Fuel Polishing ASAP

All tanks get water in them eventually......

Regarding water in your tanks, it is like russian roulette, someday it will happen. Deck fill pipe o-rings can fail. Vent tubes get slapped with water during hull detailing..... Or more typical, it comes from a crummy load of fuel with water entrained in it thay will condense in your nice cool below water line tank..... Most fuel suppliers have water block type filters on their pumps and tanks. These usually do a good job.

However, I do not trust my fuel injection components to some flunky whose job it is to change the pump filters when they remember to...... Install a good fuel water separator in your fuel lines, drain it regularly and change the filter every time you service the engine. If you have inspection ports, a leg up for you! Dessicant filters on tank vents are more common these days on luxury yachts and they are a good idea in humid areas (are sail boats ever in humid areas????).

Lastly, about every five years or so, change out the rubber fuel lines and pump out the last bit of fuel in your tank to get the sludge or other gunk out. Planned maintenance beats un-planned failure every time!

Chris
E-34 Flight Risk

Update on Water in Tank 38ft Ericson

Thanks again for all the fantastic input. Re. the tank we drained the water out of it and got about a gallon of fuel, went and drained another five gallons of diesel from tank just to make sure. The last three gallons drained showed no signs of water in it. We did not have to cut an access whole as the Fuel sender hole was in the right place and big enough to access . We put in a stick with the tube tied to it, this allowed us to get into the very bottom near the pick up tube.
Not much algae came up so we feel the tank is pretty clean. We then replaced the Racor and engine fuel filter, checked all hoses and clamps re primed and she started up first time.

BUT... since then we have started her in the slip a few times she starts first time, however we took the boat a few weeks ago, there was a decent swell she started and ran very well excepting when we were about to come back into the harbor. She did fire up then died and nothing would get her going again. We ended up having to get towed in as we have a tricky slip to get into. The mechanic has been down again and has to starting again, we checked the pick up tube (still copper one) all good there, then the fuel tank vent all clear there. For some reason once the boats fuel has been sloshed around a bit, the engine dies. Doesn't happen when it's in calm conditions.

Any ideas anyone?
I hate taking her out not knowing if the engine is going to be reliable!

thevans said:

BUT... since then we have started her in the slip a few times she starts first time, however we took the boat a few weeks ago, there was a decent swell she started and ran very well excepting when we were about to come back into the harbor. She did fire up then died and nothing would get her going again. We ended up having to get towed in as we have a tricky slip to get into. The mechanic has been down again and has to starting again, we checked the pick up tube (still copper one) all good there, then the fuel tank vent all clear there. For some reason once the boats fuel has been sloshed around a bit, the engine dies. Doesn't happen when it's in calm conditions.

Any ideas anyone?
I hate taking her out not knowing if the engine is going to be reliable!

Click to expand...

Sounds like the sloshing stirred up sediment and suspended it in the fuel. What grade is your Racor filter, and how did it look when you got back into the harbor?

-mark

I agree with Mark as well.


It seems pretty obvious that there is still sludge that is getting stirred up and sloshing around when your under weigh. If it's not clogging in the pick up tube, it's probably clogging your filter (filters). When I decided to replace my tank there was probably only a 1/8" of sludge coating the bottom of my 38 year old galvanized steel tank. The sludge was made up of diesel bacteria and rust. If you are going to attempt to clean the tank again I feel you really need to have access holes big enough to see every corner of the tank and to be able to get around all the baffles. Did you check your filters again after you were towed in, not just the pick up tube? Try bleeding the lines again? It may be possible that your fuel lift pump is worn out as well.

Fuel Tank issues end update 1 year later- air in pick tube was the main issue

I realized I never finished with what I ended up doing and how I solved the issue.

