Made it into Belize with a weeping hole in my clarke gas tank. Not sure where the hole came from as it showed up while i was replacing the steering stem bearings. I took the tank off to get more leverage and as i set it down i noticed it was suddenly leaking with a puncture low on the right side.
The tanks are made out of a crosslinked polyethelyene formula PE SST 200 XL that doesn't glue or weld very well. Due to the nature of the plastic polymer epoxies and glues dont chemically bond to the plastic and so any and all patches eventually peel off. The only proper solution i discovered was to plastic weld the hole using a plastic filler rod of the same material. The problem was that finding that such a plastic weld filler rod in the middle of central america with my limited spanish skills wasn't going to happen.
So in lieu of the filler rod i sharpened a stick and jammed it into the hole and then layered gas resistant gasket sealant over it. Classy. I held for about a week with only a drop a day and after that it was a few drops a minute and from there it's been all downhill.
My only real solution was to have a replacement tank sent down to me and luckily my parents were coming to visit in Belize. Thankfully ebay was full of parts so i ordered a used tank that i thought was in fair shape and had it sent to my parents in the states for them to bring down on the airplane.
The problem was that the tank really wasn't in good shape. It was marinating in 3 year old gas when it arrived and the inside metal was rusted. I coached my dad through the process of removing old gas so that it could fly in checked baggage on international flights and i would handle the rust. Despite international laws and customs and the faint whiff of gasoline permeating my parents luggage the damn thing made it all the way to Belize.
I planned on treating the rust with hydrochloric acid to convert the rust back to metal and then rinse it out with baking soda to neutralize the acid. I've done it before on an old klr 250 tank and the results were surprisingly effective.
The problem was that i was staying in a village of 1,000 people while entertaining my parents and finding 30% concentration hydrochloric acid was beginning to feel like a dream. Luckily the homeowner was an old biker and on a town run an hour away he found some for me.
I dumped in the gallon of acid with some tap water and walked away with the tank set upon a bucket. When i came back 7 hours later all the acid was in the bucket and the aluminum petcock had been dissolved. Oops.
The tank looked somewhat cleaner but the moisture of the beachfront property probably rerusted all of the progress that i might have made before the catastrophic failure of the petcock.
I ran the acid back through a few quick times and flushed out the rusty flakes. Ran water through with a few boxes of baking soda to neutralize the acid and then used isopropyl alcohol to help evaporate the water. Flushed with gasoline a few times and then coated with a mix of oil and gas to help prevent further rusting. I'll be adding a fuel filter as soon as i can find it. Towns of 1,000 people don't have everything you want.
A little eBay love from dave lambeth direct from winter england to the Belize coast.
To fix the corroded petcock i swapped the one from the old clarke tank which is a perfect fit for the original tank, and used a fair amount of gas resistant gasket sealant to help seal the o-ring down there. So far after a night full of gas no leaks.
Permatex brand found at an autozone back in Oaxaca, Mexico. There are no autozones in Belize.
I'm holding onto the old Clarke tank for the moment in case the metal tank fails, and considering shipping it back with my parents. I have hopes that one day i can seal it up properly and use it or sell it.
who are you using as a host for your photo's?? 
The Dakar should be starting around the end of January some time if you are still in Sth America 
I would like to finish my Ride Report but photobuck is being a pain. Ride safe. 
