Fuel tank woes

Diesel Fuel Tank Issues

We found tiny droplets of fuel in our bilge water, and that's not tolerable!

So first step was to mop up the bilge, 2nd was to find out where the fuel leak is.

We went down to the boat today armed with empty diesel Jerry cans in case we needed to off load the tank contents. 

Inspecting the area between the fuel tank and the fuel filters, I found that there was some diesel on the tank support shelf, but could not see where it was coming from. I will have to replace that shelf as about 1/4 of it is wet with diesel. 

Thinking that it could be a leaky tank, I decided to empty the tank so that I could remove it and inspect it for leaks. Then the leak would either be fixable or I would need to buy a new tank.

So, my plan was to disconnect the Fuel pump outlet and run a temporary hose into one of the Jerry cans. We did that, but with the engine ignition system on (there is no Ignition system on a Diesel, it's actually the engine electrical supply.), the fuel pump ran, but would not pump fuel. 1st thought was that the pump had failed. So I tried to siphon the fuel out of the tank, it would just not flow.

Next I decided to use our spare fuel pump to pump out the tank. The spare pump was on board the boat when we purchased her in 2015. I connected some wiring to the pump and to a pair of electrical clamps, connected the pump to the fuel supply hose and a spare fuel hose into the Jerry can. Hooked up the pump, nothing! Wow, That's Fantastic !

Being unable to empty the tank I decided to try again tomorrow. New Plan: buy a new fuel pump before going back down to the boat.

Then a friend of mine called and during our chit chat, he asked if I had tried to start the engine?

Hmmmmm! Duh! Installed pump won't, Siphon - Won't, Spare pump wont' (won't even run) could it be a leak in the fuel hose?

My new thought: If the fuel won't pump or siphon, wouldn't that be the situation if the supply hose had a leak? Duh!

New Plan: Tuesday, head down to WM and buy some new fuel hose, connect that up and see if it pumps fuel. If so, it's the old hose and not the tank. If it still won't pump, it should siphon. If it does not siphon, then it's a fuel blockage. If it does pump/siphon, then it's just the hose.

Oh, did I mention? A new Fuel Tank is over $1,000 including shipping from CA! I really hope it's the hose!