Boat Winterization

[Mike Harry]

Speak for yourself!     

[Joel]

Yep...  the weather went straight to FALL once again.  I sure was looking forward to a few days on the lake all by myself and skiing on GLASS...  but its just not meant to be...  Sept 1st hit and we havent had a warm day since.  Guess its time to get her all cleaned up, oiled up, stabil in the gas, antifreeze in the block and put her to bed...  DAMMIT!!!!   

[Mike Harry]

I keep hearing about putting treatment in the fuel to store a boat. Wouldnt it be just as easier or better to pump the gas out of the tank and start fresh next season? Im not being smart, this is a legit question.

[backfoot100]

A legit question Mike, and one that has been debated for years.

A few problems can come into play here.

1) You'll never get all the gas out by syphoning or pumping it out. There will always be a little left in there which I can attest to will turn nasty in a short period of time. How short, I really don't know but 1/2" deep fuel spread out over the bottom of a tank will turn very nasty much quicker than say 10" of fuel pread out over the tank. Just as an example mind you.

2) The tank will sweat over the winter months inducing condensate which is water which doesn't do well in a gas tank. This can be bad for the remaining gas in the tank, the fittings, fuel lines or anything else associated. Condensate can also cause extra nasty s**t to happen if you get enough of it and it freezes. Especially in fuel lines or fittings. Keeping a full tank of gas in it prevents this but then you potentially have crap gas in it after several months. Sta-bil definitely helps to keep the gas usable in the spring. Just don't expect to set water speed records with it. Just get it used up and fill with fresh as soon as possible. The newer ethanol fuels makes this situation even worse.

Another problem induced with a full tank is that when it gets cold over the winter months the tank will contract, when it contracts if it was filled up at the time of storage guess what happens? Fuel spills out from the vent and you have a floor full of fuel. Ask me how I know this. So to combat that, you only fill it up about 3/4 of a tank. Then you only have to worry about the aforementioned condensation.

It's a viscious circle. I got tired of that crap and just moved south. Problem solved.....LOL

[Mike Harry]

Well thats my answer as well, skiing in December and all year long. Just wondering about those who cannot.

[Midskier]

the shelf life of gasoline just isn't all that long like maybe 30 days or so
at the very least for you southern skier add a fuel stabilizer on your last tank
or through out the fall if you don't when your last outing will be
then @ least the fuel in the lines and carb will be stabilized and less likely to gunk up
with a several month lay over, I'd have no issue siphoning the tank then and using that fuel in my
car , bike , snowblower, snowmobile ( Eddie remember what those are?)  etc and then yes add fresh fuel in the spring
I'd much rather see a tank empty over the winter than full, because of the above mentioned concerns
1/2 full is about the worst - I don't really know why but it has been said the most condensation occurs with a half full or half empty tank (?)
full tank = least condensation - but a full tank of stale gas come spring -

Dan T

[Mike Harry]

I think an argument could be made about the condensation issue (tank being full or empty). Isn't ethanol fuel even more prone to collect moisture?

[Midskier]

yes

[Joel]

Yep...  Ethanol loves moisture...  thats why most marinas carry ethanol free gasoline.  Worse comes to worse fill it up at a Marina and run a bottle of stabil through it on your last day out...  you gotta get the Stabil throughout your system for it to be effective and filling it up with ethanol free gasoline is even better.

Its best to keep the tank full (or almost full) when storing because of condensation build up when 1/2 full...  Empty is the WORST for all the above reasons...   You'll just have to deal with the stale gas come Spring.  The good part is your boat will use up the stale gas the first time out on the lake so you dont have to worry about it for too long.  She'll probaby run crappy though...

Eddie,  you should have a loop in your gas tank vent line - this will help keep the gas in the tank when it contracts, during sharp turns, etc, when its full or nearly full.

