We have just had a great, quality 1985 '44 trawler surveyed and have been told the aft fuel tanks have leaks. They are painted metal. The tops have rusted because of leaks where the deck fill lines have allowed water to seep straight down down and sit on the tops of the tanks. There are also 2 mid-ship tanks with a total of 490 gallons for diesel (which are fine according to the surveyor). The aft tanks represent a total capacity of 300 gallons. The fill lines on the aft tanks run directly to the top of the tanks; the mid-ship tanks have fill lines that run to the sides of the tanks -- thus any deck leak water doesn't stand on the top of these tanks. Our surveyor says that to replace these two aft tanks we'll have to pull the engines and the mid-ship tanks. It sounds major (and certainly very expensive). The surveyor also mentioned that one solution would be to "patch" or replace just the tops of the aft tanks -- but he also said if he saw that in a boat, it would raise big questions to him... As the boat sits, it essentially only holds 490 gallons on fuel. Is this going to be a problem with re-sale as well as limiting our cruising range. The boat burns 6-7 gph crusing at 9 knots -- 11 gph at 11-12 knots. We certainly have done the math and have questions regarding range/fuel capacity. On the other hand, if you're doing coastal cruising at an easy rate, 800 gallons is a lot of fuel to sit in tanks. We're under the gun as we are going to have to respond to the owner in the next couple of days regarding the survey. Bill & Holley Purcell ex Hawk's Next '86 Albin 40 Does anyone have any advise?