Re: Stop E15 ethanol gas
There is not one outboard manufacturer that has designed their outboards to run on E15 or E20. This is a huge potential problem!
With that said, in MN, use of E10 has been mandatory since 1997. Although there have certainly been issues with units with already dirty fuel systems and fiberglass fuel cells, the consequences have been minimal. The recreational boating industry didn't come to it's knees in 1997 when E10 became mandatory here. I find that folks with the "Sky is Falling" attitude are usually regurgitating what they have read elsewhere and don't live in one of the farming states where E10 is mandatory. E10 problems have been exaggerated- but again, NO OUT BOARD MANUFACTURER ENDORSES THE USE OF ANYTHING BEYOND E10!
Oddly enough, Minnesota has made an exception for offroad vehicles. There is a provision for ethanol free 91-92 octane fuel for "offroad" use to accomodate the boating and snowmobile crowd. But when I ask most folks here, they seem to just be using 87 octane E10. Very few of the gas stations statewide carry ethanol free 92 octane fuel for "offroad" use. I am fortunate to live in a recreation area where it is readily accessable.
With the 100's of thousands of outboards that are here in the land of 15000 lakes, going to E15 from E10 has some huge potential consequences.
