Fuel Vent replacement

[shadowdwpp]

I have a 1991 Four Winns 170 Freedom that has a fiberglass swim step the hose for the fuel vent goes into the hollow area of the swim step making it pretty much unreachable. The Fuel vent broke off it was made of plastic and broke when the boat was tied up to a dock because of a jetboat WOT in the no wake zone. is there a way to replace the vent without pulling off the bumper rail and removing the top half of the boat. I can't even see into it to tell if it is straight or has a 90° bend. <br /><br />I didn't think it would be that big of a deal until I fueld the boat while it was on a trailor and almost got a facefull of gas.

 

[rickdb1boat]

Re: Fuel Vent replacement

Any chance of relocating it? You would, of course, have to plug the existing vent hole, which should be no big deal...

 

[ThomWV]

Re: Fuel Vent replacement

You'll also have to run a new line for a new vent location, and on some boats fuel tank access is almost nonexistant.<br /><br />Let me suggest to you that when you go to buy a new vent that you get one of those multi-baffle ones by Attwood. They are the only ones I've found that will actually keep water out.<br /><br />By the way, if I understand what you have there now you might want to think about something. If that line dropps off, which it will sooner or later, and goes down into the bilge then every time you fill the tank you're going to be burping a good bit of gas into the bilge and if you fill the tank completely there is going to be splasback into that tube for a good while when underway. My point is that you could be putting a good bit of gas into that bilge and it really doesn't take much at all to go boom in the night. Just a spark from a bilge pump wire or any of the other wireing you might normally find below decks and your whole day could turn to #$%^ in a big hurry.<br /><br />Thom

 

[18rabbit]

Re: Fuel Vent replacement

Face full of fuel? You are a candidate for what is called a fuel/air separator. It allows air to pass in and out of the fuel tank vent line but fuel coming up is trapped and returned back down the vent line. It’s also designed to ‘fail’ if the tank’s internal pressure exceeds 2-psi. This prevents rupturing of the fuel tank. Racor (Parker) makes a model LG50 for marine gasoline fuel tanks.<br /><br /> http://www.parker.com/EAD/displayCa...=LG50&subcatid=12200&viewtype=1&sMode=Details <br /><br />With modern fuel filters a small amount of water in the fuel tank is not an issue. Large amounts of water constantly showing up in the fuel tank should be corrected.