What Materials Are Best for Boat Fuel Tanks?

by Brandon Hefner Custom Marine Fuel Tanks

Boat tanks are something that you don’t decide very frequently. It is rare for boaters to seek another medium for carrying the fuel in boat. But when you look for the right material, there is a wide range of options. They all have different properties, benefits, and maintenance requirements. When you look for non-integral tanks, there are certain things to mull over like safety concerns, hazards during eventual maintenance, fuel type which you utilize, strength, and corrosion. However, there is much interpretation and guidelines set by the American Boat & Yacht Council (ABYC) to remain the tank design and installation process safe for builders.

Not all manufacturers are honest enough to read every line of guidelines and follow it analogically. So as a boater you need to careful while choosing the material. If you own a Grady White, the Grady white tanks should be in an appropriate structure. Here are the materials and their details.

Aluminum

Aluminum fuel tanks are most commonly used tanks. This is widely utilized because of its enormous qualities. Aluminum is available at lower costs. It depends on where and how you’re going to mount it as it requires enough ventilation around. But in case of ethanol-based diesel fuel, it needs to be coated with chemical resistant resin that inhibits reaction and buildup of rust inside. Overall aluminum gas tanks are strong, durable, and come with easy ductility which allows easy welds, cutting, and bending.

Fiberglass

You may found fiberglass tanks in older vessels as it has no longer prevailing. It is because most of the newly designed engines are capable to run on 10% Ethanol based fuel. Ethanol-blended gasoline is particularly harmful in the marine environment and aluminum gas tanks are mostly taken place of glass material.

Polyethylene

High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE) is also used to form tanks for boats. This is a better option to overcome persistent corrosion. The material is considered safe, versatile, and durable. The sheet is usually of 8-12 mm thickness and pressure tested. It needs to place adequately where should not be major environmental stress that tends to accelerate cracking. They have internal baffles mostly installed every 300-350 mm proximity to ensure certain rigidity and balanced movement of the content. You can choose plastic material for Grady white tanks.

Stainless Steel

There are a lot of arguments and beliefs on different boating forums on the same topic. The stainless steel lasts long. ABYC has issued some standards for manufacturers who use steel for tanks. However, many metallurgists still emphasize using aluminum fuel tanks for better efficiency, if installed correctly and finished with a proper coating. You can contact tank manufacturers for more details on what material is right as per your scenario.