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All fuel in the Bilge...

Ralph Hewitt

Member III
After two days of the Pacific storm bringing 10-12 foot swells into our bay only broke one mooring line down to chain. Got out to boat today to find about 30 gallons of diesel in the bilge. Took a lot of man hours to get it out by hand. Most hands getting sick.
Engine starts & runs good, gauge shows empty! Could not find where leak was from.
Beside the fumes and rock in & Rolling in 6ft chop today will go tomorrow for a better surch. Any and ALL ideas & input please 1982 Ericson-38 tank under quarter berth.
Know how to clean bilge, where to look for leak!
Thanks
 

toddster

Curator of Broken Parts
Blogs Author
Dunno. Diesel return lines have been the usual suspects on my engines. Not sure if that's relevant to your boat.

I have to admit to often neglecting to crawl into the nether regions and shut off the fuel valve at the tank. (For an Atomic 4, that means only the float in the carburetor is keeping the fuel in the tank...) iKind of like the idea of a solenoid valve that only opens when the key is on, but not enough, so far, to do something about it.
 

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Check the fuel-level sender where it enters the fuel tank, probably under an inspection hatch in the quarterberth. Sometimes they leak, and fuel can slosh out in storm.

Also, any inspection ports the tank may have. To expose the entire tank, if your boat is like mine, will take a saw. Video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1UgjkCZMV8

Let's hope it is a leaking port, and the tank itself has not failed.
 

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
The guy has 30 gallons of diesel in his bilge and a major problem.

Your joke timing sucks.

Sorry, couldn;t help it.
 
Last edited:

p.gazibara

Member III
Sounds like he got most of it out from the last post.

Glad to hear the mooring held up, could have been really bad.

-p
 
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