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Fuel leak??

282

Active member
I have a 25 Checkmate SFX, saw and smelled some fuel in the bildge today. What a pain in the butt to trace this and hopefully its not the tank. Any tips on where to start? My one fuel gauge ( I have 2 on the boat) seems to be not reading correct, should i start with that sender?
 
Just a thought, but start with sender like you stated then move on to any/all fill hoses, vent lines and fittings that you can access. Good luck.
 
I am bring it in to the shop in the morning. One complaint is access to anything on that boat is awful. I am going to have them figure it out and put in some access ports. A major design flaw in the boat is you need to be one of those circus freaks that can squeeze into a box to see anything. Some inspection ports that can be used for service/repairs will make it a much better boat. It appears not to be the tank since it only seems to leak into the bilge when running. I hauled it today and pulled the plug and drained it into a bucket. Odd, it looked like water then a mixture of water/fuel and then straight fuel???? I will post up what it turned out to be.
 
I hear you on access to the bilge, even on the Pulsares , Checkmate has you work through a rather small opening in the back seat instead of having the whole seat back flip up. I had enough two years ago and made a complete new rear seat back hinged to flip up. Access to changing the battery, working on wiring, oil tank, fuel tank and cleaning the area is much nicer now.
 
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If you are not entirely sure what the liquid substance consists of, send a sample to a local analysis lab. They will tell you exactly what is in it. It maybe part gasoline and part water coming in a pin hole in the sealant on your transom.
 
Sooooo.... Its the tank, it is a super clean 2011. Worst case!!! console and leaning post need to be removed and the floor cut out. The plastic tank cracked. I am pissed, I have had 15 boats from 16ft-32ft all ages and never had a tank issue. It is a big problem. I am going to go from 170 gallon to 125 gallon, custom made and change out every 2011 fitting and put in access panels and make the floor removable if They can for any future BS.. Why would the tank be plastic? The crack is towards the top so it leaks when you take off or sloshing around in the ocean. I called checkmate and the guy was nice but wasn't familiar with the 25sfx...
 
and more....the tank is plastic and patched with 5200 or something like that. The previous owner who did dump a ton of money into the boat with mods swears it was not an issue he had or fixed....he is saying it had to be at the factory since he is the only owner prior to me.......
 
I am waiting on pics, they said it look like the tank caved in one area and it was patched. The good news if any is the entire fuel system will be 2021 equipment and the boat is spotless and the 300xs only has 50 hours so it will be around for many years. It just pisses me off that people do stupid shit. If you can’t afford to fix a boat properly don’t own one. Someone put a patch, checkmate or the only other owner.
 
My first thought when you said tank was “caved in” is the venting on the tank was/is the root cause of the failure. Similar to what happens to your plastic lawn mower gas can left to sit with the vent closed, the can tries to collapse. Do this enough times and the plastic will fail and vent itself. Change the subject, which prop is working best for you?
 
I am using a 22p bravo with no vent holes right now. Looking for a 22p bravo FS. The issue is not the cave it’s who put the 5200 sealer on the crack?? I am thinking over the winter adding more set back on the motor. The verado 300 I heard runs better the the 300xs since it is heavier. It’s tough to fly the bow. But it is a fishing/ water toy boat not a speed boat but I would like to run 60
 
All is well boat is being gutted like a fish and all new tank and anything else that looks like it could use some help, hull is mint, under deck will be 2021 and will have access to maintenance parts. Checkmate should think about an aluminum tank and some access panels in the future.
 
I helped put the first one of those together for Checkmate, I really hate boats where you have to cut them to get the tank out. But that was the way Baja designed the boat. I'm ok with it if it is a wooden floor in the boat, those are easy to fix. But a liner, that's a lot of work.
We had to make so many new molds for that boat, like the rear fish tank, the front ice locker, the console itself, and if you have the wrap around seating in the front, I helped build that insert too.
It was a decent design I am glad Checkmate saved if from oblivion, but access really did kind of suck for certain things.
We actually downloaded the assembly manual from the old Baja website before they closed it down and printed it out to help us figure out how to build the dang thing. I'm not sure if the new Checkmate has that, but I'm sure they could figure it out, and probably make some improvements.
We also had one of the guys that designed it at the shop helping us on occasion to sort through some things.
We were also finishing that first boat as we set it up at the Miami boat show.

Now obviously yours was not that first boat, because I'm sure things had to be sorted out after it was done. But it did turn into a pretty good seller for Checkmate, and I wouldn't mind owning one myself someday, from either brand. Checkmate, or Baja.

I am sorry you are having issues with it, but I hope the repairs go quickly and well.
 
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Thanks for the post, overall it is a really nice set-up. The boat is a great combination of fishing/family layout. The bow seating is much nicer than the original Baja seating. Any boat can be a pain in the butt at anytime. It should be done in a few weeks and it is a ton of work.
 
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