Fuel tank replacement

[deisher6]

Hey Rick:
Thanks for the scoop on the fuel gauge.  Nice installation good idea to include a voltmeter, I miss having one but it is on my to do list.
regards charlie

[sclendenin]

Rick, I notice the fuel filter in your photograph. It is up under the steps behind the electrical panel. A question - is that the only external fuel filter ? Mine is a R12S (2 micron) buried right next to the fuel tank above the propeller shaft deep in the cockpit locker. That is not a convenient location. I'd like to move it to where yours is but I had to ask if it is the only filter or a secondary. No problems with it being higher than the tank itself?
R/
Steve
1995 Compac 27/2

[relamb]

That's the Racor fuel/water separator R12-something (don't recall the size).  Fuel line comes from the tank pickup (with the screen removed) up to that Racor mounted to the bulkhead where you see it.  Appears to be the original factory mounting, it is thru bolted with nuts inside the head compartment, and the nuts have black plastic covers like I see elsewhere in the boat.
From there the fuel line goes down to the electric fuel pump which is on the bulkhead next to the waste tank.  Out of the fuel pump, it goes up to the engine mounted filter.  Where it's mounted, it's easy to see the clear sight bowl on the bottom, and change the filter.
So the fuel pump is sucking from the tank, up through the Racor filter, and then down to the pump inlet with no problem. 
Until my tank screen on the pickup got clogged with gunk, I have had no fuel issues.  The Racor was filled with snot, but the engine  mounted filter seemed perfectly clean.  This was the first filter change in 3 years, I think sitting in FL over the summer allowed stuff to grow in my tank (I had no biocide).
I just bought a vacuum gauge which showed up today, I'll send pics in a few days when I have the tank reinstalled and the gauge installed.
Before I took it all apart, I had an air leak someplace in or around the Racor, I'll be removing it shortly to figure out where that's happening, I suspect at the hose fittings or at the o-rings on the fittings.