jason p Posted June 23, 2018 Report Share Posted June 23, 2018 My folks came down to take over my baby related duties so it was time to do some work on the Maverick, normal 100hr, water pump, new fuel lines from the fuel tank to the vapor separator tank and figure out what to do about the broken poly-board shelf in the bow compartment. Got the first three items accomplished then it got ugly. For those unfamiliar, and especially for those with the same set-up, Maverick glued a piece of poly-board on top of the fuel tank back in the day (we're talking 2010 in my case) they use Weld-on which is basically construction adhesive and doubled -up 3/8" poly-board glued directly to the aluminum... Just wait it gets better... So I removed the carpet and the broken piece of poly-board and then realized why it broke... The gas tank was sitting on the bottom of the boat. Turns out the entire weight of the front of the tank (28 gallons / 200-ish lbs + weight of the tank) is held up by 3" piece of 1/8" aluminum bolted to the bulkhead with two 1/4"x20 bolts. So here we go, I called Ray at the MBC, who was helpful as always, and told him what was up, I believe he truly understood my disappointment in this pontoon boat-like execution of gas tank mounting and quickly explained how they fix this (also saying in a that this has happened before) and offered to fix it free of charge by pouring foam under the tank if I could get the boat up to Ft. Pierce. Problem for me was that it was gonna have to wait until the end of July. While I appreciate the offer I cant be without the boat that long and I don't believe filling the bottom of the bow compartment with foam is the best fix, nor does it fix the broken weld on the tank. Not only that, the hatch lid drains into the compartment as well so every time it rains or the boat gets washed water is draining into the bow compartment. If the compartment bottom was full of foam it wouldn't drain and where I live, Homestead FL, nothing truly dries unless in air conditioning. So I'm gonna remove the tank, fabricate new mounts and backing plate and make my own pour foam stringers under the tank so the compartment will still drain if needed, of course it was full of gas so here we go. Hmm, looks big, bigger than the hatch opening actually... Let me call Ray. Turns out these tanks are installed before the deck is bonded to the hull and when they do warranty work on gas tanks they cut the tank out and install a smaller tank... beer time. So since my idea of the "proper fix" is out the window time to re-engage. My plan is to make some kind of a barrier half-way down the tank so the foam doesn't run all the way back to the bulkhead and just the front is suspended by the foam and the compartment still drains. Using the existing holes in the forward bulkhead make a hold-down bracket keeping the tank from moving upward and holding it down against the foam. I just can't cut up a gas tank that doesn't leak, besides what do I have to loose? If my foam idea doesn't last, I gotta cut it out anyway so F-it. If you look closely at the second pic you will see that the bolts are loose, I believe this allowed the initial movement of the tank and started fatiguing the bracket and welds causing the failure. My suggestion to anyone with a similar set-up to inspect these bolts and ensure they are tight. If I would have caught this sooner I would have double lock-nutted the backs of the bolts. You'll probably have to remove some poly-board to get at the heads of the screws to ensure they are tight but it's obviously worth the trouble. I didn't start this thread to bash the MBC, to their credit they don't do this anymore and Ray did offer some sort of cost-free option to alleviate the issue, I wont go as far to call it a proper solution or repair but whatever... The fact that this was the way the factory installed the fuel tank on a $50K-plus 18' flats boat is unbelievable to me and frankly hurts my feelings a little bit, this is Bayliner stuff. But as I said before this is a done deal, time to move on. I'm not sure I believe in karma but I hope this isn't pay-back for my consistent anti-bay boat rhetoric or my latest bay boat to pontoon boat comparison. We'll see, I'll keep y'all posted on the fix and please look into this if you have a similar set up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JEM Posted June 23, 2018 Report Share Posted June 23, 2018 Man, sorry for your problem. And to your credit, you are taking it like a real classy gentlemen (much better than me!). Seems like most MBG folks are like that, with me being the exception! Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoneyB Posted June 23, 2018 Report Share Posted June 23, 2018 It is dissapointing to find Substandard build in what we like to believe are such well built boats. On the draining of the cavity, could you get a pvc tube under the tank before you pour the foam? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonita Posted June 23, 2018 Report Share Posted June 23, 2018 Wow, thanks for the heads up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
East Coast Dave Posted June 23, 2018 Report Share Posted June 23, 2018 Keep us posted... I have the same setup but have the weight of two blue top as well... