Gas Tank Placement - Opinion Sought - 73 Sea Ray

[aries8888]

The 16.5' Sea Ray had the 30gal fuel tank mounted in the bow which will be replaced with a new tank. I am in the process of doing what amounts to a complete restore and now would be a good time to make any changes such as relocation / resize of the gas tank.

The question is would there be any benefit to having a tank below the deck vs the bow. One obvious benefit to installing the tank below the deck would be lowering the center of gravity for the boat since 30gals of gas weighs 180lb + the weight of the tank. I realize a sacrifice in capacity would have to be made to have a tank under the deck and still retain the storage comparment under the deck.

I lean toward leaving things as they are but was interested in another opinion.

thank you in advance
freeman

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Gas Tank Placement - Opinion Sought - 73 Sea Ray

i think if you tale the weight out of the bow you may have a hard time planing. sea rays were engineered pretty well.

 

[epresutti]

Re: Gas Tank Placement - Opinion Sought - 73 Sea Ray

aries8888,

Like tashasdaddy, said, you have to be carefull about not just the center of gravity, but the center of balance. It sounds like the tank would be moving aft as well, which will change the balance. You might be better off leaving things as they are.

On my boat (not a Sea Ray), the hull was designed for the tank below deck. During my rebuild I moved some things (got a longer tank and moved it forward), because there were problems with the balance, it sat very heavy in the stern and would not plane properly.

If there aren't (or weren't) any handling problems before you started I would leave it as it was designed.

Peace.

Ed.


Peace.

Ed.