Skeeter ZX225 Fuel tank removal - IM LEAKING FUEL!!

[Zimm]

After fueling up and fishing this weekend i had gas dripping out of the drain plug...about half gallon of gas overnight! No sign of any hoses leaking and all of the gas is on the driver side. I think i have a leak in my driver side fuel tank. Any tips on removing one? Any ideas on ANYTHING else it could be besides the fuel tank? And finally, any idea what a new one costs and does it have to come from Skeeter or is there an aftermarket one out there? Its an '09 Skeeter ZX225. It had sat in the garage since october with about 10 gallons of fuel in the tank. I added 8 gallons and when i returned home, i noticed the gas coming out. Any info/ideas would be greatly appreciated.

[Bob G.]

For starters, I'd drain all of the gas from that tank immediately and flush out the bilge area. I would not like any gas fumes lingering around. And I'd park it outside away from your house/garage.

[bill.s]

I would also check the tightness of all fuel system hose clamps, and the area around the fuel tank selector valve (switches from port to stbd or reverse). I doubt the fuel pickup connection flanges would be that leak with the connections on top of the tank. I would remove the seat(s) and inspect the fuel tank, especially if you did any work the might have punctured or caused a crack in a tank. I had a fuel tank selector valve go bad, but no external leaks.

[Zimm]

First thing i did was siphon out as much gas as i could and washed everything down. Thankfully i got enough out that it is no longer leaking. I would also doubt it is the selector, because the gas leaked all night long. Can you see the gas tank by removing the seat? i was under the impression that i would have to take the entire back deck off(which is very labor intensive i am told)

[DrewFlu33]

Certainly not impossible, but with a boat that new it seems really, really improbable that the fuel tank would be the issue. I know you said it doesn't look like it's coming from the lines, but I'd still be changing out fuel lines from the tank to the motor before I ever dreamt of trying to pull the fuel tank.

Given the age of the boat and especially the time frame of its manufacture (read: problems with fuel lines from that time frame), it's a job that needs to be done anyway. Any place there's a connection is a possible leak spot, and quite honestly, the way those lines break down, a line that's cracked all the way through wouldn't be a surprise either. If you find that it saves you having to pull the tank, even better! I bet it will.

[rjvana]

You could shoot a little air into the tank if the tank has a cracked it will show up it won't take much. More then likely its on the bottom , Are the tanks plastic see thru ?

[Zimm]

Yes the tanks are plastic. I wouldnt say they are "see through" exactly. Plus one area of the tank is under a storage compartment and the entire back deck would have to come off to look at it. The fuel lines arent very long and they run along an area where it should be easy to tell if there is gas leaking out of them...especially that much gas. The bottom of the boat had a lot of gas in it with no other evidence of gas anywhere else. I will be sure to double and triple check hoses. It will be harder to tell now that ive siphoned the gas from the tank and washed out the area where the tanks/batteries are.