After a recent adventure to change the fuel sender, I had the misfortune
to have one of the 'sex-bolt'-like nuts on the inside of the tank break
off and fall into the tank. The only access is via the small opening
when the sender goes in. Unable to retrieve the broken nut, I called
around and heard from three hopefully reliable sources that there is a
strainer at the fuel line to prevent things such as this from entering
the fuel line.

During the second trip out since the new sender was installed, we were
just about to the causeway bridge when the engine was acting as if it
was not getting enough fuel. Watching the fuel management gauge, I
noticed it going from its normal 11 gal at that speed, and slowly and
consistently drop to just under 6 gal and then started to buck and
hesitate as if not enough fuel. I was able to throttle down to idle and
after a minute or so, throttle up again. This was a consistent behavior
during the entire outing. Eventually idled home last last nite. On the
positive side, it was a clear nite, almost full moon and relatively no
boat traffic.

All symptoms to me indicate the nut may be blocking the fuel line
leading from the tank. The main access hatch where the feel sender is
installed is NOT at the stern end of the fuel tank. It would be very
difficult to gain access to the tank.

The boat is just 4.5 years old. It looking at the other components, I
also noticed this is the original fuel bulb as when it was new. It did
not feel 'hard' as it had been, and almost had a feel of simply being
old rubber. This is a sal****er environment and one thought is maybe an
air leak or some other scenario besides the extra nut in the tank. I
plan to today replace the bulb and any lines I can access which may
appear dried, cracked, old, or simply a possible candidate to the problem.

Any suggestions on maybe how to retrieve the nut from within the tank
via the maybe 2 1/2 inch opening into an 80-gallon fuel tank? Any other
ideas besides the nut which might help me resolve this issue?

Thanx in advance!!!