SF tank leak near the left knee pad rubber - how to fix?

YOU CANNOT WELD A TANK (steel or aluminium) without carrying out a test, in industrial appications such as bulk oil/fuel storage situations it is always neccessary to bring in a qualified chemist to certify the unit "gas free" without that cert, my public liability would have been null and void. But for us motorcyclists the same applies DO NOT WELD YOUR TANK WITHOUT A TEST. I do this by waving a flame (smokey gas torch) around the open and inverted filler neck from about a metre below, slowly raise the flame 150mm or so at a time until you are right below the filler neck, all good so far? now wave the flame actually inside the tank, no drama's, weld away. I have done this many times and had a "woof" or three when about 150mm away from the neck, but if your cleaning/waiting process is good the fumes will be minimal/non existant and the "woof" just that a woof and its gone, happens about 1 out of 10 tank repairs as a guess, still makes me jump tho'
whqatever you do it is at your risk and I post these things purely out of interest and first hand experiances, not as advice or instruction.
CLEM
 
Tank shenanigans...
40 odd years ago, a chap came into work with the tank off his RD Yam. He had fallen off and dented the side, just a bit, with his knee. He asked for advice and, as the dent was quite shallow, we sussested a bit of compressd air, aided by a sucker-pull on the outside, would pop the dent out, especially as he had a compressor at home. We made him some stops for the tap bosses and an adaptor for the cap hole. He came in the following day with the tank again, but now it was the somewhat different shape. He had shot it with far too many bar and blown it up like a ballon! All credit to Yamaha - the seams held, bloody good job they did or he could have been launched/minced. To this day I can't look at a Zeppelin without thinking of that day. Ah, the joys of youth.
 
I used to know a bloke about 50 years ago (when I was in my early 20's). I can't remember his name now. It's lost in the fog of time. He used to get about on a shitty old Vespa scooter. Late one freezing cold night on a country road it spluttered and stopped. He could smell petrol but it was pitch black dark and he couldn't see where it was coming from, so he lit a match to get a better look - kaboom! At least he had a fire to keep himself warm until the fire service arrived.
 
Hi all,

Thanks for all the stories, warnings and tips, safety first and can never be emphazid too much!
I might know a good welder who might have a look. I may be strange but I don't want a full restoration and repaint so I'm hoping removing the tank pad frame, partial sandblasting, welding & partial paint on both sides will preserve the battle scars to borrow Vince's phrase in my introduction topic... though I'm not a welder myself I have no idea if that's possible. It does have to be leak-free and safe -last thing I want is Laverferno while en route.
But if I were to fully restore the tank it would really look out of place... (there's one on "Marktplaats", Dutch E-Bay equivalent for 1000€)

Br, Jeroen
 
Found a temporary solution in the form of this very solid but (accident) damaged GT tank. Off to find a GT seat now... then at least I can drive it and have a better look at the SF tank/seat (which I like more, optically) Paint looks original, actually thought it was plain red in the ad, but it's metallic. Actually I quite like the colour, anyone know if it's an original colour?
 

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