Finding Pure Non-Ethanol Gasoline on the Highway in USA and Canada
Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2022 9:29 am
Regarding buying fuel for an outboard engine at highway fuel stations
Depending on your location, you may find that at the typical highway retail fuel station all the gasoline being sold contains ethanol, and if the blender or distributor has been careful, the ethanol content should only be in a ratio of 1:9 with gasoline. Unfortunately that ratio is not particular guaranteed by some fuel stations. You might get more ethanol than expected.
For this reason many boaters prefer to use only pure gasoline fuels and avoid all ethanol-gasoline blended fuels.
Again, depending on where you are located, you may find that some retailers on the highway are offering pure gasoline fuels, but these are usually specialty vendors. Often their location is adjacent to a busy boat launching ramps, where boaters will be trailering their boats for launch.
In Michigan, for example, there are some highway retail fuel stations selling 100-percent pure gasoline. Of course, the price is higher than regular-grade ethanol-gasoline blended fuel, but the expectation is there will be a benefit to avoiding the ethanol.
In my own operation of my boat--which literally lives on its trailer--I only use pure gasoline. I either buy boat fuel at a highway station if the station is conveniently located for my boating trip, or at a marina fuel dock if fueling while the boat is on the water. (My boat has an internal fuel tank.) In Michigan the state legislature has enacted a regulation that requires all fuel distributors to provide pure-gasoline fuels to marina operators. It also seems to have caught on that highway fuels stations are selling pure gasoline, too, at selected locations.
Depending on your location, you may find that at the typical highway retail fuel station all the gasoline being sold contains ethanol, and if the blender or distributor has been careful, the ethanol content should only be in a ratio of 1:9 with gasoline. Unfortunately that ratio is not particular guaranteed by some fuel stations. You might get more ethanol than expected.
For this reason many boaters prefer to use only pure gasoline fuels and avoid all ethanol-gasoline blended fuels.
Again, depending on where you are located, you may find that some retailers on the highway are offering pure gasoline fuels, but these are usually specialty vendors. Often their location is adjacent to a busy boat launching ramps, where boaters will be trailering their boats for launch.
In Michigan, for example, there are some highway retail fuel stations selling 100-percent pure gasoline. Of course, the price is higher than regular-grade ethanol-gasoline blended fuel, but the expectation is there will be a benefit to avoiding the ethanol.
In my own operation of my boat--which literally lives on its trailer--I only use pure gasoline. I either buy boat fuel at a highway station if the station is conveniently located for my boating trip, or at a marina fuel dock if fueling while the boat is on the water. (My boat has an internal fuel tank.) In Michigan the state legislature has enacted a regulation that requires all fuel distributors to provide pure-gasoline fuels to marina operators. It also seems to have caught on that highway fuels stations are selling pure gasoline, too, at selected locations.