Navatech

ANY and EVERY leak in your fuel system is HIGHLY significant!… You should NEVER find any fuel leak in a boat acceptable!…

dogdad1

OMG!! This is like deja-vu all over again! For the past 2 years, I had the same boat (well, it was a '99 1700cc but otherwise identical) and it I can tell you I suffered thru the same issues.

Got it, a 85hp zuke and trailer for an awesome price. Spend the next 3 months trying to get the gunk out of the fuel tank, but still being towed in by other boaters or SeaTow. Finally decided it was either the boat or me.... Spend one entire weekend with paper towel pieces on a long wire, mopping up EVERYTHING out of the farthest reaches of the tank. That fixed it, until rainy season. That's when I realized the water was getting in thru the fuel-cap and its stoopid location. I'd watch the rain fill the little area around the cap and not drain off - and some must have gotten in thru the cap each time, because I'd end up behind other boaters again. I also suspected the fuel-vent catching a wave, but never pursued it to a conclusion.

Another problem was that it wouldn't want to idle at less than about 1800rpm, so was exciting when docking. Spend a lot of time/$$ chasing that down, which kept my mind off the fuel thing, anyways, but never did fix it.

I also had very stiff steering and control cables. Lubed the control cables as best i could, but never got around to the steering one.

A buddy scored a super deal with a local yard for a new closeout engine on his boat, so I went for one too... a new Merc 90.... figuring I'd move my fuel filler too after that (like you did). Forgot that an old 2-stroke weighted SIGNIFICANTLY less than a new 4-stroke (double DUH!). Now it pointed skywards all the time. No amount of fiddling worked. We moved the battery forward, we added a battery, we added a whale-tail, we added tabs, nuttin. Going from less than 250 lb to over 400 lb for a motor on that little boat was just too much for it.Finally sold it and got a newer boat... and newer hassles.

I gotta say that, in looking back, all of the issues with that Key Largo were either of my own doing (adding a heavy motor) or something that could be resolved (moving the fuel filler), so in my mind she was still an excellent boat in all respects that I should have asked of her. I still miss it.

I may have a few parts left over, so let me know if I need to go dig around for anything. What motor did you have?
Best of luck to you, sir. I hope you get many more (s)miles out of your endeavor.

Cobia 217

Is that allowed? I wouldn't think he'd want fuel spilling out onto the deck if he was a little careless while fuelling. I've seen a few boats with the fill there and doesn't seem to be the best choice. His existing vent is seriously close to the waterline though.

ericwampner

I think I covered the risks and reasoning for my choices in my posts. Gasoline and gasoline vapors should always be respected as the health and fire hazard that they are. I've been told that "careless" fueling is now being rewarded with citations at dockside fuel stations. I am not aware of any legal issues with boat changes that are considered "safe and prudent", and I have used existing guidelines (required fire rated fuel and vent hoses) in my changes. If there is additional information, I would welcome a pointer.

Wanndering_Goyle

Hello, I hope I did not make a mistake.
I bought it to have fun.
this forum is very helpful, I see a lot going on with these boats.

ericwampner

Update and reply to folks:
I have not had any further issues with fuel since I moved the fuel fill location.
Dogdad1 - Thanks and I appreciate the good wishes. I'm glad to know the transom isn't quite as fragile as its rating (max 70hp) but I replaced my prop with a fancy new 4 blade one and I'm quite happy with the boat now.
Wanndering_Goyle - sorry I didn't get back to you sooner. I've got a fairly early model of that boat and you've got a brand new one. They definitely changed the design to correct the issue only a couple of years after mine was made, and I don't think there is any reason to expect yours to have the same problem. I wish you luck and fun on the water.

Crazy Fingers

I had a 2004, and it had the vent integrated Into the fill cap. It never vented properly and I finally gave up and just filled it really slowly. Good thing it was a small tank! Towards the end I started having some issues with water intrusion because I didn't use it enough - my racor with the clear bowl and the stopcock was a huge help.

As for the gas smell, the rotomolded tank just oozes gas smell. My bilge always had a faint smell of gas from day one, and so did others I've spoken with who had this boat.

Steering wise, I didn't have much trouble with it but those cables are definitely curved a little too tight. Good luck if you ever need to replace them.

Mirwais

Hello,
I just bought a 2001 key largo. Only thing wrong with it is fuel gauge doesn't work.
Does anyone know how to access the fuel tank so that I can check the wiring?

Cobia 217

Check the OP's first post. He said he needed to remove the pilot's seat to get access to the hatch in the console. All the tank connections were accessible once it was removed.

ericwampner

Yeah, just to clarify, the picture in the first post is the top of the tank, and its inside of a "hatch", in mine a rectangular piece of fiberglass board held down by 4 screw *underneath* the center console. Since the access to the center console is on the stern side on my boat, removing the pilot bench/cooler made doing the work possible.

But the picture, as nicely edited as it is, does not tell you that I've jammed my camera up under the instrument panel to take it.

The fuel tank level sender is the dark black circle on the bottom right of the top of the tank. I originally paid a local boat place to "clean out the tank", and they appear to have removed the sender to do the job, and I'm sure it was a lot of money, but man I'd pay that several times over to not have to do what I ended up doing. IM me if you want the name of the place, I think they are good guys. (I don't have much time to check THT, so may be a delay.) I had them do my balky throttle/shift linkage, and its pretty nice now, but my brand new self installed teleflex steering still sucks. I can't tell if its the cable bend, or something about the transom tilt tube. :-(