Have been doing more booze cruising lately, so have not used the fishing boat in a couple weeks… Brought it to the house to get it all cleaned up, and the gas cap was off!
Last i used it i filled up, than went fishing, so i am assuming someone borrowed some fuel, and replaced it with water.
I am guessing i need to drain the 80+gallons out of it, but open to suggestions?
Boat is a 255 Sea Pro CC w/ F-150’s.
It has plenty of stabilizer in it, but i do use ethanol fuel… Drain it? syphon bottom of tank and try to get water out? drain it all?
Cap could have been off a day, or a month?
Thanks for the help!
Does the tank drain from the bottom??? I have a SeaPro 23.5 WA and the tank draws from a pick-up tube on the top of the tank. I used some advise I picked up on CF and made my own rig. My boat has an aluminum tank and on top of the tank is a 3/4 inch plug hole. I went to an auto parts store and bought an 12 volt in-line fuel pump. I hooked that up to some hose that would do through the plug hole and pumped the fuel into 55 gal drums. I wired the pump to some alligator clips and ran it off the boat battery and fastened the pump to a piece of board. Worked great, but was slow! Depending on how your boat sits on the trailor you might want to jack the trailor tounge up as high as you can. Makes the gas run all the way to the back of the tank so you can get it all. Also fasten the hose to a coat hanger with zip ties so you can get it to lowest cornner of the tank.
I built a fuel polisher with a 12VDC pump that I use to cycle fuel through 10 & 2 micron water separators (push it back in the fill tube). It gets a lot of water and phase separated fuel out (I use the seps with the clear bowl and drain them during the process).
Not sure if its wort that - but I built it once and use it once or twice a year and it helps. Try not to use E fuel anymore.
Old fuel is hard to get rid of - I’ve given my lawn mowing guy 100+ gallons in 55 gal drums.
Good luck …
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I had a leak in my hatch over my gas tank and a fuel fill hose that was shot. Water ran in and got in my tank. I backed my boat down the ramp at night when nobody was there and pumped the water out of the tank into a container until the water was gone (over a gallon). Changed out my Racor filter and it ran it. when the front end came up, a little more water got into the Racor, but only a couple tablespoons. I just watched the racor and drained the water out of the bottom as needed. But I use E-Free. From what I understand about ethanol fuel, you may have phase separation. And if you do the fuel you have left will have a low octane.
Here’s how I did it and it works and its cheap. First, have the boat on the trailer. Then I disconnected the fuel line that went INTO the filter from the tank and plugged it. Then I threaded it thru the drain hole in the hull which is the lowest point on the boat. Then I jacked up the trailer as much as it would go to creat an incline then I pulled the plug out of the hose and let it drain into a clear jug (the bigger the better) to see the condition of the fuel. The water will settle at the bottom of the fuel tank so the bad stuff should come out first. Keep draining the fuel until you find the good stuff. If you fill the clear jug before the fuel clears then just dump into a regular five gallon can and keep using the clear jug. You might only have a few galloins of bad fuel. Who is going to haul 80 gallons of water to a parked boat to steal the fuel?
Now here’s the key, West Marine sells a simple funnel w/ a filter that can seperate water out of the fuel as it flows thru. Run the bad fuel thru the funnel and what passes thru will be usable fuel and what’s left is water. Gallons of contaminated fuel can be turned into maybe a gallon of water.
Chris, have you confirmed there is water in there or just assuming so since the cap is missing? If you already know there’s water in there, there are good suggestions on here. I did it the hard way like Floater suggests but ideally you could salvage the fuel using a pump connected to a fuel water separator and draining as you go - as suggested. If you are not sure if water is in there, empty the fuel water separator, then prime to fill it back up, then dump your fuel h2o separator in a mason jar and check it out. I can’t imagine more than a gallon or two would be in there from rain…but if water is in there rest assured it will be in the bottom of the tank where the pickup is.
You can drain it like others have suggested and try to get the majority of water out then rely on the seperators to do the rest. You’re still running a risk of bad fuel though, not something I’d want if I were going to be offshore, especially in a rougher sea. If it damages the engine(s) you’re looking at an expensive repair bill for one and worse for two. Is $250-$300 worth of fuel enough to risk a $4000.00-$6000.00 or more repair bill? Hard to swallow getting rid of expensive gas, harder still if the engine blows up. Make sure your Sea Tow membership is paid up if you want to run it.
Mark
Pioneer 222 Sportfish Yamaha F300
Yeah, but do you consider a dog to be a filthy animal? I wouldn’t go so far as to call a dog filthy but they’re definitely dirty. But, a dog’s got personality. Personality goes a long way.
“Life’s tough…It’s even tougher if you’re stupid” John Wayne
