Portable fuel tank safety

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ocbinva

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I just picked up a 1991 16 foot tracker guide V16. Previous owner had completed some mods. He removed some of the flotation for storage. But I cannot tell if the center section was always closed or open. I have the portable fuel tank but not sure if it is safe to put in a compartment with a lid. I have on boats in the past but all have had permanent tanks I've never used a portable tank before. I am assuming it's not safe to put a trolling motor battery in the same area correct? Any insight is appreciated.

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I wouldn't put the gas tank and the battery in the same compartment. If you put the battery and tank in separate compartments and make sure they are well ventilated you should be ok IMO. I have personally never stored a portable fuel tank in a closed compartment, ventilated or not. My trolling motor batteries are in a ventilated compartment.
 
Yeah it's a bad idea but I don't see any way around it. That's the way my tracker set up high 85 tournament. Everything shoe horn right back in there keep the factory like that. No blower either that I could ever see was hooked up. Well I'm going over mine the first thing I did was throw blower in there for a whopping $17 off eBay takes care of most of that concern. I'll put a picture up on here excuse the junk sitting around. I'm going to put a piece of like plywood that's removable in a bracket that separates those batteries from the tanks immediately behind it. I'll leave the top open enough for you don't get any fume build up of any kind in a battery area . That's another reason I decided to put the shut off switch back there as well you can see where mine is I guess every little bit helps. The pictures not a work of art but it'll give you an idea at least what I'm doing
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You might add a couple of these, or something like them.
https://www.westmarine.com/buy/west-marine--louvered-flush-hose-vents--P000281850
 
I got lucky. Mine has a standard 3" hose going to a top located hood vent on the back. Mine terminates down from the side covered by one of those type plates you show in the link. I simply pulled it off and stuffed the vent into the hose through the bulkhead. The blower mounted onto a convenient brace on the floor and I took the 3" vent cover and forced / glued it over the end of the intake for the blower. Cheap and easy. I dont' have a pic but can snap one if you want to see it.
 
I got lucky. Mine has a standard 3" hose going to a top located hood vent on the back. Mine terminates down from the side covered by one of those type plates you show in the link. I simply pulled it off and stuffed the vent into the hose through the bulkhead. The blower mounted onto a convenient brace on the floor and I took the 3" vent cover and forced / glued it over the end of the intake for the blower. Cheap and easy. I dont' have a pic but can snap one if you want to see it.
 
Thanks for all the great information. I'm doing research to see if I want to add flotation back into each side but I do like the extra storage. There is floatation under the floor but there's nothing in the front bench and he removed it out both rear Corner hatches. But if I leave them open I could put batteries on one side or the other. I just prefer additional safety over storage. The center I might leave open and that's where the fuel tank will go

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Remember though you may well get into balance issues moving those tanks to the sides. You probably want to test anything you do before making anything permanent. If you do just be sure to line any metal penetrations in those bulkheads with plastic abrasion guard of some sort. Also to consider is ventilation of BOTH sides if the boat if you put tanks on both sides. Yea it does get a bit dicey with limited space keeping things separated. That's why I more or less left mine alone with the addition of a non conductive barrier and left things in the center. From the pics though yours looks to be easier access with a lot less useless space than my Tournament. Better access too.
 

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