Hello everyone. I have a 2000 Bass Tracker Pro Crappie that I'm attempting to find a fuel tank solution for. The previous owner removed the factory fuel tank for some reason (it might have been leaking? I don't remember his reason) and replaced it with a 6 gal portable gas can. Anyways, to remove the factory tank he cut maybe a 10x9" square into the forward facing frame of the rear deck. This is where the portable gas can now sits. Its a snug fit but the 6 gal tank slides in and out for fueling. Everything works fine. Except for the fact that I need more than 6 gallons of gas.
The 2005 40hp Merc outboard likes to drink gas, its not the most fuel efficient. I also fish bigger rivers and like to run around. I'll put 2+ hours on an outboard running around in a days fishing. I'm looking to have around 20gals of fuel on board. There are two options I can think of:
1) Re-install a factory fuel tank. A new one should be able to go in the hole the old one came out of, right? Only issue is I'm not sure what size or part number the original tank was. Does anyone have pictures of how the rear hatch is organized from the factory? I would probably need to rearrange my 2 batteries to make room, but that is not a big issue.
2) Keep the 6 gallon tank, and keep an additional 12 gal tank on deck. This probably is the easiest fix. Just switch the tanks when one runs out. Will definitely lose some deck space on the stern, but I only ever fish with 2 ppl max so that shouldn't be a big issue. 18 gals should be sufficient.
I can upload pics this evening. What do you all think?