Joel

[brandon]

The arguement about how to store your fuel tank in boats has, can, and will probably go on forever.  Here is my experience.  Remember fuel stabilizer is just that, it will stabilize and slow the degradation of fuel in the CONDITION THE FUEL IS IN WHEN ADDED.  It will NOT MAKE "BAD" FUEL "GOOD".  In every boat I have owned and worked on I have never (yet) had a condition where the stabilized fuel has caused such a power loss or issue that it was noticible.  This is from pwc's to twin engine powerboats (remember an extra person in the boat can usually make a noticable performance difference, so is it the fuel or the load on the boat causing the issue?) that "good" fuel was stabilized and then run thru fuel system when winterized. 

As far as full or empty tank, I agree that full is better due to less chance of major condensation, but in my experience I have never (yet) seen condensation so bad that it caused IMMEDIATE problems in Spring.  However, I do agree that the condensation over time will do damage to the fuel system with corrosion and the debris from corrosion (probably a majority of the fuel problems found have something to do with corrosion).  It would be tough to argue that it is all from not storing the boat with a full tank of fuel though, you don't think there is any chance of expansion and contraction of the fuel tank while bouncing around in a lake or river in the middle of Summer (65F in morning and 95F during day) causing a reasonable amount of this moisture also?

I think the key point to be made in this discussion is to perform the REQUIRED preventative maintenence to reduce or eliminate the risk of problems in Spring.  IE:stabilize "good" fuel, change water seperating fuel filters, etc.

Again, just my experiences and opinion.

* Another note, I think the fuel formulations have gotten worse in the past 3-5 years so my experiences with noticable performance loss may be "older" gas formulations.

[Mike Harry]

Forgive my ignorance but everyone seems to be worried about 2 things. 1 is moisture in the fuel 2. is degraded fuel.

I'm not arguing at all here just asking questions and liking the opinions given.......

Doesn't everyone have a fuel moisture separator on their boat? Or is that something that someone had added to mine after new? Wouldn't this piece of equipment take the moisture that may build up out of the system? Or are you worried that there will be so much that it will simply overtake the separator?

[Joel]

Mike,  Its standard on our boats.  It takes out the moisture, but what were talking about is what the moisture and crap fule does while the boat is sitting for months at a time.  The moisture will cause corrosion to the tank, the lines, etc...  The ethanol will turn to goop...   Stabilze GOOD gas and keep it full while in storage.

[brandon]

Mike
Not every boat has a water seperating fuel filter.  I think Ron has mentiond that it was standard on the American Skiers, but not every company installed them.  The other thing and the more important point to my reply was to make sure you do the preventative maintenence such as replacing the $8.00 filter yearly to avoid any issues.  Some of my maintenence "standards" may be overkill, but in the Midwest the season is short and being down for a week or two to save $50 in parts doesn't make sense.  I used to change my impeller every other year.  I know some that have been in 15 years, but I don't want to risk a lost weekend (which wouldn't happen because I keep a new one in my toolbox anyway!)  My key point is to do the preventative maintenence and most problems will be avoided.  Most boats I worked on as repairs were because of lack of maintenence/care.
One key note, people with tournament inboard ski boats as a whole tend to take way better care of their boats than say owners with a std runabout, powerboat, or definitly fishing boat!  Just an observation over the years.

[Mike Harry]

Cool. I do alot of shadetree stuff, not much on boats in the past but I am learning. I just appreciate all the info here and like to read the reasons why people have their opinions.

[RonT]

Fuel / water seperator: All of the newer A/S boat have-em, some of the very original ones didn't. A very late model ski boat in my shop right now (Brand X, most expensive ski boat on the market) still does not have one, they rely on a cheap inline filter like on my lawn tractor. Customer was complaining about only reaching 3500 rpm, I replaced the in-line filter & the fuel cell filter & now the boat runs 5600 rpm-wot.
The spin on filter we use is designed to filter the fuel and separate the water allowing it to settle in the bottom of the can, however the alcohol in the fuel today is counteracting this and "dissolves" the water into the gas. This is why most suppliers of the spin on replacement filters have increased the filtering to 10 microns. A small in-line 10 micron filter will clog up much faster than a large capacity 10 micron filter.
Bottom Line: A/S boats were built better! Change your spin on fuel filter every year or every 75hrs.