Your experiences with ethanol storage over the winter?

Tanks left almost empty over winter with Star-tron and Sta-bil. I add star-tron and sta-bil year round. All went well on startup and subsequent checks. No problems heard from other boat owners in the community.

Stan
1990 310 Sundancer
 
I have never added stabilizer to my fuel, have always left plenty of fuel in the tank all winter. She always cranks easily and runs great. Has one 50 gal metal tank. Is a 170 HP Mercruser inboard/outboard. She is 21 years old.
I never have put ethanol blended fuel in her as of today.

GG
 
I have just bought an 07 32 sea ray that has only 42 hrs and the fuel has set for 2 years in tank. I did research on ethanol and what I should do about this. First from my research, you should store your boat with a full tank of gas. The reason is the alcohol will absorb moisture through the vent tube and the less air space above the fuel the less moisture, I am lucky the previous owner did this. Second use the right amount of fuel stablizer, the red stablizer helps but it was formulated more for gas without alcohol. I used a product called valrotec which is stablizer and moisture inhibitor one bottle in each tank every fill up, formulated especially for E-80 gas. When I splashed my new boat I topped the tanks off with Hi-test gas (40 gal 20 each). I have burned 3/4 on both tanks so far and had no problem. I plan to top her off with Hi-test next weekend.
 
Last edited:
I had about 1/2 tanks over the winter and just did all the filters. the fuel filters had small particals of "stuff" in them and the mech said it was due to phase seperation , he suggested either full or empty tanks due to moisture, said he sees it every year.
 
I've stored with a partly filled tank every winter with Sta-Bil added and have never had a problem. I have two fuel filter/water seperators in line and change them each year. I always fill the tank with fresh gas on the first cruise of the year. This year it took 50 gallons at $4.02 a gallon. Ouch! At WOT I reached 4,200 rpm so I'm thinking things are OK.
 
I have a '96 Sundancer with 7.4 liter Mercruiser. It starts fine, but shuts off every few minutes - then starts again. Do you think this is bad gas or an electrical problem? I have had this problem for a few years.
 
Three things you need to start an engine - SPARK, FUEL and AIR. Your problem can be any one of these. Hard to say over the internet.
 
Use sta-bil for years with the 10% never had a problem
 
I winter oct thru march.. I add the fuel cocktail to the cool fuel module (filter housing), per O&O book. I also give the fuel a strong dose of starton treatment and try to run in for a few minutes to be sure the strong dose makes it to the engine.
I usually store with about 90% fuel... I typically perform the dosing when I do the end of season engine/drive oil change.. I also add starton when I know I'll be away from the boat longer than 3 weeks during the boating season.....

3 winters and no problem.. (knocking on my hard head)
 
Bodkin Creek George said:
I treat both tanks on each and every fill up and in the winter I use the stabilizer. Never had a problem.
Click to expand...


I use startron all year. Changed the water sep fuel filters while winterizing and dumped the contents into a cut-in-half pink anti-freeze bottle. Even though the bottle is semi-translucent... once the fuel settled you could see some water sitting on the bottom. Luckily not a ton, but definitely was there. Found it in the fuel filters for both engines. Did not find it in water sep filter dedicated to the generator, but then again, I didnt run the gen all that much this season.

Local SR dealer says they see water in the filters all season during changes. They also recommended storing the boat for the winter 85-90% full even though SR / Merc recommends storing as empty as possible. They feel full is best, leaving 10-15% short of full to allow space for expansion as the spring arrives... otherwise you may get some burps of fuel out of the vent onto the shrink wrap or winter canvas.
 
Maybe it's just our humidity, but ethanol in fuel here is like having your water maker turned on! That is the biggest reason I sold my Proline walk around cuddy with Johnsons on it! I left it with about 70 gallons of gas mixed with Startron for approx 2 mos or less and when we took her out she quit about 1/2 mile from the boat ramp! I changed the fuel/water separator 3 times to get back to ramp! Got her to the shop and pulled the inspection cover to look down into the tank and could not believe my eyes! I was able to use my Arrow air operated pump and fill a 55 gallon drum with gas by holding the pick up line above the water. I then had to pump the rest into buckets and burnt it in brush fire! I had to replace the o-rings on all the carbs drain screws and bowls :( I sold her two weeks later. I now only buy gas on the street when I know we will be using all of it. I then get gas at the marina when I take her back home! I hate that crap! You can for sure tell the difference in her performance without the ethanol "snake oil"! I think it's a big scam to line the pockets of politicians and corn farmers...I know a couple corn farmers personally :(
 
Compression is a function of air.
 
Forgot to mention that I change my fuel water separators in the spring since I run the cocktail through the engines when winterizing. Probably could change them after running the cocktail through but it's just the way I do it. I agree that the use of ethanol is a scam. What's worse is the price they charge for so called "Marine Fuel" that is available to them without ethanol, but they choose to sell us the other crap to make a few bucks more.

George
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
113,154
Messages
1,427,364
Members
61,060
Latest member
Danileo
Back
Top