Well Folks, Here We Go Again......Ethanol and Marine Propulsion

[tazrig]

Re: Well Folks, Here We Go Again......Ethanol and Marine Propulsion

I've said this before. I've used E10 for more than 20 years and do nothing to store it during the winter and don't winter my motors, so far....zero fuel related issues. This is why people report good success with just about every product out there.

If you are storing your gas in 1 or 6 gallon tanks over the winter months you're fine. If you have been storing it in a larger tank that is vented and have not added stabilizer than you have been very lucky. E10 will absorb a lot more water than the old MBTE gas we used to use. The major difference is that once E10 absorbs all the water it can and gets saturated it "phase separates" meaning all the water drops to the bottom of your tank and will never remix with the gas. Then when you go out boating and get a little low on gas, you start sucking up the pure water from the bottom of you tank and your engines die. It's $8.50 per gallon to have someone legally drain your tank and start over. I know this because 2 years ago it happened to me. Now I top off my tank every fall and ad stabilizer. The only other way to assure you won't have a problem is to completely drain your tank before storage. Unless you have a stainless steel tank I wouldn't recommend that approach though as anything else will rust and E10 eats through fiberglass and plastic tanks.

 

[ondarvr]

Re: Well Folks, Here We Go Again......Ethanol and Marine Propulsion

If you are storing your gas in 1 or 6 gallon tanks over the winter months you're fine. If you have been storing it in a larger tank that is vented and have not added stabilizer than you have been very lucky. E10 will absorb a lot more water than the old MBTE gas we used to use. The major difference is that once E10 absorbs all the water it can and gets saturated it "phase separates" meaning all the water drops to the bottom of your tank and will never remix with the gas. Then when you go out boating and get a little low on gas, you start sucking up the pure water from the bottom of you tank and your engines die. It's $8.50 per gallon to have someone legally drain your tank and start over. I know this because 2 years ago it happened to me. Now I top off my tank every fall and ad stabilizer. The only other way to assure you won't have a problem is to completely drain your tank before storage. Unless you have a stainless steel tank I wouldn't recommend that approach though as anything else will rust and E10 eats through fiberglass and plastic tanks.

I understand every aspect of what can/or may happen with E10...99.9% of it is hype and scare tactics to make people feel they need to add XXXX additive to every tank or they will destroy their motor in less than a week. SOME fiberglass tanks are susceptible, very few boats use those types, it is bad if that's what your boat has though. It doesn't eat through plastic tanks, in those 20 years I have never had a problem like this, nor have I known anyone that had a problem.

As I said, more than 20 years and no issues, it has been stored in every possible way, correct and incorrect. Most of the issues blamed on E-10 are from the overlap in the change to Ethanol from MTBE, the two don't play well for several reasons. Places that banned MTBE a long time ago don't have the same problems the recent and current converts do.

Can E-10 be a problem..yes...any fuel can have problems, it just gets so overblown it becomes crazy.

 

[V153]

Re: Well Folks, Here We Go Again......Ethanol and Marine Propulsion

One problem with ethanol fuel is it's hard on fiberglass tanks. Granted this affects big boat folks more than the average Iboater, but it deserves mention.

Another: Here is Attwood grey fuel line after about 18 mos. The inner core had almost completely delaminated and lil fingernail sized chunks plugged up the fuel filter.

Yeah there's alotta hype & hyperbole but I can assure you the negative effect on fuel line, and fiberglass tanks is very real.

 

[MH Hawker]

Re: Well Folks, Here We Go Again......Ethanol and Marine Propulsion

I had the same issue with the attwood fuel line this summer. And it had nothing to do with E 10 it had never had any thing but real gas ran through it.