Gasoline - How long can you keep it in the boat?

[Fishermanjm]

one year on the fuel is one thing,,, but two,,, i just siphoned out 50 gals out of my maritime skiff, i also didnt use the boat this season and did not use it much at all last year, the fuel smelled funky, but i ran my Honda around for a few weeks now with no problems,,, yet,,, i think its better to have the fresh fuel in the boat only because of a possible break-down issue
jim

[Jraysray]

I roached my 383 with bad gas. Seems water won't combust like gasoline does. That's what the machine shop tells me. Also the baffels get in the way when removing the gas so bounce the boat when your draining.

[pipnit]

Me personally, I'd drain it all out and start over. I'd pull it from the bottom of the tank too, not go in from the fuel cap.

Phase separation...ugghhhh... I roached two ktm 300 2t motors this summer because of that ethanol crap. Going WFO under heavy load both times (riding in sand and I weight 225) The first time I stopped before REAL bad damage when I heard that marbles on a piston noise. The second time, I must have really had a lot of h20 in the gas, was running pinned in 4th and CLUNK, the rear end locked up on me. The skirt of the piston broke and fell in to the big end and go stuck in the transmission. Ugly... Now I only mix and pour in what I use any time I go riding.

For my boat, I am lucky enough to get REAL gas but it's only 87. Just because I'm freaked out and somewhat gunshy, I use that startron stuff. My old Benz runs better with the startron in the tank. I can actually FEEL the difference, mainly in starting of the motor.

fyi, for guys who trailer thier boat, you can find locations of "real" gas at www.real-gas.org

[zelatore]

>was running pinned in 4th and CLUNK, the rear end locked up on me.

oooohhhhh....bet that got your attention!

Only time I've accidentally locked a rear wheel was on my Speed Triple. I'd just ridden almost 70 miles of highway coming to work and was at a stop light a couple blocks from the office. I took off a bit 'aggressively' and lifted the front tire a few inches. I got about half way across the intersection before the tail bag I had strapped to the pillion came loose and caught on the top of the rear tire where it promptly wedged between the tire, exhaust, and sub-frame. Not only did it bring me to a STOP, but I was stuck sitting in the middle of the road with a bike that I couldn't move! I finally managed to rock it backward enough to get the bag out, but trashed a carbon fiber muffler and rear hugger, not to mention a Tourmaster bag.

And that was at maybe 20 mph...

[joseph m. hahnl]

am a little lost with the water separator comment, does a merc have two pumps?isn't the filter separator in front of the pumps? stopping junk from getting into the pump.wouldn't you want to take off the hose from the carb or FI after the pump? my setup goes tank, filter, separator, pump, carb is the merc different?

I was assuming because it was a 1994 it had an in-line electric fuel pump before the separator with fuel injection. But apparently it is not Fuel injected. It's the same as you described as is mine. So I think the best way to do it is to disconnect the rubber hose coming from the gas tank, from the separator and install a inexpensive electric in-line fuel pump . I would recommend that it should be hard wired to the ignition and bonded to the block so there would be no chance of arcing. Which could happen if you tried to hot jump the pump. Gravity would probably work too if you coupled a longer hose "again to the gas tank rubber hose" and ran the longer hose out the drain plug hole in the transom. You want to minimize the amount of contamination through the fuel circuit,that is why I suggested to do it at or before the separator.

The more I think about. The better it is to couple the long hose out of the boat and keep the gas spillage and fumes to a minimum in the bilge. This method would also allow the use of barbs with the coupler and the tank gas line fitting and a barbed fuel pump out side the boat. This would be much safer and easy to rig.

[Offset]

Thank you to everyone who responded to my question concerning gas storage. I am still not quite sure what to do but if I leave the gas in I will let you know in the spring what if any issues come up.

I am hoping that what is in the boat is straight gas, the guy I bought it from kept it in a boat house so the gas he bought was always from a marina that sells only straight gas. Maybe wishful thinking but that is my hope.

Again, thanks to everyone for taking the time to help me out with your suggestions and experiences.