Bad Halibut!!

[Threemuch]

Had a tough trip out of garibaldi. Got up at 3:30 and couldn't get out the bar, closed to 25 and under. Had breakfast and went back to bed, got up at 10 and the bar was open. Headed out, and got to the grounds no issue. Big swell, no wind.

Get there and something is wrong, no bent rods. Everyone is fishing, no one is catching. We fished hard for about 3 hours, and I boated 1 small but legal fish. Then we wrapped about 100 yards of spectra in the prop. Not good. With an outboard on a bracket, I lashed a knife to my boat hook and got the gaff out, pick and cut, pick and cut, for about an hour. Had to get it clear, no way we would make it 22 miles with 80 pound spectra digging into the seal. There were three or four times that I contemplated going swimming, but my crew and the feel of the water on my bare feet talked me out of it. Finally got ahold of the magic piece that started spinning the prop and it all came out. Got that cleared and ran in.

About 5 miles into the run the boat heels over hard to the port side. I mean hard, about 30-40 degrees. Stop, start again, same problem. Go to the back and one of the trim tabs is GONE. That's right, it's gone. So even with the other fully retracted, we heel over about 15 degrees. Glad it happened this saturday instead of a week before. We made it back by going very slowly, and never did figure out what ripped a trim tab out.

We survived, and avoided the pole cat, so I guess it was a good trip. Threemuch II is down for repairs. B.O.A.T.

KB

[sturgn]

We got out yesterday and today, Got 2 fish Fri, and 2 fish today. I also got a 4 1/4 hour test on the kicker motor in which we mada about 10 miles, then an hour tow behind the Big Boat! What a crappy day, got some very bad gass went to 2 filters, then ran the batteries down trying ot get the motor running, since I got all my gas the last 2 weeks from the same place I know where it came from, I took a nice big sample of the crap I dumped out of my filter in and gave them a peice on my mind... As if that would do any good, but I felt better!

Well as you can tell, I am starting to ramble on, Tired, Sunburned and Frustrated, thats about all I can say, But I am headed in to ccok up some fresh butt and have a Carona!~

Later

[Salmonator]

If you are 100 percent positive that you know the contaminants came from that station, I'd appreciate an e-mail naming the station so I can avoid it... Joe

[KrystalFlash]

Like Salmonator, I would appreciate an email letting me know where the bad gas came from. I'm glad you made it back safely. Sounds like there are many others having boat problems...Glad I'm not the only one. At least you all made it back to the dock safely. BZ!

KF OUT!

I'd Rather be Lucky Than Good!

[RJ]

dont need to feel alone threemuch sounds like wak'm is minus a vhf antenna and a transducer(the guy never could back out of a wave) :grin: too bad i couldnt have been there to give my George Clooney impersination bad gas hmmmm i think i may know the place.RJ

[Pitch Pocket]

Strgn,

Why not post the information about possible bad gas here? The possibility of another mariner blindly buying that gas and not being as lucky as you for a coast guard tow (or whoever the "big boat" is) makes it a public service to have others avoid the station for boat use, especially if it around the launch.

I don't think you have to be 100 percent sure that the contaminates came from the station. Even if you are wrong, it won't bankrupt the station to have a few boats go to another location.

On the other hand, you may have had some contaminants in your gas tank that were loosened up by the ocean motion. If you're sure that is not the case, then please let us all know which station.

Steve

[sturgn]

I am still working with the station to see if I can get them to resolve their water problem on their own. I will continue to email you individually if you want to know who it is!

Thanks

[sturgn]

Can you say Racor filters will stop all your water problems? If so get this, I have a racor water filter/seperator in my boat, I went through 3 filters total on my trip, this was a very bad bunch of water and particles, I may have been ok if I had a case of filters onboard. How practicle is that?

[ 05-19-2002, 01:13 PM: Message edited by: sturgn ]

You got more water than gas!!!
The filter that I had on my skiff didn’t require a filter change to dump the water. It was for diesel and it said don’t use for gas due to explosion problems with gas in the bilge. I had a tube on the outlet and dumped it into a small can. I hope your problems get fixed and you can get out soon. :smile:

[ 05-19-2002, 01:20 PM: Message edited by: Keta ]

[Sensei-san]

Come on now confess.... Did you run the boat this winter? Did you store it with the gas tank half full sitting in the driveway with the bow down? It is easy to blame the gas station for "dirty fuel" when often it is our own fault. One thing I learned from my boating safety class was to always store a boat with a full tank of fuel if you are going to use it later. It sounds like heresy but a full tank will not get water in it. A half empty tank will fill with water due to the expansion and contraction of the tank and the moisture in the air will condense into the fuel. This is especially true here in the Northwest. Water is heavier than fuel and the pickup is on the bottom of the tank.