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dabear Posted June 23, 2018 Report Share Posted June 23, 2018 Jason P what is holding the double 3/8 poly board shelve I position ? You said it had a adhesive material on the poly board holding it in position on top of the tank . I just removed my two blue top battery’s and the poly board is super tight . How did you re,over the poly board ? I can not get to the mounts with the poly board in place . Everything appears to be tight and in place but I want to make sure . The front of my tank does not go all the way forward to the pointed contour of the shape of the hull. It stops a foot from the front and has a brace going from the left to the right the tank had a six inch angle aluminum bracket bolted to that reinforcement . This boat was ordered with the larger tank when built . The tank is in position not dropped wonder if it should have the foam installed under the tank ? Is that the front brackets that broke or the rear .? Joe R Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason p Posted June 23, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2018 The poly board is sandwiched together (with Weld-On I assume) and then glued directly to the top of the tank with Weld-On. There's no removing it, you have to cut it. I have one of those oscillating saws that works great for this kind of stuff. Initially I just cut around where the screws are mounted because I was going to remove the tank and reweld new brackets. Once I spoke with Ray and realized it wasn't coming out without cutting the tank up I just started cutting small areas of the poly board and CAREFULLY popping them off with a small prybar. Fortunately, I guess, someone spent about 6 seconds applying the adhesive to the top of the tank with a caulk gun so its pretty thin in places and applied sparingly. Truth be told if you can reach the nuts on the front side of the forward bulkhead and verify they are tight I would be good with that. If you can turn the screw by putting a wrench on the nut I would cut enough of the polyboard out so you could get a screwdriver on them and tighten them up. Attached is a pic of the rear mounting points, probably wouldn't hurt to check those out as well. I borrowed a boroscope from the neighbor and the rear of the tank is sitting on a piece of hard rubber, like a strap, probably 2" wide x 1/2" thick that runs the width of the tank, then the top of the tank has two brackets screwed into some aluminum plates laminated to the rear bulkhead of the bow compartment. The piece of rubber is just sitting down there but the weight of the tank keeps it in place... I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dabear Posted June 23, 2018 Report Share Posted June 23, 2018 Thanks my rear mounts are the same but the front mount is not . I can e mail picks to your e mail if you want to send me your e mail address . I will send you my e mail in a private message . My rear mounts have a black rubber between the aluminum mount and the hull . I took pictures and can e mail them to your e mail address if you want to see how the front mount is on my 2010 with the larger tank . Joe R Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason p Posted June 24, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2018 Thanks for the pics Joe. The front mount is the one that broke. The rears appear to be fine, the tank is actually supported by the rubber strap as mentioned earlier, the rear mounts appear to be just to locate the tank and prevent movement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
conocean Posted June 24, 2018 Report Share Posted June 24, 2018 Holy Shish-Kabob!! 😯😲😒 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hurricane Posted June 24, 2018 Report Share Posted June 24, 2018 Wow thats terrible, sorry you gotta deal with that. Good find though and hopefully others can come up with support that will save them the hassle. Just a thought on a fix. Cut some PVC in half, and place it on the bottom of the hull. Then pour the foam to support the tank, the pvc will let the water drain out. The foam may hold the pieces in place, if not a little sheet of glass over the top will secure the pvc pieces. Then find a local metal shop and have them cut a piece of metal the width of the tank and bend or weld angle on the ends. Drill the ends to match the screw holes. Something like that should hold the tank down on the foam. Not sure if any of that will work, but just a quick thought. Good luck with the repair and keep us posted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justfish Posted June 25, 2018 Report Share Posted June 25, 2018 Man that *** jason What about some thick rubber “stringers” under tank? It might be flexible enough to bend in to get under it and then epoxy them down and then tank to them? I would be trying to avoid putting foam around an uncoated aluminum tank as much as possible. Seems to be a receipe for bad things happening to tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason p Posted June 25, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 25, 2018 As far as putting anything under the tank with any semblance of precision... it 'aint happening. Believe me the last thing I want to do is some BS repair to this thing, well almost the last thing. The last thing I want to do is cut this tank out of the boat so I'm gonna give it a shot. Not that it makes it totally correct but this is the repair that was offered to me by MBC as well. I digress, not going down that road any more, the guys up in Ft. Pierce were nice enough to leave a bunch of Styrofoam underneath the tank as well, it's staying there so oh well. Hurricane, that's pretty much what I'm doing. Fortunately I went to welding school after I retired from the military and worked full-time in a marine fab shop up until 4 months ago when the little one came and I re-retired to be a stay-at-home Dad. I have access to metal and equipment and I've built multiple boat gas tanks. I'm sure when I have time I'll cut this thing out and do it right before I have gas in the bilge. So here's where were at... Fabricated a new hold down bracket to bolt to the forward bulkhead and glued a rubber gasket to the tank side prevent any metal-to-metal wear and tear. If you look at the pic of the rear mounting bracket you'll see this wasn't done. I'm guessing because the tank barely fits in the compartment, there's literally zero clearance between the front or back of the tank and either bulkhead and. definitely no room for a gasket between the rear mounting bracket and the bulkhead... more quality. Next I strapped the tank to the ceiling in my garage and lowered the tongue of the trailer to keep the tank pressed up against the hold down while the foam cured. There's a 3/4" piece of PVC laying down there for drainage as well. Then the foam... Once the foam sets up overnight I'm going to continue chipping away at the old poly board... can't wait!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