Bottom line and three mechanics later all scratching their heads as to how to proceed. Thank goodness for forums and boaties writing in their thoughts, I proceeded to do tackle the issue head on. After siphoning all the fuel out, ( used the siphon I use for oil changes), I cut two square holes in my fuel tank with a circular saw ( about the only tool I had that would get through the thick metal), one 8 x 8 in the front baffled area and another over the middle of the last two baffles at rear of tank. I then had a very clear picture of what was going on inside my tank. I cleaned it out using mineral spirits which easily dissolved the surprisingly little amount of sludge at the bottom of the tank, Most of the sludge was in the first baffle, as the tank is narrower and higher up at the other end. I noted that the fuel pick up tube was really close to the wall of the tank almost touching it. This ended up being the culprit of my problems, The tube was pretty much sucking sludge as it was smashed so close to the wall of the tank it's a wonder it was picking up anything at all. I decided to rebuild the pick up tube with new copper pipe ( it may also have had a small pin hole in it and didn't want to take any risks) and made it half and inch shorter so that it only can pick up fuel
easily. Made a fuel gasket for the 8 x 8 " holes and made 2x stainless steel square covers. In the covers I drilled 12 holes for screws all along the edge of the cover, Then duplicated the holes on to the fuel gasket , cut the gasket to the shape of the cover and the shape of the hole, then made threaded holes into the tank. With the covers and gaskets in place gooed up the screws with diff. metals paste and screwed in.

I can happily say never ever had that problem again. Since my fuel did have quite a bit of water in it I now once a year open up where the fuel gauge sender is and use the oil siphon to drain the fuel from the lowest point in the tank. I still get some water, no sludge really to speak off and whatever gets past the tank the racon fuel filter picks up.
It's a great feeling knowing the fuel is now longer an issue, for awhile back there, we were just getting too friendly with the guys Tow guys..



It seems pretty obvious that there is still sludge that is getting stirred up and sloshing around when your under weigh. If it's not clogging in the pick up tube, it's probably clogging your filter (filters). When I decided to replace my tank there was probably only a 1/8" of sludge coating the bottom of my 38 year old galvanized steel tank. The sludge was made up of diesel bacteria and rust. If you are going to attempt to clean the tank again I feel you really need to have access holes big enough to see every corner of the tank and to be able to get around all the baffles. Did you check your filters again after you were towed in, not just the pick up tube? Try bleeding the lines again? It may be possible that your fuel lift pump is worn out as well.[/QUOTE]

I know this is an old thread, but it answered all the questions that just came my way.

Have a 72 E27 that I bought in 12/17.

When I got the boat, there was a 3 gallon outboard fuel tank hooked up by the previous owner when he was trying to get it running.

Last weekend, finally got to the point where it was time to try to inspect/check/test the built in fuel tank.

Put a couple gallons of gas in the original 1972 main tank, and circulated it thru a home built fuel filter loop for about 30 minutes.
Didn't get much trash, so connected it to the carb thru 3 filters. Ran fine.
Used a stick thru the fill hole to get an estimate of the level in the tank with 3 gallons. Didn't mark the level on the stick.

This weekend, went back to the boat for more work.
Opened the hatch to the fragrant smell of a cabin full of gas fumes.

Ventilated the boat for a good while before I went in.
Due to the position of the tank as noted in the previous posts, inspecting it is very difficult in this boat.

Checked the fuel level with the stick again. Seemed it was much lower than it was previously.
Stuck my finger in the bilge to get a liquid sample, but it didn't seem to be smelly there.

So this time, I put a notch in the stick where the fuel level was.
Will go back next weekend and recheck fuel level.

I suspect the level will have dropped. If thats the case, I'll be getting the sawzall out to remove the tank.
I've read conflicting stories about being able to remove the tank, but finally getting the exact 'how to' is very valuable.
Thanks, especially to Jeff Ashbury for his detailed solution.

This is a helpful thread, so let me add the link to my installation of inspection hatches on the 54-gallon aluminum tank that comes standard on the Ericson 38.

http://www.ericsonyachts.org/infoex...-Fuel-Tank-Inspection-Ports-Five-Minute-Video

In my opinion all old boats have crud in their fuel tanks. Inspection ports make cleaning the tank easy. An alternative might be two Racor 500-series fuel filters, which would make changing filters routine and even possible while under power.

I for the life of me don't get "fuel polishing" for yacht tanks holding 10 or 20 gallons. If it's full of crud, why not just throw the old fuel away? WE already have a fuel polisher on board--the primary filter.