| As this was our second aluminum fuel tank to leak, we decided to have the new tank made out of plastic. The major plastic fuel tank company in Turkey was located in Istanbul. By communicating with the company�s representative in Marmaris during out winter�s stay back in Florida, the entire undertaking was organized even before we returned in March. Once the fuel tank was removed, the representative from the plastics company came and took the measurements of the old fuel tank and sent the drawings up to Istanbul. Three weeks later we received our new tank. The only problem was that the tank had been fabricated backwards. It was the mirror image of our old tank. This was depressing news as a month had now passed since our return to Turkey. In a way, though, it was a �blessing in disguise� as we were never told beforehand that 35% of our fuel capacity would be lost changing from aluminum to plastic. For a cruising sailboat like ours, that�s a big difference, especially as we were planning an ocean crossing. So in the end, we returned to aluminum. |
