I have the fuel tank in the T37 and two monel 80 gallon tanks in the Dyer 29, all of which are officially antiques. So I invented a low pressure test kit with gauge, clamps and inflatable fill pipe bladder to shoot 2.5 psi into the tanks and see what we've got. It would be great to get at the entire T37 tank with soapy water, but I don't want to take it out if I don't have to. Ugh. If it comes out, I'd test it again and if it's what I think, I'd just weld that corner, clean it out and load it with Gluv-it and reinstall.
I have a feeling the achilles heel is the forward starboard corner of the tank. It comes to a low point where a bubble of water would sit and corrode the weld. I've had that happen with stainless. A full tank fully leaked into the bilge of my Bristol 35.
The only evidence was a pinhole in the bottom INSIDE of the tank. Couldn't see anything on the outside. But I had to cut it out to get it out from under the cockpit. A stain where the water bubble sat and a tiny pinhole in the middle. Nothing easily discernable on the outside of the tank. We'll see if she holds air. But either fuel leaked from the pickup, fill or return line and ever so slightly ran across the top of the tank and over that stbd corner and stained the cabin sole and under the nav and the drawers (you wouldn't notice it unless you were really, really looking) or that low corner has fuel migrating through the welds. With the 80 gal. monel tanks in the Dyer I've got the entire deck up and can get at both of them all the way around. Fingers crossed.
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