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While waiting for better weather conditions yesterday to work on some gelcoat repairs, I decided to try to find out why so many people are having problems with water in the fuel tank cavities of their 80's Outrages. Most of these people have caulked the cover seams and replaced all the Beckson seals, where is the water getting in? It didn't take long to find the answer. The small tunnel which the fuel line fill and vent occupy is the culprit. This tunnel is not watertight. By design, water is allowed to run into this space every time it rains, or the boat is washed. The water follows the fill pipe to the top of the tank, and then runs down the tank and then over to the sump, in theory anyway. The only problem is that Boston Whaler thought the foam surrounding the tank was waterproof. We all know now, that just isn't the case. All of these boats, unless always covered, and never washed, are getting some water intrusion.

As far as a solution, you could calk the small wood strip that the access panel attaches to, this would keep water from getting under it, but it still will get in through the opening in the bottom of the panel. A bead of caulk placed at the front of the little opening could act life a dam, but these seem like makeshift repairs.

I am going to keep working on a simple solution to the major design flaw. In the meantime, maybe someone else has already addressed the problem, and will share with the rest of us their fix.