Any reason to avoid using Bio Diesel in our boats?

Carpediem44DB

Carpediem44DB

Well-Known Member
Aug 18, 2015
3,230
Sanfransico Bay area
Boat Info
2000 Carver 506
2006 44 DB Sedan Bridge
Engines
Volvo TAMD 74 P
We spent the weekend up in the Delta and on our return route is our favorite fuel dock as they sell a lot of fuel so the price is good and its fresh. I noticed on the pump however that it is Neste MY Bio Fuel. We have a friend the a 52 that works in the refinery industry and said that he won't run that "S" in his boat. Just wondering if anyone has first hand experience good or bad with Bio Diesel.
It is strange stuff. I topped off my tanks and a little shot out of the vent and did not produce the typical sheen on the water. It looked more like bacon grease.
Carpe Diem
 
You may want to talk to Cummins. I don't think they recommend it in common rail engines. I know the injection system needs clean fuel .
 
I did a little research and apparently Bio Diesel is approved for the QSC series built after 2007, Mine is a 2006 boat so I guess its not a great idea to use it. The main difference in the post 2007 engines is a few key seals in the fuel system that are not compatible with the Bio Diesel. As long as it doesn't stay in the system long I doubt Ill have serious issues. The bright side is now I really have incentive to burn up the fuel. I only topped off to calibrate the fuel manager on the MFD. I'm glad I didn't top off in the fall and have it sitting in the system all winter.
CD
 
here in germany we have many diesel powered boats and 7% biodiesel mixed in regular diesel fuel . people at the marina report its no problem when you use the boat and sp the fuel , but problems ( microogranisms build up and clog filters ) occour if the boat is mainly sitting and over the winter .
 
Does your boat smell like McDonald's French fries? If it does, I'm in!
 
Biodiesel isn't available here on the water, but I converted waste cooking oil for several years for tase off the road in Cummins, Case, Kubota, Ford, John Deere, Yanmar and Cat powered equipment and I ran it in Mercedes, VW and GM powered diesel cars and trucks. The conversion method I used was a distillation process that yields very high quality fuel but was messy. It made sense when diesel was approaching $5/gal; not so much when prices came down. Further, The state couldn't tax home made fuel so they approached it by cutting off the supply making restaurants have certified recyclers required to remove used cooking oil from restaurants. It became such a hassle to get waste cooking oil where I live that I sold my conversion/distilling rig to a friend and got rid of the Mercedes (great car but very expensive to repair)and the VW (absolute junk .

​
My home brew was very clean and well filtered so I never had any issue with fuel quality and the only fuel systems I ever got into for repair or rebuild were immaculate and the reason I was working on them was wear/age related, not fuel quality related. Biodiesel has slightly less BTU content ad regular diesel but I never felt and difference in anything except a John Deere 550G dozer I owned at the time. I was regularly asked at the drive thru window at the bank if I had just come from McDonalds because the typical diesel odor was replaced by smell of French fries cooking at McDonalds.

If I could get biodiesel on the water I'd burn it in the boat.
 
The worst part of biodeisel for marine use is that it is more hydroscopic (absorbs water) than petroleum based diesel. Its a function of the manufacturing process. Of course water in the tanks is a prime driver of algae and fungi in the tanks. Biodiesel usually has a lower energy content than petroleum diesel, and water can (if present) further reduce the energy available.

With all that said, Mr diesel designed the engine to run about any fuel that could be found, so as long as the engine Mfg says its OK, I would run it, although I would probably prefer a mix limited to 20% biodiesel.
 
Thanks all for the responses, I feel less concerned now. I’ll still step up the use of the boat and to burn the bulk of the bio out and dilute with petro-diesel. I had 1/4 tanks when I topped off so a couple of runs to the bay will take care of that. Saving 50 cents a gallon felt better at the time:cool:
 
Carpediem44DB said:
We spent the weekend up in the Delta and on our return route is our favorite fuel dock as they sell a lot of fuel so the price is good and its fresh. I noticed on the pump however that it is Neste MY Bio Fuel. We have a friend the a 52 that works in the refinery industry and said that he won't run that "S" in his boat. Just wondering if anyone has first hand experience good or bad with Bio Diesel.
It is strange stuff. I topped off my tanks and a little shot out of the vent and did not produce the typical sheen on the water. It looked more like bacon grease.
Carpe Diem
Click to expand...
A bit off topic but where in the Delta do you usually go. I kept 2 different boats at Oxbow Marina for over 10 years and I miss the boating there. Moved here 4 years ago and boating is not quite the same.
 
NorCal Boater said:
A bit off topic but where in the Delta do you usually go. I kept 2 different boats at Oxbow Marina for over 10 years and I miss the boating there. Moved here 4 years ago and boating is not quite the same.
Click to expand...
We often spend a night or so in potato slough bedroom 2 then Willow Berm resort marina for a day or so. We run up the Georgiana to Oxbow and then to Tower Park in the dinks. We usually only do one or two delta trips though as we really enjoy the Bay more. No bugs and really nice yacht clubs to visit.
25 years ago we began our boat life with a 28 Dancer that we bought and kept in Oxbow and boated the delta for years.
Nice to have the options. I’m looking forward to moving up to a Pilot House though and exploring the coast ports, that will have to wait now til we recover the big hit.
Cheers
Carpe Diem
 
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