Fuel issues

[Chinook chaser]

Well, After a wonderful opening day (5 for 5 38"-60") at the ranch, on the way back in we went through three fuel filters and still wound up having to be towed in by the CG. We are pulling our boat in the morning to drain the fuel tank and do some other general maint. We suspect that we have a significant amount of water contamination but we will see. We generally keep the boat moored at newport year round. any thoughts, comments, ideas?

[Miss B Haven]

Gas I assume (not diesel)? Keep the tanks full all the time (reduces condensation) and use a fuel additive to adsorb the moisture and keep the fuel from going stale.
Other thing is be carefull where you get fuel, lots of Marinas don't turn their fuel over fast enough in the off season. Use the busiest dock around.
Dirty can's can be a problem too if you hauling fuel down.
You have a Racor filter/separator prior to the secondary filter on the engine?

[Beer Waggin]

Fuel filter or big seperator filter?
I think it makes a world of difference. Corrirod just went through this same dilemma last weekend. He added a new seperator filter and the problem went away.
I had this same problem for the first time a few weeks ago with my sled. I allowed the tank to get to low and it sucked up a bunch of crap. I added a new in line seperator and some fuel additive along with new gas the problem went away.
You might be able to just add the new filter and treat the fuel and be ok.

[Beer Waggin]

Mel-
Are you and I the only ones not at the coast? I'm going to send you an email later today with some questions about a big boat. I'm getting closer to making my decision and want a bit more input from a man in the know.

[Marty]

I'm not sure if this is the problem, but a neighbors boat developed a crack in the upper corner of the aluminum tank that somehow allowed water into the tank in rough conditions. I can't really picture how that would happen, but he is pulling the tank this weekend. Lets hope that is not the issue with yours.

Marty

[Miss B Haven]

NorRivDave - Not the only ones stuck in the valley I guess, but doesn't make it any more fun. :depressed:

No e-mail from ya Dave. :whazzup:
Sooo... you wanna beeger boat huh sonny.. well.. lemme show this beeg seester over here! I'll be at the docks this weekend (Sat afternoon till sun evening) working on one of those beeger boats so if you wanna come down and window shop and talk gimmee a cell call. 503 869-0890! I'll tell ya everything I know. Should take oh- bout a beer and a half!

[Rod Holder]

Coho Chaser, check your fuel tank vent, some boats just use a 90 fitting with a funky cap that can allow water to get in your tank if the waves hit it just so. For $13 it can be replaced with a vent that has a check valve. If you end up swapping out that vent, hang on to your old vent because the plastic check valve equiped vent sometimes has issues with docks...broken cap on vent makes for poor boating adventure.

[corrirod]

NorRivDave is right about my boat. I had the exact same problem out of Garibaldi last week. Burned thru 2 inline filters in less than an hour. We used the second one to get us to the halispot but we had to continually slow down and continually pump the bulb to keep it running. Once we reached the spot I took the filter out and just ran it without a filter for the ride home. Not a good idea but didn't feel like getting towed. Once I got to Newport the following day I replaced the inline with a water separator filter and the problem is gone. I do use the chemicals also.

Thanks for the suggestion Rod Holder, I need to check mine because I could definately get water into the tank thru that vent as I'm constantly backing into waves and filling the motorwell.

[kenai]

Also on the fuel tank vent, make sure it has a riser loop, the flexible vent line coming from the tank shoulb be higher than the thru hull fitting, ideally as high as possible. Bring it up to its highest possible level and then loop it back down to the fitting. Water rises to its own level kind of thing.

[Chinook chaser]

Thank you all for your replys. For those that inquired. It is a gas engine, and we had issues previously. To combat this we installed a secondary fuel line with a water sep filter as a back up to the normal canister type filter. Having gone through both of those and an additional filter on the way back in from the ranch we pulled the boat (26' thompson with a 10' beam)back to the valley on the.

We have pumped the fuel tank dry and are overhauling the carb since we have a little time. When we pumped out the fuel it answered our questions immediatly! there was Stratisfied water in the fuel and the fuel was definately contaminated with something or just too old as it had an odd color almost copper colored. Visual inspection of the tank (what you can see through a 2" hole in a 130 gallon tank with baffels) looks okay.

We expect to be back in the water by the first of june.

Thanks for all of your helpful suggestions!

[Pilar]

I may be supersticious (sp?) but I have fuel rituals.

1) Always fill the boat full while the salt is not dry on the boat yet. In other words the only time it is less than full is on a run in the drink. This minimizes the airspace and prevents the air cycling in and out of the tank with the daily temperature changes and leaving the water behind in your fuel. A 1/2 full aluminum tank can get a pint or so of water in a week!!!

2) Use a fresh fuel/water separator with every 25 hour oil change.

3) Use Stabil fuel stabilizer every time you refuel. You never know how long the boat will sit when you park it.

4) Buy the fuel at the same station every time if possible. Try to find a cut rate place where the turnover is very high. As mentioned above Marina fuel is convenient but often has issues like low octane and stale. Not to mention price. If you buy Marina gas add octane booster and fuel dryer. My boat pings due to the high compression engine with anything less than 92.

Bad gas is no joke ... it will get you a tow job from the coast guard.