my question of the week re: fuel

[Ted Pounds]

Ken,
Once you've got the tank empty it's a snap to disconnect the hoses and just take the whole thing out.  Then you can turn it upside down and just shake the darn thing out...   

Ted

[Ken Heyman]

You're right Ted as I removed and cleaned the tank a number of years ago. If I do that again, it will be in the spring. I may make one more assault on the sender as the tank is currently empty and the float visible.

Thanks,

ken

[Ron Hill]

Ken : My I ask a stupid question.  
The sender in the bottom of the tank (well pickled by now) why isn't its float floating, so you can snag it?

Snagging it should be easy - getting it out of the hole in the top of the tank is another "ballgame"!    

[Ken Heyman]

The fuel is out of the tank now, Ron. My initial thought was that I should have been able to grab the float but I couldn't spot it and/or get at it  and yes the 2 to 3 inch diameter hole is another issue. BTW, I don't think the buoyancy of the float is sufficient to compensate for the lack of buoyancy of the aluminum component of the sender bracket.  I may have to resort to the Ron Hill tank removal methodology.

Ken

[Mike and Joanne Stimmler]

Would a coat hanger work?

[Ken Heyman]

the problem with the coat hanger is that there is really not alot to snag or lift on the sender. I'd have to get very lucky with placement. A grabber of some sort provides the best shot, I think. I did see some 16" pliers advertised on line but the key is being able to manipulate them in the confined space. It's looking more and more that the tank will be coming out in the spring.

Thanks again,

Ken

[Ralph Masters]

Ken,
I can see it now.  Now you have to get the sender AND a pair of pliers out of the tank.
Get a set of the grabbers, the type you push the button on the end and the "fingers" open at the other end and use that.  I know you can find a set long enough.  Here in San Diego we have a place called Harbor Frieght, they sell stuff like that, cheap.

Ralph

[Ken Heyman]

been there done that---In  that I can't see where the retrieval tool  is while inserted, but have good visibility with a mirror and flashlight, I need to line things up and follow the trajectory of an insert down with the retrieval tool.
The greatest probability of success would be to borrow a colonoscope from a gastroentorologist complete with a video capability. I wonder if he/she has a portable 12 volt variety. It would be ideal for inspecting and then retrieving a foreign object from the bowel of the fuel tank.

Ken

[Ken Heyman]

---so its sailing time again in the heartland and time to revisit this problem. Retrieving the dropped sender has become my "white whale" even though it didn't cause any problem navigating freely in the fuel tank last season. I decided to try once more before removing, cleaning and refilling the fuel tank which I had done maybe 5 years ago and of course is a good idea anyway. So I strapped a small flashlight onto a small plug in computer camera (very old) and attached it to a beat up laptop and brought all down to the boat,which is on the hard. I had to separate the light from the camera because both together exceeded the diameter of the tank access. I put the light on a string and lowered it while the camera rested on the access perimeter. I inserted my retrieval tool with my wife monitoring the computer screen(a bit like a colonoscoy).The idea was to get a fix on of the position where the sender was  and then snag it with one of those spring loaded claws. It almost worked ! The visibility was pretty good on the laptop (see attached) and I actually(after about an hour) was able to grab the sender float. Unfortunately I was not able to get it out of the tank (wrong angles etc.) Still I felt the attempt to be a partial success. I then bit the bullet and proceeded to remove the tank. It took me about 20 minutes to remove all fittings and restraints and waltz the tank into the cockpit where it now lays in waiting for another "Ron Hill cleaning treatment". The sender is out as well as a few rogue pieces from a broken fuel fill cap from a few years ago---sort of like an archaeological dig. Ken