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I was having the same issue you are describing and thought it was old dried up gas. Actually turned out I had a hole in my tank and all the sediment was foam parts. You could clean it all you want and new junk would get introduced. I never smelled gas or put it together until I pulled the tank and found the nickel sized hole. I wasted a lot of time and effort trying to get it clean. If I had it pressure tested right away I would have know there was a leak.

Mine was a Outrage 1980 so if your tank is original that may be your issue. My fuel tank has 3 baffle's so it may be harder to clean than you think.