To Fuel Up or Not Straight After Boating Trip

[redspeckle]

I am Asking when should you Fuel Up or Not Straight After Boating Trip, I generally leave my fuel tank's to be filled up the night before Boating trip I know people have concerns about getting condensation or fuel go off in their fuel tanks or other issues with it
I like to get your votes and views on this [smiley=huh2.gif]
Mitch
(Ps I did do a search function on this to no help)

[Roughasguts]

I fill up with fresh fuel before I go out.
But I don't live in QLD where the humidity is a lot higher.

I have also flown Aircraft in Adelaide and they make sure the fuel tanks are full every night so as to avoid some of the condensation.
Of course you drain some fuel before every flight anyway, and 90% of the time find some.

[Spaniard_King]

I try to fuel up on the way home, always good to be ready to go ;)

Garry

[lippa]

kepp a full tank, that way it easy to share the fuel costs. refill $ by how many people. easy as.

[marshy]

I fuel up just before a trip because I am concerned about the fuel going stale between trips but if I went out more often I probobly would fuel up when I got home.

Marshy

[kleyny]

i'm with marchy try not to leave to much fuel in.
one reason i dont know when the next time im goin out
another is if your pre mixing the fuel it seems to go off even quicker with oil in it and when it evaporates you dont know what your ratio is

kleyny

[Blackened]

G'day

I only run 2 12L portable tanks, so condensation isn't an issue.

I'll usually fill up the night before or a few days before to make sure the fuel is fresh.

Dave

[Spaniard_King]

it would be interesting for people to put there average time between trips as well, seeing people are worried about leaving old fuel in a tank

My boat never sits more than a couple of weeks and thats mainly due to bad weather, my tank is 160litre which I keep around %75 full. Only fill it when going to the banks or similar. I just installed a navman 2100 fuel monitoring system for peice of mind, bl00dy good bit of gear. gives me fuel flow usage, fuel used, fuel left in tank, and a low fuel alarm

Garry

[seatime]

That's probably the key to it Spaniard_King, how long between trips.

If I knew I was using the boat again within a couple of weeks, I'd definately get it filled ASAP.

If unsure when the next trip may be, a judgement call, probably leave it and drain any water and refuell the day or night before the trip.

I do prefer to have a rig ready and waiting to go, rather than run around like a blue ass the night before getting everything done.

regards
Steve

[GAD]

I fill up on the way home if there were people with me as share costs are easier then, than in a weeks time , but rarely miss more then two weeks , though might be a little while with a fracture in my wrist, so can't go on my own and bit hard to fish at the moment,so boat is on holidays for now.

[FNQCairns]

Usually before the trip is a pain, good to grab munchies though, and after the trip I just want to find my spot on the couch as soon as possible after the cleanup, don't think there is a good time.

I always evacuate the fuel line fuel back into the tank the night before or that morning regardless as starting on and running the motor for the first 5-10 minutes on old fuel till the new gets through makes me feel uncomfortable esp so on premix. The above is for 2 stroke only.

cheers fnq

[blaze]

I fill just before a trip, last time was about 3 months (lots of reasons, south aust, queensland, bad weather just to name a few) Had 140l left out of 200. Iwas for the first time in my life worried about stale fuel as a big % of the 140l left would have been older than 3 months. Filled the tank with premium unlead as aposed to my normal unleaded. Did about 70km for the day so I expect that I have used about 60l (havnt look at the fuel flow meter) and have not suffered any ill effects. A point I will make is that I had just performed an annual comp test the day before and all 4 were 125psi (within a needle thickness) so I wonder if some of these motors that go pop because of learn fuel/low octane may have had an underlyeing problem of low comp on a cyc or 2. Just a thought.
cheers
blaze

[aussiefool]

I went for on the way out only because the crew is always the same and cost is shared anyway and we pass the same servo anyway

[marlinqld]

usually at most 2 weeks between trips out for me. And thats cause of weather usually.

I fill up either on way home, or if price is up, i wait till its down a bit.

Mine holds 110litres, never seen it below 1/4 tank

Mike

[Kerry]

Fuel up (this does not necessarily mean fill up) before the trip and how long between trips is not important and not a relevant factor to when one fuels up. Condensation is of no issue compared to fuel.

Regards, Kerry.

[Getout]

Condensation? Isn't that why we have fuel filter/water separators? I do reckon you would get more condensation in the tank if the boat lives outside.

[JasonT]

Generally just before a trip.
Mainly because that way I know the fuel is clean (well, should be :-) )
Gives me peace of mind to have a full tank even if I'm only going for a couple of hours in a creek!


JT

[flotsom]

i know 2 people on this thread and they use there boats very often, they both keep there tanks full, no chance of issues there, but as for condensation, fuel filters will solve this, i choose to fill up when going fishing, nothing better than a motor on fresh fuel. with 2 strokes pre-mixed it's a good idea to fill up before the trip as well, if fuel evaporates ths will leave a havier oil ratio behind and cause smokey engine

[haggis]

I like to fill up on the way home if possible ,
I try to take the boat out every second weekend weather permitting
I was told a few years ago to do this so as to avoid water in the fuel tank .
not much fun having broken down at four o'clock in the morning in the middle of the shipping channel due to water in the fuel with no torch to see with .
cheers haggis #:o

[wessel]

This whole water in the tank issue the past few weeks has my brain going again. We live in what is best described as a severe weather environment. 50 deg plus summers with 95% plus relative humidity levels at those high temperatures. (I tend to wear long sleeves and jeans at anything below 22 deg C)
So I had a chat with the process engineers and then sounded the opinions of two outboard mechanics out here.

From the mechanics:
Do the fuel go off or go stale - Never, ok maybe after about 6 months but even then just drain half of it off and fill up with some fresh stuff from the pump.
Do the boaters here ever notice water in the fuel - A small bit yes, but nothing to worry about. A bigger problem is guys who wash their boats and forget to tighten the fuel cap. (My boss incidentally had this problem.)

From process engineers:
Every barrel of oil has different levels of commercially usable oils in it.
Top of the barrel, which is the smallest percentage, goes to the very high grade turbo oils and premium brands.
Middle of the barrel is used for your average liquid stock like diesels and petrols etc.
Bottom of the barrel is the lowest grade stuff that is used as fuel oil etc.

Now comes the tricky part. if your source where your barrel of oil is bought from has more bottom of the barrel grade oil in it, then the average cost of a barrel is less. The refineries have the ability though to "crack" this low grade feed stock and turn it into commercially more valuable middle of the barrel products like petrol.

And this is where the problem comes in. This stuff is apparently highly processed from low grade stock to get an acceptable product, but it is also "unstable". What they mean with that is that the shelf life is less than fuel produced from the middle of the grade stock. The bottom of the barrel upgraded product has a tendency to polymerize in less time. That is why fuel can go "off" in hot and humid climates. The only way to solve this is to make sure your inventories are low and your turnover is high. Keep it in smaller tanks at the service stations, that way you never sell old stock to the customer.

I hope that I have now fully confused everybody, but that is the best way i could think of to explain this "issue".

In any case, I fill up when coming back. Then I am ready to just throw in the cooler box and go the next time there is an opportunity.


Wessel

[The_Walrus]

For a weekend session, I usually fill up on a Tuesday evening when fuel is cheapest.

Unless I intend to go out again in a couple of days for an afterhours trip, I empty the boat fuel into my ute's tank.

Luc

[Black_Rat]

I didn't fuel up last time on the way home (10 weeks ago) so i'll take my chances & top up with "fresh" fuel on Sunday and blow the cobwebs out :) full throtlle of course ;D

Damo.

Yes ! getting the boat out ! ::)