If you haven't used your boat for a while, dumping in the maximum amount of a fuel conditioner like HEET is a good idea. If you are a cheapskate you can get anhydrous isopropyl alcohol at a chemical supply house cheap. But they will look at you funny and the cops may cruise by your house.

TEXACO is now owned by CHEVRON. So the gas should be the same. I doubt that it is bad as they sell a lot of gas on the West Coast. The station may have bad filters. Or you arrived just as the tanker left.

Also they might be selling RFE (reformulated fuel) in the metro areas. It has up to 10% ethanol in it. Commonly called gasohol. Not good when used on the ocean. The non-metro stations probably still sell regular ol' gas.

[Pirate]

Keta,
My boat also had a filter, but it still wasn't enough to filter ALL the water and gunk before it damaged my carbs. Not only that but I unfortunately filled my truck at that station, before I relized they were the problem and had to replace 2 fuel injectors on my truck, too.
Texaco

Bummer!

[sturgn]

Sensei-san,
I run my boat atleast 3 days per week all year long, I had filled it with 98 gallons of fuel the week before at the same station and had no problem at all, I ran out to the chicken ranch friday, and filled the tanks friday night at the station(62 gallons), there is no other place this stuff could have come from!

[ 05-19-2002, 05:45 PM: Message edited by: sturgn ]

[Sensei-san]

Ah so.... Just checking. Too many reports of obvious things that should have been addressed before going out to sea. Like not checking to see if the bilge pump works by simply pulling up on the float switch. Still can't figure out how Threemuch lost a trim tab. Unless Bruce the shark or Willy the whale loved his boat so much they wanted a souvenir. Sounds like he didn't do a visual before taking off.

Anyway to the bad gas issue and Racors. Racors are great but they do plug when they get a heavy load of junk. I like to have a cheapie clear filter that is a screen only inline before the Racor or other fuel water seperator. As they will filter the gross stuff out before the Racor plugs. At least you can see the gross stuff and you can change them easily to keep running. As for water in the gas, the only cure at sea is HEET. I always keep a couple of cans of the stuff on board. The cans rust quickly so I keep them out of the spray. It's the $*!t$ to have to deal with a 98 gallon tankful of &rud. better carry extra filters for a while or get the tank polished. That is major bucks.

[Mr. Fisherman]

Kurt, It was a very tough day on the Pilar as well. I'm too tired to get into it just now. I did boat a very nice 50" but.
Sturgn, sorry for your luck. I'm glad you are o.k. We had bad gas as well and performance suffered.
So, where did you buy your gas? :whazzup:

Hope everyone had a better Saturday than we did. The fishing was fantastic but the catching lacked.

More later....

[Pirate]

sturgn
I've had the same problem, but I too won't mention the TEXACO station's name...... oops!!! :shocked:
Comeon fess up

It sounds like you should install a Racor water seperating filter on your boats. I had one on my 16" Gregor skiff. No water problems! :smile:
They run about $50.00 :depressed: but will keep the water out of your carburetor :smile: . The one that I had could be drained externally and I mounted it on the transom.

[ 05-19-2002, 01:19 PM: Message edited by: Keta ]

[sturgn]

Well I got a call from the area manager from the station I got fueled at, they are currently investigating what happened, and want me to go to the local station and fill out an official form so I can be reimbursed for my losses.
How do you get reimbursed for your losses for that kind of sitiation? I wasnt looking for money when I went in there I just wanted it fixed so it wouldnt happen again. Do I ask for the 62 gallons of fuel replaced? the filters I used? the cost of getting my tanked cleaned and treated? Im not sure, I think I would be happy if they would appologize if they find a problem with their crap and fix it! But then again......... Damn I dont know...

[drift boat]

62 Gal. of " Gas " is not cheap nor is the filters and everything that you had to go thru. Hell yes get your money back.. :shocked:

[The Chub]

I used to work at a shop, and we had a car come in that had gotton some bad gas. BP had to pay to have the tank drained, and cleaned. Your whole fuel system will be covered if you find other things wrong. BP pretty much told us to take care of anything that was caused by their bad gas.

