Another Winter Boat Storage Question

[smbrule]

My 1994 boat has a 17 gallon aluminum under floor gas tank. I run Mercury fuel system treatment and stabilizer in my gas year around, and also Mercury Quickleen engine treatment.

Motor is a 2007 60 hp mercury four stroke. A Mercury water separating filter has been installed for a decade with the filter being changed yearly.

Boat year around is housed in a garage where the lowest temperature is 35-40 degrees F.

Based on general recommendations I've filled the tank with stabilized gas in early winter and the typically I'm back on the water in mid April. My understanding this helps prevent water condensation in the tank. Also almost exclusively use alcohol free gas.

I live in Iowa and fish mostly no wake lakes. Usually the first time I run on plane is my weekly late May trip to Minnesota. Usually consume about 8 gallons of gas in MN.

A couple weeks later am on Lake of the Woods in Ontario and go through about 25 gallons of gas on that trip. Point being I fill my tank in November and the first time I have fresh gas in my tank if it fill it in November is late May or early June.

Currently I have about a half tank of gas that has been in the boat since mid September.

I'm considering not filling my tank until the first time on the water in April.

Would you do that or would you fill the tank before it is put away in early winter? This has become an increasing concern since I switched from a 75 HP two stroke that burned a lot of gas on no wake lakes compared to my 60 hp four stroke.

By the way I do pull the boat out into my driveway every 45-60 days in the winter and run the motor for 10-15 minutes at idle.

Thanks!

 

[Texasmark]

Re: Another Winter Boat Storage Question

Over the years, I have gone to immense effort to remove all the fuel from my boat when not in use for extended periods. I got tired of removing carbs and de-varnishing them.

Since I discovered Sea Foam (thanks to iboat Forums), I use that as my fuel preservative in my OB and have had no problems storing fuel for at least 6 month, including Ethanol 10%....boat doesn't sit idle for more than that.

In my other equipment I use StaBil which is advertised to be good for 1 year with Ethanol if used as directed, or 2 years if you double up on the amount. I have not tested it at it's maximum rated age so I don't know how much truth is in that claim. With my diesel, I have 150 gallon storage capacity, I use an enzyme "Starbright" (Made in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.) treatment to control moisture and diesel sludge and is good for 2 years.

Especially on metal tanks, sources recommend keeping the tank full to reduce the accumulation of condensate (water from walls and top sweating; course you can't do much about the top sweat usually) during the months when wide temperature swings are common.

So, there it is. Put in a good preservative, fill the tank, run the engine to distribute the preservative throughout the system, and don't worry about it.

That's my 2c,

Mark
("Don't fix it if it ain't broke".......the older I get the more I respect the author of this sayin)

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Another Winter Boat Storage Question

I'm constantly defending ethanol blended fuel (E10) because of the numerous rants about impending doom as this stuff hit someones local market. The boating public is simply being scared to death by unscrupulous service shops and the media. We in the upper midwest have used corn squeezin's for well over a decade now and while there are some issues with moisture on the coasts, it is simply not an issue here. I'm about to post pictures of what five month old untreated E10 looks like. The pictures will show that even untreated fuel is not as much an issue as the uneducated/untrained techs and nay-sayers contend. You have nothing to fret with a full tank of treated fuel -- provided you've run the engine to get that treated fuel into the fuel system. You are doing it right. Stay tuned for pictures.

 

[rodbolt]

Re: Another Winter Boat Storage Question

while I am glad corn squeezins works for you guys with tiny tanks that dont go anywhere it simply isnt worth much in my area.
wednsday evening I put 55 gallons in my bout and ran the 11 miles back home from work.same evening I assisted a customer adding 290 gallons to his gradywhite. means he has at least 29 gallons of ethanol in the belly, not good for sitting several months in high humidity while moored.
while on a new rig E fuels most times dont have much problems the biggest issue is deterioration of rubber products and the fact that E fuels tend to clean and dry everything.
for the EFI four strokes we mix a fuel mixture of about 5 gallons of gas to about 1 half gallon tcw3 two stroke oil and stabilizer and run it through the VST and injector rails.
has nothing to do with the E in the fuel and everything to do with trying to keep high pressure pumps and injectors from sticking while stored.