Will the fuel tank need removing for this

300 tdi boot floor needs patching, going to try keep the floor for a while as most of it seems solid it seems to be under the back seats by the arches Id say the water must flick up under there when driving or a leaky sunroof or something.

See attached pic of the damage area the same on both sides. Do I need to remove the fuel tank or watch out for anything as I have a tow bar and really don't want the hassle.

diesel is a lot safer than petrol ,i leave tank in but just take care you dont damage it

I just finished patching the boot yesterday and some patches were quite close to the tank at times, I was advised to move any pipes/wiring/anything that sets on fire etc and sandwich a fire blanket in between (the type you have in your kitchen in case you have a pan fire) and I must say it worked a treat.

Much better advice than what I got off the first person who I asked who just simply told me I was a pussy!

I was thinking that If I could put something underneath. I don't have a fire blanket but I have some MDF board I could maybe slide underneath and be careful I don't set that on fire but at least it protects the tank. So should it be ok if im careful?

You can pick them up pretty cheap these days:

SEALED HOME SAFETY FIRE BLANKET PROTECTION 1M X 1M NEW | eBay

Been trying to upload a pic of my boot on my phone but cant get it to work!

Ive basically just done a similiar area to in your pic but also directly over the tank right near the rear door (you could see the plastic tank CMs away from where I needed to weld!)

The good thing about the blanket is you can bend it and squeeze it into almost any cavity and this seems to help a lot.

I also had a petrol tank, towbar and LPG system to worry about as well.

brettguise said:

300 tdi boot floor needs patching, going to try keep the floor for a while as most of it seems solid it seems to be under the back seats by the arches Id say the water must flick up under there when driving or a leaky sunroof or something.

See attached pic of the damage area the same on both sides. Do I need to remove the fuel tank or watch out for anything as I have a tow bar and really don't want the hassle.

View attachment 49530

Click to expand...

Make sure you have a full tank if you do. Vapors burn not the liquid

Looking at that picture i'd cut the whole centre section out and replace it just done mine and the side panels and im a complete novice at welding but it was so much easier than I thought and looks a lot better.will upload some pics when I figure out how to upload them (been trying)