I have an 08 twenty two foot Sea Hunt CC. The boat lives on a lift and only goes on the trailer once a year for maint. or if we are going down to Fla. The last time we had the boat out tooling around the wife and I both though we could smell gas fumes. Nothing strong just a hint of gas smell. Got it back on the lift and checked the bilge for fumes, nothing. I opened the fuel gauge sender hatch, nothing, the tank looked dry and clean. I also checked the inspection hatch for the fill/vent connections, nothing.
I pulled it on the trailer yesterday and jacked the bow up rather high. I let the bilge drip over night and checked it this morning, nothing. I also checked the engine (Yamaha 150) and found the same thing, nothing.
Anybody have any idea where this smell could be coming from or what it is? I have a healthy fear of gas fumes and can’t enjoy the boat worrying about being blown up!
Going real slow? And smelled gas fumes ? Exhaust perhaps? Overfilled has tank ? Leaking hose or connection.
Once the gas pump kicks off don’t put any more in. Do u have a spare tank under the seat ?
Yea I know stupid questions. I have a spare tank under my seat, I get a smell of gas sometimes if it is on service.
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Thanks ya’ll. I have had it propped up at a steep angel for two days now and no gas has dripped out of the bilge yet. The tank is aluminum and from what I can see is in good shape. What friogatto said about his vent line has got me to thinking. I changed my vent hose about two years ago and I am starting to suspect the hose could be stinking. I am doing the annual maintenance work while I have it on the trailer and I might change that vent hose while I am at it.
I will close up everything tonight and do the hatch at a time thing in the AM. I know a guy who is a US Marshal. He spends his days finding fugitives. If I can’t find the source of this smell I might ask him to see if he can find it.
I just recently had the same issue with my 21’ bay boat. I searched everywhere with no luck. After taking it to the shop, it turned out to be a small hairline crack in the fuel water separator that would only leak a minimal amount of gas when pressurized but the smell from the fumes were awful when I would run the boat. Hope this helps.
Thanks NC. I will check on that today. I did most of the annual maintenance yesterday and will do the fuel/water separator this AM. Was the crack in the filter element or the base unit the filter mounts on?
If you have a racor style the pepcock drain for the bowl may be the culprit. Pretty easy to over tighten and split the rubber ring that makes the seal on the inside of the bowl.
Well folks it looks like I am going to have to replace the fuel tank. The console has a drain that drains into the bilge in front of the tank. We were testing the boat this afternoon and were optimistic after all the maint. work we did last week. Well it began stinking again. I opened the console door and it was like sticking your head in a bucket of gas. I will pull the old tank out on Wednesday in order to get the exact measurements.
Anybody know a good tank fabricator in South Carolina?
Sunshine Marine or RDS. Both in FL. We replaced a tank last year in a 2007 Sea Hunt 20, so I have seen it before. We had to cut the floor out to replace.
Thanks all ya’ll. Some good and some bad news. The Sea Hunt Triton 220 has an access hatch held down by 16 large screws for access to the fuel tank so I will not have to cut the deck. RDS down in Florida makes the tanks for Sea Hunt and about a dozen other manufactures. I got the RDS part number off the old tank and I didn’t have to take it out and measure and draw pictures. Cost----$989.36 and a two week lead time.
Tank in my HenryO was an RDS. Replace it most of ten years ago. I got them to give it a couple of coats of cold tar epoxy before they shipped it. Was pleased with RDS.
17’ Henry O Hornet w/ Johnson 88 spl
26’ Palmer Scott project hull
14’ Bentz-Craft w/ Yamaha 25
Update. Well I got the tank out and it looked as bad as I had expected. RDS has the part number and is ready to start building me a new one. I decided to replace all the hoses while I could get to them. Big problem with the fill hose. When the boat was built it looks like they (Sea Hunt) shot form in the gunnel. This has got the fill hose locked in tight as a tick. I have dug about as much as I can dig out. I rigged a rope and a come-a-long to the hose and almost lifted the boat before I tore about 8 inches off the end of the hose.
Does anyone know of a chemical I can pour around the hose to loosen the foam? I am just about at my wits end with this project.----HELP!
Pry bars, long screwdrivers. sometimes you have to cut an access hatch. sometimes you can remove the gunnel mount rod holder. Nothing is going to melt that foam. Just keep on digging.
Thank ya’ll for the suggestions and information. I sure wish I knew how to post pictures. I ended up building a handy dandy do all foam removal tool. I bent a one inch ninety degree angle in a section of 3/16" steel rod. I ran this rod through a three foot section of 1/2" PVC and chucked the straight end of the steel rod into the BIG DRILL. I stuck the business end down into the gunnel and pulled the trigger! It was like pop corn flying around down there. In less than five minutes I had a shop vac full of ground up foam.
Like I say I wish I knew how to post pictures. That fill hose I pulled out was so decomposed I can’t see how I was getting any gas in the tank. I suppose the foam was acting like a kind of patch and letting the gas fall down in the tank.
Bottom line I had a tank with two small pin holes and a lot of corrosion and a fill hose that was totally rotten. No wonder the boat smelled like a gas bucket and a wonder I didn’t blow my arseloke to hell or at least as far as Georgia.