Gas tanks and batteries

[ShadyG]

I am building a box of sorts on the back of my pontoon to hide the unsightly batteries and fuel tanks. Today I installed a perko battery switch inside of this box. Can i put batteries and the fuel tanks together in the same box? I started reading the boat builders handbook & when it was explaining explosion factors and what nots I got a little lost but it did lead me to thinking if I should be doing this or if there should be a wall in between these 2. Thanks

 

[dingbat]

A wall isn’t going to stop the buildup of hydrogen or gas fumes in the enclosure. Just make sure the box is vented and your good.

 

[Chris1956]

The battery should be in a plastic battery box, secured inside your box. Also, the fuel tank should be strapped down inside the box as well.

If you space the boards you use to build the box, like decking, you should not need any other ventilation. Also use solid pressure treated lumber and galvanized screws and she should last a long time.

 

[gm280]

My gut feeling is to make any gas tank setup as open as possible so any gas fumes dissipate without issue. And that would mean a lot of ventilation holes low in the box to accomplish that. You could even perforate the box so that the gas tank and battery (in it's own plastic battery box strapped down) can breathe, but not hold any fumes.

Remember gas fumes are heavier then air. And therefore will settle into any contained area instead of exiting. Then a mere spark of any type means explosion. And when you charge a battery, hydrogen gases are developed and accumulated as well. Gas fumes, hydrogen gas are a bad mix in my book. Perfect situation to explode from any spark... Just think and be very careful how you go about your box setup.

 

[racerone]

If you put this stuff together in a closed box then a parachute might be a good option to have on.----Just joking here.-------Make sure it is well ventilated as in OPEN on the out of sight side.