Leaking 330 Signature fuel tank

ChessieBay

ChessieBay

New member
My 2006 330 Signature started leaking gas into the bilge and didn’t stop until the tank was dry.
Now the marina has the challenge of getting the tank out of the mid-cabin floor. It is not yet clear how much cutting is required besides removing the floor.
Does anyone have experience with a tank replacement in a similar boat? I understand this is not terribly uncommon in Chaparral boats.
 

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ChessieBay said:
My 2006 330 Signature started leaking gas into the bilge and didn’t stop until the tank was dry.
Now the marina has the challenge of getting the tank out of the mid-cabin floor. It is not yet clear how much cutting is required besides removing the floor.
Does anyone have experience with a tank replacement in a similar boat? I understand this is not terribly uncommon in Chaparral boats.
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Years ago I had a gasoline issue on my 9 yr old Chap. It was a manufacturing issue, and they offered to help out with some of the cost. Your girl is 20 yrs old, it might be worth a call to Chap. But I think that you need to find out if it is the fault of the product or the installation first. Either way you need to decide If it is worth the cost and time without her to you to have the repairs done, and you need to have someone that has the experience of doing this type of work. This is going to be a major operation. Not so much in the tearing apart everything to do the work, but putting everything back together as if it were never taken apart. My issue was in and open area, but still it was a dirty mess.
Good luck, please keep us in the loop.

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The marina has already been in touch with Chaparral for some guidance. I posted this same issue on the Facebook Chaparral owners page. It took less than 24 hours for nearly a dozen replies with claims of similar experiences. Sadly, I concluded that it was time to sell the boat rather than pour more money into it. But, with a gas tank that won’t hold gas it is an unsalable environmental hazard. So, I’m sucking it up and making the repair in the (futile) hope that this is the last major repair for a few years. 😩
 
Another thing to consider is, that there are people out there that will buy projects like this.
Right now make sure that she is well ventilated. Your foam around the leak is like a big sponge!
 
Thanks Denny. The hatch is open a few inches and she is in the hands of my trusted mechanic of 10 years. My rationale is that I cannot buy a 35 ft boat of any kind for what it will cost to fix this problem.
 
ChessieBay said:
Thanks Denny. The hatch is open a few inches and she is in the hands of my trusted mechanic of 10 years. My rationale is that I cannot buy a 35 ft boat of any kind for what it will cost to fix this problem.
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Tough call, you have to make the choice that suits you best. The positive part, is it happened at the right time of year. I'm gauging by your ID, that you are on the east coast. Good luck, progress report and pictures please. Could help someone else, and educate the rest of us too.
 
This is well known problem with the Sig 330 model. I had a Sig 290 for 8 years, all good. I would look at a plastic tank for a replacement. My 2nd choice would be Al, but make sure water can not build up under the AL tank. That water can drain to the pumps. With a plastic tank, you can add tank/fill sensors that do better than a float sensor. Some are NMEA2k for connecting it to you GPS/MFD.
 
Sounds like they got a hold of a bad batch of gas tanks. I still would call Chap to see what they have to say about it.It might be possible that they are handling each issue separately. The worst they can say is no, never hurts to ask.
 
I agree. My friend had the same problem. Chap give him a new tank, but the install was on him. I dont remember the year of his boat. But that was 10 years ago.
 
Denny said:
Sounds like they got a hold of a bad batch of gas tanks. I still would call Chap to see what they have to say about it.It might be possible that they are handling each issue separately. The worst they can say is no, never hurts to ask.
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My marina spoke with Chaparral
Denny said:
Years ago I had a gasoline issue on my 9 yr old Chap. It was a manufacturing issue, and they offered to help out with some of the cost. Your girl is 20 yrs old, it might be worth a call to Chap. But I think that you need to find out if it is the fault of the product or the installation first. Either way you need to decide If it is worth the cost and time without her to you to have the repairs done, and you need to have someone that has the experience of doing this type of work. This is going to be a major operation. Not so much in the tearing apart everything to do the work, but putting everything back together as if it were never taken apart. My issue was in and open area, but still it was a dirty mess.
Good luck, please keep us in the loop.

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thank you Denny. The marina spoke With Chaparral and their advice was to “abandon the offending tank in place and relocate fuel to the engine room”. I hate that idea because moving that much weight several feet towards the stern will just make getting out of the hole even harder. Besides I can barely move down there as it is - where in the world would they have me put a tank 2X the size of the water tank?
I saw a post on a Facebook Chaparral page by someone who cut out the old 175 gal tank and replaced it with two 80 gal tanks. I’m asking the marina to explore this option as a way of keeping the weight beneath the mid cabin, where it belongs. In any event, I want to diagnose the cause of the leak. I’ll keep y’all posted.
 
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Just a though. I have heard stories like this one. In some cases, they cut a hole in the old tank and inserted a rubber bladder tank.

Like this one https://atlinc.com/custom-fuelocker-marine-fuel-bladders.html

On the 290 I had, there was about 20 to 25% of the tank in the engine compartment. So this would have been an easy job. On a 330, I am not sure. But this would be better than ripping the old tank out. You just need to make a hole big enough to insert the bladder.
 
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I think that moving the tank back would change the whole attitude and balance of the boat, even when she is at rest.
Don't know why, but Chap put that tank there for a reason, maybe just because they had nowhere else to put it.
They do that a lot in the auto industry.
 
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