Old outboard (15hp Johnson) rehab

[Netpackrat]

I belive the death of the metal tank is a federal thing. Grounding requirements. Odd that plastic carries more charge potential but... who's letting science make the actual decisions here?

I am shocked, repeat, shocked that the same people responsible for jerry can spouts that leak and don't pour well, are also to blame for outboard motor tanks that suck.

[Fuzz]

Any chance you will be down my way any time soon? I have an extra I would part with.

[Netpackrat]

Any chance you will be down my way any time soon? I have an extra I would part with.

That would be easier than buying a sheet of aluminum and hacking together my own for sure, thanks much. I should probably run out to my brother's hangar in Wasilla and make extra sure that ours isn't hiding in there somewhere. I think it is gone but I didn't really spend any time hunting for it when I grabbed the motor. I need to run out there anyway and grab the generator we had at the old cabin and see if I can get it going again. I'll let you know. There's going to be ice on the lakes for a while anyway.

[Netpackrat]

So yeah, our old metal tank appears to be long gone. Didn't see it at the hangar, and my brother doesn't remember seeing it either. However, the plastic tank I bought may actually be salvageable. Tonight I emptied the fuel out of it into a jerry can (was going to have to either way), and removed the leaking fuel fitting. What I thought was a cracked fitting, is just the way it was made:



It's a two piece nut so it can be assembled, and threaded into the female threads which are molded into the tank. Anyway, I think I have figured this out. The newer "EPA compliant" tanks have a fuel cap that doesn't vent. Older ones, and the tanks that are sold internationally still have vented fuel caps. So when the tank gets warmer and the contents expand, despite the EPA's mandate that it not do so, the tank IS going to vent its contents, through whichever fitting has the worst seal, and is therefore the path of least resistance. As happened when I brought it into my garage.

The band-aid for this appears to be a vented cap, which is available on Amazon. Per what I saw in the reviews, there's a good chance the caps are interchangeable. Looking at spare parts on Moeller's website, the cap isn't the only difference... The fuel gauges are different, and the outlet assembly is different. The non-EPA version of the latter appears to have an external thread molded into the tank, which eliminates the need for the split not. Not sure why the difference, but that means I can't just buy the non-EPA parts and put them on my tank, other than (hopefully) the cap.

I am not sure what the feds think they are accomplishing since I have thus far spilled a lot more fuel than would ever have been lost as vapor if the tank was allowed to vent normally, but I guess not much they do ever makes sense.

[Jaysen]

As every teenage Jaysen in the multiverse knows… pressurized vapor is what goes boom. The feds are literally making explosive devices in ever shed and garage in America.

Also… cars must be vented. So… logic be damned!

[Netpackrat]

The non-EPA approved cap arrived, and it's a perfect fit. Put the tank outlet fitting back together and put the fuel back in, and all seems OK so far. The vent in the new cap is just a winged knob that is turned to open or close it. Upon closer examination of the original cap, looks like there was a vent feature but it's some kind of button thingy. So it may have been OK but I like the new one better anyway. Be interesting to see how quickly I go through fuel... IIRC, a full tank (the old metal one was either 5 or 6 gallons, so about the same size) used to last my dad basically a whole season of fishing, so he would generally mix fresh gas each spring. But that was mostly a lot of trips up and down a fairly short stretch of river to the lake where we fished in Cordova. I have more water to cross, so I'll have to keep a closer eye on fuel use. Would suck to have to row 15 miles against the prevailing wind to get to the boat launch. The worst that would have happened if my dad had run out of fuel, was drifting back down the river to the launch.

Speaking of, I got the oar locks installed finally. I told my wife that as the only trained rower in the family, she's the official auxiliary power unit. Might as well get some payoff out of all the years of practice while she was still competing with the local rowing club. OTOH, she's also the only trained coxswain in the family, but I am not about to point that out to her. Hopefully the motor won't give any trouble.



These are the oarlock kit that the boat manufacturer sells; the dealer threw them in at no additional cost when I asked about them. I think they are made to be used with multiple models of boat, since they only came with 2 bolts per mount, and there were 4 mounting holes. The vertical ones were at the wrong angle and would not have worked with through bolts at all. I put them in the mill vise and milled the flats down to match the gunwale angle, and I installed some aluminum rivnuts in the top of the gunwales so I could use 4 bolts. I wouldn't want to depend on the rivnuts by themselves, but the extra fasteners did add a little stiffness. Had to make a slight counterbore on the bottom side so the mounts would sit down all the way against the gunwale. Not sure how well the cast aluminum oar locks are going to hold up, but they appear to be the same socket size as the ones I used on my D5 so there should be lots to choose from if needed.



I managed to find these padeyes at West Marine yesterday with the right hole spacing to match the oarlock mount through bolts, so I have cargo tie-downs too now. I also added a set midway between the middle and bow seats, with 1/8" 5052 backing plates on both sides like I made for the cleats I installed at the aft corners.