get two tanks fabbed up for under £600
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dont forget to put in a good fuel gauge of some sort then measure what you put in at sa quater on gauge ,and so on so you know your amounts
 
Just a suggestion, how about epoxy lining the bottom, or the entire inside of the tanks before installation as this holds back a lot of the corrosion and wear you may get inside the tanks.
 
I had a Fairline Sedan 36 with steel tanks and they rotted through on the tops from salt sat there.

I replaced them with steel tanks painted again but i put in sumps with drain ball valves and screw on caps on the drain lines ( belt and braces) so every trip I could drain off any debris and water.

I also fitted Tank Tender fuel gauges https://www.improducts.co.uk/brands/tank-tender which I have fitted to three boats now. if you fit them fit a guide tube to take the cappilliary line to the bottom of the tank, when you first fill each tank fill it say 30 litres at a time and mark the reading on the TT gauge then draw a graph for each tank. incredibly accurate.

I also fitted back much larger tanks but its probably not appropriate for you, by continuing the tank up behind the saloon panelling for a greater range.
 
There is a guy on YouTube who has a very good channel called Sail Life. He's a total perfectionist and he is doing a seriously in-depth refit of a 38ft sailing cruiser. He had a new diesel tank made for his boat and here's the video. It might be overkill for what you want but worth a look https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhj7IIzu7B4
He has earlier videos where he works out the design also. He mocked it up in cardboard and then MDF.
I like his fuel polishing setup.
 
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Antti66ht said:
Nice read and informative photos. How did the story finnish? Stainless tank went in smoothly?
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Hear! Hear!


telsyork said:
We have decided they are beyond repair and are going for new stainless tanks.
I thought about Tek tanks, but, due to having some good friends in the trade I can get two tanks fabbed up for under £600
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Bouba wants to know if you survived the ordeal and if so if he can get chummy with your mates.
 
telsyork said:
Hi Seastoke
They appear to be rectangular so nothing special made from mild steel.
If we have to have replacements I may go to stainless
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Avoid stainless.

I know of multiple boats that stainless tanks ruptured (most during road transport to be fair).
stainless has no flexibility.

your mild steel tanks have lasted over 30 years, stainless may rupture the next time you hit a large wave.
 
volvopaul said:
I’ve had 2 corniches in past years , the second one I fitted stainless tanks and as far as I know there still going strong in Finland .
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hi Paul, how are you? do you know of any Corniche tanks in good nick? We have pin holes in the starboard tank, just redlyf
 
telsyork said:
My best mate is a coded welder (handy) he thinks we may be able to cut off 1" from the base and reweld a new base on.
This sounds good to me (and should be less than the estimated £1500 for new)
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Hi, how did the repair on the tank go? was cutting an inch off and replating the solution?
 
Hi all, Any experiences on changing or repairing Corniche fuel tanks would be gratefully read!! Just removed my starboard tank to find pinholes in base and top!!! aaah! anyone gone the Tek Tank route?
 
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