Watch what you put in your tanks

When we bought one of our prior boats I noticed that the fresh water fill was adjacent to the port side gas fill, and told my wife "I'll be sure to make a mistake one day". Two weeks later I was distracted while filling the fresh water tank. 15 minutes or so later I could smell gasoline, and immediately knew what I'd done. Sure enough, I'd put the fresh water hose into the adjacent gasoline fill.

Rather than panic, I called around and found that my local boat yard could 'deal with it'. I also made sure I didn't start the port engine until I'd switched both engines to the other fuel tank, and headed to the boat yard. Having dealt with this numerous times before, they knew that gas floats on water. They removed the fuel gauge sender from the top of tank, inserted a hose, and pumped out the contents until they hit gas. They dumped the 30 gallons of water, pumped out the gas, and ran it through a water separator/filter continuously for 24 hours, periodically changing the filter. Then they pumped the "dry" gas back into the tank.

When I picked the boat up, they told me the engines had been running dockside for 30 minutes (on their own tanks), and were apparently OK. I left their dock, and a few hundred yards later the boat made a sharp turn to port. Sure enough, that engine had quit, and I knew there had to be some water left in the system. I switched both engines to the other fuel tank and proceeded back to our home port. I then sent the missus down to an auto parts place to buy a couple of bottles of DriGas.

We had that boat for another 5 years and never had any further sign of water in the fuel. However, every time I filled with water or fuel, I checked the hose and the fill cap twice before inserting the hose, then checked again before turning on the pump or the spigot  ;D

As you can imagine, I took a lot of teasing from folks in our boat club. That was until I found out that everyone with the same hull had either put water in the gas tank or gas in the fresh water tank.

I'm reminded of the urban myth of the thief who wished to siphon gas out of a motor home and, shall we say, got the WRONG tank.. Oh well... Stuff happens..   The reason I say it's a myth however is that the opening on that tank is not one you'd siphon from.


I suspect that water in the gas tank is a whole lot easier to deal with than gas in the water tank.

I also grew up with water seperator "Sediment Bulbs" on gas engines... Alas, a good thing I believe.

Timely advice. This Sept DW and I were in upper MI when we pulled into a station to fuel our DP. There were two stations side by side. I saw a sign indicating the price of diesel. I pulled in and used the green handle nozzle and pushed the button to start the pump. Now the size of the nozzle should have warned me, but I usually fuel in truck stops, so I ASSumed gas stations had different nozzle sizes. Fifteen gal of regular later I knew I had screwed up. this llittle goof cost 3 days due to the weekend and a tow. Not to mention a small matter of $750. The shop that drained the fuel mixture said they did it 3 or 4 times a yr, not bad for a wide spot in the road. Needless to say I hope I have learned my lession. I also learned that free advice is worth the price, several knowledgeable bystanders told me that truckers add gas to their fuel in the winter for whatever reason. My engine is still in warrenty so I chose to have mixture drained.  Later my brother a trucker said that was an old wives tale, that he would never add gas to diesel.

John

Thanks for that report. Glad you decided to have the fuel drained rather than listen to the old wives' tale.

Several years ago we were visiting the UK and rented a car at London/Heathrow airport. I made a point of asking if it used "petrol or diesel", and was assured it used diesel. I had a suspicion they were wrong and, when we stopped for the first fill, I opened the gas cap, took a big sniff, and figured it was gas. The gas station happened to be a dealership for this brand of car, so I walked over to their service shop and asked a mechanic to confirm my suspicion; He raised the hood and said "you're right, this car runs on petrol".

John, from now on you should dribble a bit of fuel on your expensive sweater first, smell it and see if you've got the real stuff. Maybe a lot cheaper than what it cost you. 

  Just a thought.

carson FL

Tom,
I'm headed to the UK tomorrow.  Thanks for reminding me to check the rental car.  I'd not thought about it.  Hope I can tell the difference in smell.  We drive one diesel engine and one gasoline so both are familiar to me.  Guess I'll go check them now - before I leave home! :

Have a great trip Chris, and don't forget to take your wellies.