Re: How Much gas will it hold?
Its a bigger mess if it was a wood boat, damaged packings, gas soaked wood, etc. On glass the biggest concern is the foam soaking up gas and never being able to get the fumes out of the hull.
I've seen that done a few times over the years, if it wasn't a rod holder, its a water tank, sewer outlet or other opening.
Years ago I was driving a 61 VW Beetle with the tank under the hood, I normally would have filled the tank myself but I was on my way to dinner and didn't care to smell like gas all night. the idiot had the nozzle rigged to stay on since the auto shut off wouldn't work on some cars, the tank overflowed, ran gas everywhere under the hood and down under the spare tire. Then the fool expected me to pay for the 2 gallons of gas he spilled. To make a long story short, the fill up was free once the cops got there and the owner of the station, their alternative was to let the cops write a report and call in the EPA and state Weights and Measures to investigate, the owner decided against that pretty quick.
I read in the paper a few months later that the same idiot pumping gas got arrested for selling gas in barrels on the late shift that he pumped directly out of the in-ground tanks.
The car stunk for a month with gas, and I left the under hood carpet and cardboard panels out in the sun for a few days and they all survived.
With my boat, I never let them pump the gas, most won't even attempt it around here, even at the dock they hand you the nozzle. Of coarse, most of the marina gas nozzles are in pretty bad shape too, most will overflow the tank if your not careful. I don't think an auto shut off is mandatory, or at least no one checks. Many don't have a lock to hold the pump on, but some do, but don't shut off when full.
The problem there is often the shape of the nozzle, most gas fill nozzles are curved, this don't work well on a boat with the fill on top of a the deck. The nozzle should be straight not curved.
I have an old fuel pump at my shop, its used for filling equipment with offroad diesel. I gave up on automotive type fill nozzles years ago and made my own 90 degree fill nozzle with a ball valve as a shut off. It not only fits the tanks better, it flows far more fuel than a typical 3/4" or 1" nozzle like at the gas station. (try pumping 200 gallons of gas through a 3/4" gas nozzle, you'll be there for quite a while).