Good luck!

[KrystalFlash]

AHEM!

Well, thanks sooooo much to Sensei for the enlightening words. I think that is just what we all needed. I suggest that he post a copy of his pre-launch checklist for all of us to follow in the future so that nothing ever happens again after we leave the dock..... That must be one heck of a checklist. (magic or something?) I am sure that Kurt(Threemuch) is wondering quite a bit more than him what happened to his trimtab. I am also quite sure that we do not need anyone rubbing salt into anyones wounds. That does not help. But then, if you ARE trying to help..... Be positive, not negative. Offer solutions, do not just simply state the obvious...or the problem. The last thing that anyone needs to hear when they have a problem is negativity.

That is my .02...

KF OUT!

It is Good to Be Lucky!

[Sensei-san]

No pre-launch list. Just common sense. Ever go to a truck stop? You will see truckers with a tire iron beating on all the tires on their rigs. It's not that they lost a ton of money at the Indian casino down the road but to check to see if the tire is inflated and good. Just like an aviator does a preflight visual inspection of the plane. If it doesn't look right, check it out. A trim tab just doesn't fall off in the middle of the ocean. You would have to be totally brain dead to run over a crab pot and tangle the line on a trim tab. That you would definately feel. Like skidding sideways for a while. More than likely the screws holding it on were loose and worked their way out from the pounding. But a visual of looking at the tabs would probably have caught that and a little 5200 or marine-tex in the screw holes and tightening up the screws would have saved the day before going out.

Sturgn' definitely take Brand T up on their offer. I would contact a fuel polishing guy and have them come out and polish the fuel and your tank. A 98 gallon tank can hold a lot of crud. If they are admitting that they messed up, there most have been more complaints than yours and the Division of Weights and Measures takes it seriously that service stations sell pure fuel.

[Threemuch]

My guess on the trim tab is that the original installer did not seal the tab to the boat well. So there was probably some rot on the area around screws. On May 11, I officially beat the crap out of my boat, and that is probably when the damage was done that cost me the tab. Once those screws come loose, the actuator is only attached to the tab by a plastic pin which sheared and the tab was gone. Otherwise, I would be out an actuator too.

I already have the parts on order $104 from George at Boatfix.com (the best parts site on the internet), including shipping. About half what I figured. I will be doing some exploratory drilling to see how bad my rot is, but I am guessing that I can drill out the old screw holes to fresh wood and glass, fill them with epoxy putty, and redrill and install longer screws to put the new tab back on, then the same procedure on the other side.

I also want to put in a second electric bilge pump, an automatic one, as a backup to my float switch current unit, since everyone's bilge troubles have me a little spooked. Give the engine a once over for corrosion and check my plugs and wires for corrosion, and I am back on the water. Two or maybe three weeks max.
KB

[Capt. Rich]

Threemuch very smart. Learn from experience. I believe in redundant systems. What we did is put in one of the totally automatic RULE 500 GPH computer pumps. No sense in getting anything bigger as your main bilge pump should handle most of the water. We put it where the boat normally rests in the water and collects the most bilge water. That way when you are trolling, drifting or still fishing, the bilge will get pumped dry. Good early warning too if there is a leak as they will pump constantly and give you time to check it out. They are a bit more than the ones with a float switch but they only pump when they sense a load. The only draw back is to check the screen for crud. As they pump automatically they suck a lot of stuff too.

[FallRiverGuy]

Another thing to watch for at gas stations is if their tanks were just filled from a transfer truck. This, of course is not always possilbe to know, but if I see a transfer truck at a station I avoid it for a day or so. The filling of the stations tanks causes all the crude in the tank to be mixed with the new gas. :depressed:

[sturgn]

I am resolving this issue once and for all, I am adding a second water seperator inline with my spin on ones, this one is big and heavy duty, it also has an alarm on it that sounds when water gets to a certain point, I hope this stops the above from ever happening again!

[Wyndknot]

Sturgn, most (but not all) fuel dealers will work
with you to make the situation right. By all means
have your tanks cleaned and the fuel removed from
your system, but make sure you or whoever you have
do the work gets a sample of the contaminated fuel
right from the tanks. Just in case the area rep
tries to wiggle out. Good luck

[BUGLEMAN]

Killer ideas

Yes I agree the second bilge pump should be mandatory. How about wiring one of those float switches above your lowest bilge and making a bilge alarm?

I like the heet idea but rusting cans? They sell it in plastic bottles too.