Fueling Question (Legal or Not)

[5thFish]

Hi All,

My boat is currently in a slip at a local marina. In order to save money I decided to carry 5 or 10 gallons of fuel with me in approved gas containers to my boat each weekend and add the fuel while the boat is in the slip. In lieu of filling at the local marina fuel dock at $6.00 per gallon, I think I could easily save over $1000 per year. Many others at the marina do the same...

However, I was recently approached by the local dockmaster and told to stop, that it was against the marina "rules and regulations." I reviewed the rules and regulations and quickly discovered that in fact, it was not against the rules. So I called them to see if I missed something and was told that it's illegal, or against the law... "to fuel a boat in a slip at a marina."

I'm an environmentally friendly, law abiding, rule following citizen and I don't wish to cause any trouble, but... Does anyone know for a fact if this is accurate and which law states so? That it is illegal to fuel a boat in a slip in a marina...

I've reviewed local, state (CA), federal, and USCG boating regulations and can't find anything. If it's illegal, no problem, I'll find another solution. Even if it isn't illegal, I will probably not do it, obviously the marina has a problem with it. Just curious mostly. Thanks...

 

[fishingdan]

Re: Fueling Question (Legal or Not)

I don't know if it is illegal. I do know that it is stated as forbidden in the slip rental agreement at any marina in my area. Obviously, selling fuel is a big part of their business.

 

[The Great Escape II]

Re: Fueling Question (Legal or Not)

You need to check with your marina. Some will not allow that at all. Some will allow you to do it at their gas dock, in that case they have the necessary items in case of a spill and/or fire. Ours lets us do that at the gas dock.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Fueling Question (Legal or Not)

it probably has more to do with their insurance than anything else. you can burn a lot of boats pretty quickly.

 

[wvit1001]

Re: Fueling Question (Legal or Not)

I think the biggest problem a lot of marina's have is that if their docks have foam floats that any gas that is spilled eats away at the foam. And it doesn't take much. Even a little film of gas on the water will dissolve the foam floats a little at a time.

 

[jaxnjil]

Re: Fueling Question (Legal or Not)

the storage yard i use was forced to stop allowing all kinds of repairs and boat maintance due to EPA coming in and giving them holy heck.
in order to wax my boat i had to work over tarps and use a spray bottle and towel to wipe down. wasnt allowed to get any thing on the ground or do any oil changes or any thing that involved any chemicals. also included running motor on hose with muffs
this would have disallowed fueling there also.
maybe it the same where your are.

 

[JB]

Re: Fueling Question (Legal or Not)

Yikes!!

Look at all the fun I miss.

 

[dodgeramsst2003]

Re: Fueling Question (Legal or Not)

Looks like it already been stated, but most marinas, mine included will not allow you to fuel at your dock because in the eyes of the EPA, the marina is liable for any spills that occur on the premises. My marina will kick you out if you are caught fueling at the dock. I don't complain to much, as the gas at the marina is only averaging about $0.50 higher per gallon than a land based station. I personally wouldn't want to fill my boat with 5 gallon cans, too much hassle and too many cans to carry back and forth.

 

[Neverhome]

Re: Fueling Question (Legal or Not)

Our marina does not allow it due to environmental and insurance reasons.
If you spill fuel from a can, which is very easy to do, and someone throws a lit cigarette in the water a couple of boats down, you have a disaster in the making and guess who the insurance companies from the various destroyed or damaged boats are coming after? Additionally, I personally feel we should support the marinas we call home port unless they are price gouging. In my case, I know the profit margin is low given the extra cost of the insurance and EPA permits required to sell the fuel. It is done more as a convenience to the boaters. But having said that, there is nothing wrong with a business making a profit. If a marina does not allow fueling from gas cans, we all have the option of pulling our boats on trailers and running to the nearest service station and then re launching again as necessary. Sort of defeats the purpose of a slip. It sure is not worth it to me. The marina I have docked at for the last eight years just started to sell ValveTech fuel and for not much more than the service stations are selling regluar fuel for. I have noticed a big difference in the performance of my 5.7 Mercruiser and the fuel is also ethanol free. Well worth the few extra cents in my book.

Neverhome

 

[alamosaddles]

Re: Fueling Question (Legal or Not)

However, I was recently approached by the local dockmaster and told to stop, that it was against the marina "rules and regulations." I reviewed the rules and regulations and quickly discovered that in fact, it was not against the rules. So I called them to see if I missed something and was told that it's illegal, or against the law... "to fuel a boat in a slip at a marina."... Does anyone know for a fact if this is accurate and which law states so? That it is illegal to fuel a boat in a slip in a marina...

It looks like none of the posters actually answered your question.

Under federal law no, it is not illegal to fuel up at a slip. If they told you it is illegal it would either be state or local law and that should be clearly listed or posted somewhere. In all reality, it is probably just the marinas desire that people not fuel up in the slips, however, it is dishonest for them to make you think it is illegal if the law has nothing to do with it at all.

I would ask them to tell you what law states this prohibition. The marina sells ice too....will they prohibit you from bringing bags of ice to your boat as well?

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: Fueling Question (Legal or Not)

I don't know whether it is illegal or not ... I've never looked it up. That said, people in businesses make incorrect statement about lots of things. Most of the time, I think this is just out of ignorance.

Assuming that it is not illegal, however, I don't think it much matters if it is against the printed rules that you were given at the beginning of the season. Its their marina and if they don't want you to do something, or more likely that their insurance company doesn't want their customers to do certain things, you pretty much need to stop doing it. If you don't, at a minimum, they probably won't accept you as a customer next season.

 

[Andy in NY]

Re: Fueling Question (Legal or Not)

5thfish, If it is not against the marina rules (as you stated) and there is no local/state law against it, then they shouldn't stop you from doing it. That said, now it is up to you weather you want to make waves with them or not (pun intended!). I personally think it is a shoddy business practice to tell someone something that is not true, and if they want to have a no fueling rule at the dock they need to add it to the user agreement, not just make it up and start enforcing it.

 

[642mx]

Re: Fueling Question (Legal or Not)

Of course your not doing anything wrong. The marina wants you to purchase gas from them and they are going to say whatever they need to in order to convince you to purchase from them.

FWIW, I hardly ever get gas at marina's. Its more cost effective for me to pull out and drive 5 minutes and fill up in town. Last weekend, 89 octane was $5/gallon on the water, Shell had 93 octane for $4.11....I filled up 4 times in 4 days.

 

[joed]

Re: Fueling Question (Legal or Not)

So what if you just load the fuel cans on your boat and fuel up away from the dock?