CARVER OWNERS CLUB
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One of the things that the Club tries to emphasize is the importance of careful maintenance and immediate repairs on the boat.  Captain Mark sent in an article explaining why.

I write this from my boat tied up in my slip at the City of Ft Myers (FL) Yacht Basin.

I am at the tail end of a fairly serious bit of surgery to my 1986 Carver 42 aft cabin. After a week of smelling excessive diesel, I inspected the engine room. The boat had not been run in over 3 weeks so I wasn't sure why I had an accumulated gallon of diesel fuel under my starboard engine? I scooped it out and disposed of it at my marinas fuel and oil disposal tank. That afternoon I mentioned to one of the marina tenants (Larry Quirk) that happens to be my mechanic that I had a fuel leak and he said he would check the following day. Fortunately he got there in time to quickly - and I mean quickly - siphon the 200 gallons in the full tank to a couple of my neighbors boats. It became very apparent that the original equipment aluminum tank had corroded along the outside edge and was now leaking copious amounts of fuel into my bilge. The mad scramble was to get the fuel moved before it filled the bilge and presented real transfer problems. But as the day progressed - I found this to be the least of my worries.

On close inspection it became obvious that there was no salvaging the tank. This caused us to immediately scrutinize the port tank which is an exact replica of the damaged tank. Fortunately, no corrosion - so we were left with the significant task of removal and replacement.

As it turned out, my mechanic Larry was able to perform the surgery with my boat still in the water - no trip with further hassle and expense to the boat yard.

The fuel tanks on the aft cabin are set in a trough directly under the outside deck outboard of the twin engines on each side. To remove them meant either cutting out the side of the boat (never) or moving the engine to the middle of the boat and maneuvering the tank out with plenty of help. First came the job of ripping out carpet and taking up the salon floor. Under the plywood was the aluminum grid that supported the floor. This had to be cut as it is welded together. Then, Larry finished that full day of disconnecting all lines, wiring, transmission and other assorted engine related items and moved my 1,200 pound 300 hp Cummins to the center of the engine room sitting on nothing more than blocks of wood supported over the bilge. It was now time to get the leaky tank out.

But it turned out that by a slight inch - the tank was not going to clear the deck above it - Larry would have to cut the tank to get it out. So, out came the tank in about 5 pieces. It is amazing how much bigger the tank looked on the dock than it did inside the boat. About the only thing I was pleased with was the incredibly clean interior of the tank. No fuel polishing would be needed.

Larry filled a series of 5 and 10 gallon water pails and left them on the starboard deck to compensate for the significant heeling  taking place. My port tank had 200 gallons of diesel and the engine being moved and the starboard tank being removed put quite a list in my vessel!.

A couple of calls while this was going on to Gulf Marine in Ft Myers Beach resulted in an agreed on a price and the construction of a new tank. When delivered, the new tank not only was built of thicker aluminum, it sported new sending units for my fuel gauges and had a wonderful coat of epoxy and paint on its exterior. Had that been on the original equipment, it would have been highly possible the event never would have happened. We were very pleased at the quick response as Gulf Marine took my order, picked up the pieces of the original tank and delivered the replacement in four days. In its own way - the new tank was gorgeous!

But why did this happen? It turns out that the fitting for the shorewater hose was leaking. It was slow enough and far enough in that even a close inspection missed it. But once the tank was out with the motor out of the way - the leak became very visible and apparent. It was obvious that even though the tank's trough drained there was always an accumulation of water in which the edge of the tank was sitting. After 20 years plus - the tank had finally let go.

With much help from no less than 4 additional folks on the dock, Larry and crew wrestled the new tank in place. Thanks to hammers and wood, the new tank fit back in its proper resting place - 1.5 inches less tall than the original so it could fit - and even then a monster to get in place. The reduction in size costs me 8 gallons - certainly not to be missed as it's within the 50-100 gallons I always leave as a margin of safety when cruising.

Larry moved the diesel back in place and the boat stopped heeling for the first time in a week. Then he had the folks from Gulf Marine back out to weld the floor grid back in place. The floors are back in place and a new carpet is being installed. We transferred about 100 gallons from the port tank to level out the boat and fired up the engines - all is working great. A terrific job that while incredibly inconvenient and costly - could have been very much more so. When all done - this job will have cost in approximately 10k.

What was learned? No matter how much we all live, work, and inspect our boats - there is room for us to at least once per year to be more than diligent and go over every inch with a fine tooth comb.

In my case - a relatively cheap water fitting caused massive dislocation and cost. Could I have found this on inspection? I don't know it was so removed from view. But i know this, I will make sure i dig much deeper in all the recesses as I go forward. Had this happened while I was underway somewhere if could have been disastrous. From a fire perspective, an operational perspective and an environmental perspective. I was lucky and had it happen in a manageable way in a marina under controlled circumstances with qualified pro's to carry out the work. Thank God I wasn't 100 miles from shore at night in a confused sea.

I can only recommend anyone visiting or in this area that the services of Gulf Marine in Ft Myers Beach and Larry Quirk who lives on his boat in the City Yacht Basin In Ft Myers are excellent. They were responsive, respected my boat, kept things clean and did exactly what they said they would within the budget and time they said they would. And it all works. Hard to find that these days.