Pacemaker Boats

[rebait]

I don't know the age of my fuel lines and I am not sure if they are ethanol compatable or how long they will last before I may have a problem. The lines look good but why take a chance. I am planning on doing it this late winter/early spring. I am going to change all shut offs and fittings. The tanks look like great with no signs of rust or water in the filters or seperator. THE QUESTION and OPINIONS: Is it better to store the tanks full, pump the tank before doing the change out and refill to keep moisture out during the winter or run the tanks dry, store empty and fill when done in the spring.

I would like to hear different opinions and why.


John

[changeofpace]

I keep mine as empty as possible, usually around 5 gallons in each tank. My reason is that the E10 is not stable and will pull in moisture until it separates. If I only have a small amount of gas in each, I wont have too much to pump out. My tanks are only 2 years old so the interior coating is still good. I did have a water problem during this season, so right after the engines are winterized, I plan on emptying them completely, then adding new fuel with ezorb and stabil added for the spring startup.

[rebait]

Terry,

That is what I am planning on doing with the Wahoo. Just looking for different opinions. I have been filling the tank of the 18' and using Stable and Ezorb and I have not had a water problem with it. I am doing the lines and fittings on the Wahoo as an ounce of prevention.

John

[leokow]

John, as you know I have 5 tanks on the pace and 1 on the striper. the striper has a poly type tank and I have been leaving it full except for last year, when I emptyed it and put in startron and e zorb for over the winter. the pace I usually empty the 2 metal tanks and left the poly ones filled, however last year after having a water problem in one poly tank , I decided to leave all the tanks empty with the startron and e zorb in the empty tanks. When they are in this configuration I don't have any water problems or gas deterioration problems. They say this e-10 only has a 60 day shelf life , the additives add another 60, that's still not enough to get thru from Nov. thru May, that's 7 months almost double the shelf life, I don't like taking chances with thousands of dollars worth of fuel and then having to find a place to dispose of it. The empty tank option seems to be the most advantageous to us. Also if your lines are older than 1990 I've been told to change them and that I have done on the pace., the striper is a 1996 so I left it alone but did install a fuel/water separator and see thru sediment bowl so I could keep an eye on things.

[rebait]

I have seperators on both boats and they both have metal tanks. I replaced the "flexible" lines on the Dixie, when I replaced the outboard in 2003. That was the original engine that was installed in 1980. It has a metal line running from the tank to a shut off valve by the transom. The flexible lines do not look that old and I did not check the CG code because they were run in loom to protect them. A very neat job was done and they are too new looking to be original. One of the shut offs is hard turning, so I decided to change it all for peace of mine.

About the shelf life of the E10, both boats ran a little poorly at first. Once I added fresh fuel after the first trip performance improved dramatically in both. Neither showed water in the seperators, so I chalked it up to stale fuel. I am leaning towards running all the tanks down and adding Startron and Erorb to the tanks. Leo, about how much do you add?

Thanks, John

[leokow]

John, I figure that even though I think I have run the tanks dry, by using an electric fuel pump to remove the residual gal or so that is left, I don't like running the tank dry thru the carb . I know the draw doesn't go all the way to the bottom so I guess there's about 3 or 4 gals. left that's inacessible, so I usually put 4 ozs. of startron in each tank and 2 ozs. of e-zorb. In the spring I get a 6 gal. can full of freah fuel and put about 2 gals, of fuel in one tank and then pump it out into a container to see what has been going on and what the fuel looks like. So far it's always been in good condition, so if it is, I put it back into the same tank, and then go on to each of the other tanks with the same procedures. Once that is all done , I change the separators , make sure all the connections are tight , that I messed with and go ahead and put enough fuel in 2 tanks so that I can test run the engines and then make it from the drop in slip to the gas dock. I only fill the two metal side tanks during the season unless I go on a tuna trip where I'll need all the fuel. Last year I didn't use the 3 poly tanks at all and when I tested them before I put the boat away they were fine. I burned up what was in them by draining them and putting the fuel into the side tanks and put fresh additive into the poly tanks for the winter. After a couple of seasons of working with this new gas and the additives, I've come to the decision that the empty tank way is the best for me to follow. I don't trust that shelf life, John, and I'm just not comfortable leaving hundreds of dollars worth of gas in those tanks to go bad over the winter.

[rebait]

Leo,

I totally agree about the shelf life of the fuel. I am definitely going the empty tank route this year on both boats.

Thanks,

John