Ethanol Fuel Chaos for Boat Owners....

[Cacia]

yes, we have learned to drain the fuel seperators into a bag to check for water.

We made it all the way around Diamond Head today to the fuel dock! First fill up, took 389 bucks for 2/3 of a tank.

Seafoam, huh? I will look for that.

 

[divinginn]

that stuff works great for everything i used it on,vehicles,lawnmowers,chainsaws,boats,4 wheelers ect,around here i get it at napa auto parts or advance auto parts,not sure what auto parts stores you have in hawaii.

 

[Berdman]

HeH!!!!! I am more worried about the cost then the ethanol. There are stations that sell pure petrol, they usually have a sign up on the pumps saying so. Best bet is to go to the "no name" stations.

 

[Cacia]

I don't think we can get pure petrol here.

I will look around though...that was our first thought.

 

[Wildcard]

There is a great multi page article in this months Hawaii fishing news on this very topic.
Also tank tampons are a great thing. Im not sure what the real name is but if you ask for them, they will know if they have them. It's a water absorption device that goes into the tank and looks all the world like a tampon. I have them in my sleds and ATVs up north.

 

[Cacia]

oh....great.

I think I will let you ask for those.

Thanks for the boat dressage lesson, BTW.

I will pick that issue up...I like it.

 

[Bill51]

I guess if you’re docking on the diagonal from H to R with enough impulsion to do a capriole you have that boat well on the bit and mastered now (funny, you don’t look like a dressage queen).

Here’s a good article about the problems with ethanol in boat fuel. Given all the screwy boutique blends of fuel that are still out in the system, you may want to keep a close eye on your filters and injectors for the next few tankfulls. Keep spare filters and water separators on board, consider using a good Racor separator with a clear bowl, and if you have an aluminum tank make sure it is properly grounded.

http://www.boattest.com/Resources/news.aspx#ethanol

If one runs 100LL avgas in a marine engine as a way of avoiding ethanol, never use it without some type lead scavenging additive such as TCP. Unless you’re running a very high compression or turbo/super charged engine you’ll get terrible lead deposits on the plugs and valves without a good scavenger.

 

[Cacia]

Thanks..no you are right, no dressage for me, only hunters and some western pleasure.

Thanks for the article.

So, with twin outboards he has me using one engine at a time and thinking in terms of inside engine and outside in relation to the circle I am turning. Then..I will graduate to the double throttle crab crawl, pivot.

yes, i read it. We have the newer tanks so we don't have that issue. I have no idea if the tank was emptied before the ethanol was started--probably not. We just started using an additive...

 

[billtodive]

Most--most--modern engines including outboards of both two and four stroke can run well on 10% but the 15% E85 is not acceptable. The ethonal does attack certain older plastic tanks and all fiberglass tanks and many steel tanks (rust due to entrained water). N

Nemrod; I thought your info on E-85 might be mis-interpreted, so added the following.
From US DOE website:
"Ethanol can be blended with gasoline to create E85, a blend of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline.

The E-85 is blended down to 70% Ethanol in the winter." (so the cars will start).

Minnesota has, I believe, a law requiring "non-oxygenated" fuel to be available at every fueling station; ie no ethanol or MBTE.
The "Land of 10,000 lakes" would go broke if all our old tourist boat motors burned up from trying to mix oil with ethanol.
Good luck with your boats down there......

 

[trigfunctions]

Last I heard, Ewhatever fuel takes as much energy to make as they get from the final product.

That is a myth, actively promoted by the petroleum industry.

http://www.eere.energy.gov/afdc/altfuel/eth_energy_bal.html

The production of ethanol is energy efficient as it yields almost 25 percent more energy than is used in growing the corn, harvesting it, and distilling it into ethanol. The most recent findings show that corn ethanol fuel is energy efficient and yields an energy output:input ratio of 1.6.