Real Progress

Tuesday, Bryan Conover and I pulled almost all the dirty diesel out of the Sunrise fuel tank, about twenty-five gallons, which I had to dump. Wednesday, I flushed the tank out with diesel left over from changing and cleaning the Racor 2 micronn fuel filter, then I mopped up the tiny bit of fuel along with a ton of gunk and grime on the bottom. I purchased a stiff brush from the marina office that I could tie to a stick,  then I scrubbed the sides and bottom of the tank. After that, I squirted soapy water along the sides and bottom, let it settle, then used the 'wet' vacuum to pull everything out. I then polished the sides and bottom with a rag soaked in acetone and finally used the 'dry' vacuum to finish the job. Clean enough and shiny! In the photo below, you can see the two long engine fuel pickup and return tubes on the left and the shiny, shorter, Wallas diesel stove pickup tubes on the right.

Before I put in clean fuel, I added a 10 micron fuel filter and assembly that Bryan had in his shed. So now, the engine should be well protected. The new filter is left center and the fuel pump is right center. I could not get the Racor filter assembly in the picture. While I was doing filters, I also changed the stove filter as it was all gunky.

This morning I I glued down the inspection plate gasket that gives access to inside the tank, screwed down the plate with larger screws, #10 oval head stainless, put my five gallons or so of clean diesel I had on hand, and ran the engine until it was hot. I used Bryan Conover's vacuum pump to suck out the old oil, changed the oil filter, added new oil from some I had left over from the last oil change, made yet another trip to Advanced Auto Parts for more oil, and finished the job. Oh, I also bought five more gallons of diesel and added them, as well as a bit I held back from the dirty fuel. While adding fuel, I made marks on a dowel that fits into a hole in the inspection plate, which I can use in lieu of a fuel gauge. To tell how empty the tank is, I only have to move the cabin ladder, lift up and prop the floor boards, get a wrench, open the plug in the inspection plate, then stick in my marked stick. Could it be any harder to find out how much fuel I have? I have heard of these electric things that somehow measure the level of fuel and display it on a remote gauge. Magic!