conocean Posted June 25, 2018 Report Share Posted June 25, 2018 My 35gallon tank is situated against the bulkhead in my fwd hatch and I have a fbg SHELF for my TM batteries fwd of the tank. This is a different layout then I have seen in other 18HPX's. I check my tank regularly and it appears to be secured well. I can see two mounting brackets and gaskets firmly secured between the tank and the SHELF. I'm going to inspect further and carefully tighten any screws that I can get to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wanaflatsfish Posted June 25, 2018 Report Share Posted June 25, 2018 51 minutes ago, conocean said: I have a fbg tray for my TM batterie what is a FBG tray ? dc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
conocean Posted June 25, 2018 Report Share Posted June 25, 2018 It's what the batteries are mounted to in the pic I posted. It's actually a fiberglass shelf, not a tray. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InshoreMarSpec Posted June 25, 2018 Report Share Posted June 25, 2018 Glad you got it fixed. If I can be any of help on this let me now. I had to cut a few front decks for the same repair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason p Posted June 25, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 25, 2018 Before I realized my tank went all the way forward, and the tank needing to be cut up to be removed, I was planning on trying to do something like yours to get the TM batteries as far forward as possible. I left enough poly board on top of the tank to mount the batteries so I can monitor this "repair" for awhile. If it holds up I'm gonna pour more foam level with the top of the tank to support batteries up on the forward part of the tank. Thanks Bob, hopefully you won't be hearing from me about this, I'm obviously gonna hold off on re-doing the non-skid until I get a handle on this. If I need to re-engage I'll haul it up there to get some direction. If it comes to that I'm gonna modify the tank and turn this thing into a tanker! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hurricane Posted June 25, 2018 Report Share Posted June 25, 2018 That looks like it gonna be just fine. Its good to have some welding skills. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
conocean Posted June 25, 2018 Report Share Posted June 25, 2018 1 hour ago, InshoreMarSpec said: Glad you got it fixed. If I can be any of help on this let me now. I had to cut a few front decks for the same repair. Bob, do you think it’s a good idea for Jason to mount batteries on top of his tank given how it’s situated in his fwd hatch? 🤔 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dabear Posted June 25, 2018 Report Share Posted June 25, 2018 After talking to people and finding out that there have been a few tank problems over the years and this issue has not been limited to the HPX or Maverick brand I am moving my two optima blue top battery’s off of the top of the tank and am going to install them inside of the center console. Everything looks OK when I did a visual inspection of my 35 gallon tank set up . But it has to help removing 90 lbs from that area . When I special ordered my boat I had them build a carbon Kevlar console the exact dimensions of the center console I had in my 2003 16 ft Redfisher . It may have more room inside than the standard HPX center consoles. I will add one piece of star board under all three battery’s to disperse the weight over one large area and not three small foot prints . Joe R Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason p Posted June 25, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 25, 2018 2 hours ago, conocean said: Bob, do you think it’s a good idea for Jason to mount batteries on top of his tank given how it’s situated in his fwd hatch? 🤔 Paul: I've decided against that idea, no need to push it. I'm gong to leave them on the rear of the tank where it is supported by the rubber resting on the hull. Joe can you fit 3 batteries in the console? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dabear Posted June 26, 2018 Report Share Posted June 26, 2018 5 hours ago, jason p said: Paul: I've decided against that idea, no need to push it. I'm gong to leave them on the rear of the tank where it is supported by the rubber resting on the hull. Joe can you fit 3 batteries in the console? Don’t have then wired and fastened down yet need to go get a long 6 gauge battery cables , battery totals but I did place all three inside the center console to make sure they fit . I have a Interstare 24M -XHD for a cranking battery & two optima blue top D-34-M for my motor guide that fit with some room for a can of bug spray . Got to go to TA Mahoney Wed . Joe R Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
conocean Posted June 26, 2018 Report Share Posted June 26, 2018 I urge caution when thinking about mounting 3 batteries in their center console. I know a few people that put 3 batteries in their Maverick consoles which lead to soft floors in & around their consoles. The pics I saw of my boat while under construction showed me that the floor was not reinforced under the console. I personally wouldn't put more than one battery in my console but if you go with 3 then perhaps some pieces of starboard under the batteries could provide some rigidity. Just my .02cents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dabear Posted June 26, 2018 Report Share Posted June 26, 2018 Conocean , I am going to place them on starboard maybe that will disperse the weight more evenly across the area. Only two places to mount these battery’s that I know of on top of the tank or in the center console . I do not have that large shelf in front of my 35 gallon tank on my boat . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.