Ever since a previous owner of my boat told me that one of the original plastic fuel tanks had cracked and leaked gasoline all over the cockpit floor I’ve been uneasy about putting the old plastic tanks back into my 1999 22’ Cruiser, which I’ve stripped and am slowly restoring. Last week I tried to remove the fuel pickup from one of the old tanks and immediately a crack appeared in the plastic. I was actually relieved to see this happen because it allowed my brain to immediately make the decision to buy new tanks and remove a nagging cause for concern.
The next day I called the factory and talked to Shawn who told me they had the old-style (no evaporative emissions control) 23 gal. plastic tanks in stock. Cost was $430.20 each, plus $75.72 WA state sales tax, for a total of $936.12. Gulp!
A round trip to Bellingham was cheaper than shipping the tanks to me so a couple days later I got up early and drove five hours to the C-Dory factory. Getting up early meant I missed rush hour going through Portland, but nailed it in Seattle. When I eventually got to the factory Shawn had the two tanks ready to go and I was out of there in less than ten minutes. Thank you Shawn!
So here’s a heads up. He told me they have about ten of each (port and starboard) of the old-style 23 gal. plastic tanks left. So if you’re thinking you might want to replace your old-style plastic tanks some day, the clock is ticking and at some point they will no longer be available from the C-Dory factory.
And they are apparently no longer available anywhere else. Rumor has it that the molds for these tanks were inadvertently discarded some years ago. The old-style 23 gal. tanks which the C-Dory factory currently has in stock have an embossed label on them stating that they are Dometic models FT2339 (starboard) and FT2340 (port). They don’t have a date of manufacture, but, according to Google’s AI platform, “Dometic acquired Moeller Marine Products in 2017, as part of a broader acquisition of SeaStar Solutions.” It doesn’t make sense to me that they were manufactured on or after 2017 though because Google’s AI platform also states that, “Evaporative emissions controls on boat fuel tanks began in the United States in 2010 for personal watercraft and 2011 for all other boats with gasoline engines.”, and these takes don’t meet that requirement. At any rate, those model numbers aren’t in the current Dometic Moeller marine catalog and, indeed, the catalog of plastic fuel tanks doesn’t show anything like them in size or shape.
I didn’t think to ask what C-Dory is using for fuel tanks in the new boats. Maybe those could be used in older boats as well by not utilizing the evaporative emissions hardware. I don’t know.
Oh yes, I initially explored the possibility of building aluminum saddle tanks, but I decided against this because the aluminum tanks added too much weight and took up too much space in an already small cockpit. Additionally, this project is dragging on too long and I wasn’t looking forward to time spent on a big welding project. They would be nice when I needed them (going up the Inside Passage), but most of the time I won’t need that capacity. I designed port and starboard saddle tanks made of 1/8” 5052 aluminum that fit under the storage areas on the cockpit sides. Each held a bit more than 43 gal. each and weighed 42 lbs. each. By contrast, each 23 gal. plastic tanks weighs 14 lb. It makes more sense to me to just use portable tanks for the times when I need more capacity.
Out with the old and in with the new!
Despite the weird perspective, these tanks are all basically the same size. The old Waylander port tank at left rear in the photo is labeled as 22 gal. and the old Moeller starboard tank at right rear is labeled as 25 gal.
The next day I called the factory and talked to Shawn who told me they had the old-style (no evaporative emissions control) 23 gal. plastic tanks in stock. Cost was $430.20 each, plus $75.72 WA state sales tax, for a total of $936.12. Gulp!
A round trip to Bellingham was cheaper than shipping the tanks to me so a couple days later I got up early and drove five hours to the C-Dory factory. Getting up early meant I missed rush hour going through Portland, but nailed it in Seattle. When I eventually got to the factory Shawn had the two tanks ready to go and I was out of there in less than ten minutes. Thank you Shawn!
So here’s a heads up. He told me they have about ten of each (port and starboard) of the old-style 23 gal. plastic tanks left. So if you’re thinking you might want to replace your old-style plastic tanks some day, the clock is ticking and at some point they will no longer be available from the C-Dory factory.
And they are apparently no longer available anywhere else. Rumor has it that the molds for these tanks were inadvertently discarded some years ago. The old-style 23 gal. tanks which the C-Dory factory currently has in stock have an embossed label on them stating that they are Dometic models FT2339 (starboard) and FT2340 (port). They don’t have a date of manufacture, but, according to Google’s AI platform, “Dometic acquired Moeller Marine Products in 2017, as part of a broader acquisition of SeaStar Solutions.” It doesn’t make sense to me that they were manufactured on or after 2017 though because Google’s AI platform also states that, “Evaporative emissions controls on boat fuel tanks began in the United States in 2010 for personal watercraft and 2011 for all other boats with gasoline engines.”, and these takes don’t meet that requirement. At any rate, those model numbers aren’t in the current Dometic Moeller marine catalog and, indeed, the catalog of plastic fuel tanks doesn’t show anything like them in size or shape.
I didn’t think to ask what C-Dory is using for fuel tanks in the new boats. Maybe those could be used in older boats as well by not utilizing the evaporative emissions hardware. I don’t know.
Oh yes, I initially explored the possibility of building aluminum saddle tanks, but I decided against this because the aluminum tanks added too much weight and took up too much space in an already small cockpit. Additionally, this project is dragging on too long and I wasn’t looking forward to time spent on a big welding project. They would be nice when I needed them (going up the Inside Passage), but most of the time I won’t need that capacity. I designed port and starboard saddle tanks made of 1/8” 5052 aluminum that fit under the storage areas on the cockpit sides. Each held a bit more than 43 gal. each and weighed 42 lbs. each. By contrast, each 23 gal. plastic tanks weighs 14 lb. It makes more sense to me to just use portable tanks for the times when I need more capacity.
Out with the old and in with the new!
Despite the weird perspective, these tanks are all basically the same size. The old Waylander port tank at left rear in the photo is labeled as 22 gal. and the old Moeller starboard tank at right rear is labeled as 25 gal.
