- empty of fuel;
- filled to full with stabilized fuel, or
- left at some intermediate random level as exists at end of season with stabilizer added?
Methods for Storing Fuel Over Winter in 12-Gallon On-deck Fuel Tank
Methods for Storing Fuel Over Winter in 12-Gallon On-deck Fuel Tank
Q1: among these methods of storing a 12-gallon on-deck fuel tank for the winter, which is recommended:
Re: Methods for Storing Fuel Over Winter in 12-Gallon On-deck Fuel Tank
Use the fuel line and primer bulb to transfer the fuel to a container and then empty into your automobile.
No need to store it full over the winter.
No need to store it full over the winter.
1992 Outrage 17
2019 E-TEC 90
2018 LoadRite 18280096VT
Member since 2003
2019 E-TEC 90
2018 LoadRite 18280096VT
Member since 2003
Re: Methods for Storing Fuel Over Winter in 12-Gallon On-deck Fuel Tank
I agree with Phil's method. Or use choice #3, but I would prefer the tank level to be at least half-full.
If you want to stabilize fuel, you should add the stabilizer at the time of purchase.
Also, in preparing for long-term storage of the boat and engine, you need to run the engine on the stabilized fuel for enough time and at a rate of fuel consumption that insures that all the fuel remaining in the engine is the new, stabilized fuel. I generally add fuel stabilizer to the fuel beginning in the last month of the boating season, so I can be certain that stabilized fuel has reached the engine. Modern outboard engines when running at idle speed consume fuel at a very low rate, perhaps less than 0.5-GPH. If you want to get the just-stablized fuel to the engine while running at idle speed, you might have to run it for over an hour in order to displace all the existing fuel in the hoses, canister filters, and other elements of the engine fuel system with the new fuel.
There is a supposed concern that a fuel tank will become a water-maker as a result of diurnal temperature variations, a vented tank, and air space above the fuel in the less-than-full tank. I think this concern is much over-rated. Most water that is found in a fuel tank got there because a retail fuel vendor pumped it into the tank from his contaminated fuel tanks, or the cap of the boat fuel tank was loose and rain water got into the fuel. The notion than a less-than-completely-full fuel tank will suddenly turn into a water maker seems a bit crazy to me.
The only really good reason to store the fuel tank at full level is to avoid an increase in the fuel price that is likely to occur over the next six to eight months, although in rare instances, the opposite has happened. My boating season typically starts with about a 5/8th-full tank of fuel, and not having to immediately go to fuel fuel dock and pay $2-more-per-gallon than the fuel was selling for last Fall seems like a little bonus.
ASIDE: while cruising to Isle Royale in remote Lake Superior about 10 or 15 years ago, we needed to purchase fuel on the island. The fuel vendor acknowledge that the fuel in their fuel tanks had actually been delivered to them two years earlier, but it had been stabilized, and it had no water. We bought about 35-gallons volume of that fuel as we needed it to make the 75-mile return trip to the mainland across Lake Superior (and if conditions were not favorable, the fuel economy could be only 2-MPH). This trip was in September, and we still had that fuel in the tank the next June. The then three-year-old gasoline was fine, and the engine started and ran on that fuel without any sign of a problem.
If you want to stabilize fuel, you should add the stabilizer at the time of purchase.
Also, in preparing for long-term storage of the boat and engine, you need to run the engine on the stabilized fuel for enough time and at a rate of fuel consumption that insures that all the fuel remaining in the engine is the new, stabilized fuel. I generally add fuel stabilizer to the fuel beginning in the last month of the boating season, so I can be certain that stabilized fuel has reached the engine. Modern outboard engines when running at idle speed consume fuel at a very low rate, perhaps less than 0.5-GPH. If you want to get the just-stablized fuel to the engine while running at idle speed, you might have to run it for over an hour in order to displace all the existing fuel in the hoses, canister filters, and other elements of the engine fuel system with the new fuel.
There is a supposed concern that a fuel tank will become a water-maker as a result of diurnal temperature variations, a vented tank, and air space above the fuel in the less-than-full tank. I think this concern is much over-rated. Most water that is found in a fuel tank got there because a retail fuel vendor pumped it into the tank from his contaminated fuel tanks, or the cap of the boat fuel tank was loose and rain water got into the fuel. The notion than a less-than-completely-full fuel tank will suddenly turn into a water maker seems a bit crazy to me.
The only really good reason to store the fuel tank at full level is to avoid an increase in the fuel price that is likely to occur over the next six to eight months, although in rare instances, the opposite has happened. My boating season typically starts with about a 5/8th-full tank of fuel, and not having to immediately go to fuel fuel dock and pay $2-more-per-gallon than the fuel was selling for last Fall seems like a little bonus.
ASIDE: while cruising to Isle Royale in remote Lake Superior about 10 or 15 years ago, we needed to purchase fuel on the island. The fuel vendor acknowledge that the fuel in their fuel tanks had actually been delivered to them two years earlier, but it had been stabilized, and it had no water. We bought about 35-gallons volume of that fuel as we needed it to make the 75-mile return trip to the mainland across Lake Superior (and if conditions were not favorable, the fuel economy could be only 2-MPH). This trip was in September, and we still had that fuel in the tank the next June. The then three-year-old gasoline was fine, and the engine started and ran on that fuel without any sign of a problem.
Re: Methods for Storing Fuel Over Winter in 12-Gallon On-deck Fuel Tank
We add stabilizer to the last tank of gas we purchase during the season and ensure we get the boat out on the water to run the stabilized gas through the engine. We then empty as much fuel out of the tank as we can and store it that way. We have had very good luck with the first turn of the key starting the engine when we commission the boat for the season with our E-TEC.
I often purchase fuel at regular gas stations with the boat on the trailer, but I also try to run the tank down fairly low and purchase marine gas from a fuel dock for the final fill up.
I often purchase fuel at regular gas stations with the boat on the trailer, but I also try to run the tank down fairly low and purchase marine gas from a fuel dock for the final fill up.
Re: Methods for Storing Fuel Over Winter in 12-Gallon On-deck Fuel Tank
Thank you, My plan is to leave it 1/2 full and add MDR Store & Start to the fuel,, for reference MDR Store & Start is the only additive I have used that left the fuel looking clear after winter layup in Michigan on my Carver with twin 140 gallon tanks,