Fueling boat at the dock

[poconojoe]

Yep, my main concern is not to spill any fuel. We boat, swim and fish in this lake and want to keep it clean. Because it became too much of a hassle, I was leaning towards biting the bullet and just start using one of the marinas to fill. Over the whole season it would add up to a sizable amount of cash, but it is what it is. I'm gonna give that jiggler hose thing a try as a last resort.

 

[midcarolina]

No Title

I did see this the other day........ someone makes a portable fueling station out of a portable sand blasting tank....... pretty ingenious if you ask me. fill the tank with fuel pressurize with shop air and pump it in the vehicle......... bet it aint cheap, but if one is handy could make their own..........

 

[oldjeep]

I did see this the other day........ someone makes a portable fueling station out of a portable sand blasting tank....... pretty ingenious if you ask me. fill the tank with fuel pressurize with shop air and pump it in the vehicle......... bet it aint cheap, but if one is handy could make their own..........

Compressed air and fuel? Sounds like a bomb. I'd like to know how they make sure that there is no static

 

[midcarolina]

It sounds like a bomb to you? it sounds like a much safer way than electricity to push fluid from point A to point B with out relying on gravity!
It has a bonding wire to guard against static discharge.
The thing is marketed to the small aviation industry so I'm pretty sure it's safe........ prolly safer than stopping by your favorite marina pumping the gas with an old electric gas pump. just sayin

 

[UncleWillie]

The issue is transferring a sizable amount of fuel with minimal chance of spillage.
Once you get quantities lager than 6 gallon (~40lbs) the issue of the weight becomes overwhelming.
Lifting and hand pouring a 5 gallon can is feasible. Spilling some of it becomes inevitable over time.

I choose NOT to pull the boat through my local fuel station because of the tight maneuvering required to access the pumps.
I fill 4, 5-Gallon plastic cans and refuel the boat in my driveway. It occasionally takes 2 trips but that is my preferred method.
I will almost always spill a few ounces on the driveway as the tank overfills.

On the water, the need is to be able to get all the connections in place before the flow starts.
The "Jiggler" siphon pumps satisfy that requirement.
A set of hoses with an in-line fuel pump ( ~$40) would allow the hoses to be positioned before the transfer started.
Automotive Universal fuel pumps operate off of 12 volts and typically pump 1/2 gallon per minute.
Norther Tool and others sell a battery operated hand held pump that transfers a gallon per minute.
Overfilling is still an issue with all these methods.

 

[oldjeep]

It sounds like a bomb to you? it sounds like a much safer way than electricity to push fluid from point A to point B with out relying on gravity!
It has a bonding wire to guard against static discharge.
The thing is marketed to the small aviation industry so I'm pretty sure it's safe........ prolly safer than stopping by your favorite marina pumping the gas with an old electric gas pump. just sayin

Yup, it sounds like a bomb. I'm sure that if they are selling it to the aviation industry that they figured out some way to make it safe, but I sure wouldn't suggest that Joe Blow try to make anything with a pressure vessel, gasoline and compressed air.

 

[lakegeorge]

We fill up at our marina at $5.38 a gallon for 90 octane ethanol free. The road price is $3.50

 

[poconojoe]

Standard gas cans and a jiggler siphon
http://www.amazon.com/Hopkins-FloTo...qid=1405118668&sr=8-1&keywords=jiggler+siphon

This jiggler/shaker tube device is awesome!
It works as advertised.
I bought the "Flotool" brand "Shaker Siphon". It has the brass shaker device.
My boat is a Bayliner 185 with the sport seating, so it has the large padded sundeck.
I sat on the sundeck and positioned the gas container next to me. I put the open side of the tube into the boat's fuel neck about 18".
I stuck the end with the shaker into the gas container. I learned that you have to shake it vigorously up and down to get the flow going.
Once it was flowing, it didn't take long for it to empty the 5 gallons of gas. It was maybe less than 2 minutes! There was a small amount left in the gas container after the siphoning stopped. No big deal. Such a simple device and it works great.
No mess, very fast and I didn't have to sit there on the dock holding 5 gallons of gas as it s-l-o-w-l-y pours in.
It was such a hassle before. Especially with todays non-vented gas containers. It took forever and with all the wakes from other boats, I had to hold that heavy container while the boat was bouncing.
Never again! I now have the shaker tube!
Thanks "oldjeep"!
I bought two of these and I'm gonna use the other one for cleaning the tropical fish aquariums.
Oh, and thanks to everyone for all the posts!