old gas-will it still be good?

A big question as yet unasked is, was the fuel pure gas or ethanol contaminated sh!t.

Pure gas has a pretty good chance if the fuel system is not varnished badly. E10, unlikely, as it begins deterioration in just 3 months. To make matters worse, E10 is low grade gas with high octane ethanol. That ethanol octane is gone after a year or so leaving a tank of watered low octane fuel.

MM
 
I have a 1974 Century with an old crusader marine engine it sat full of non ethanol gas with stabilizer for approx 4-5 winters and it fired right up and ran like a top. I ran it for about 2 hrs and filled up with fresh non eth gas and it never missed a lick.......Have done the same thing 2-3 winters several times with no issue...
 
I would say likely it was valvetech fuel from the fuel docks so non ethanol. I can ask her tomorrow but they didn't have a trailer at that time and i doubt they filled up from 5 gallon cans. we only have 1 fuel dock in our pool and it only has 1 pump and 1 type of fuel
 
well just got back from the survey/sea trial. only issues that came up were the boat wouldn't run, the AC wouldn't work, and the fresh water wouldn't work. other than that it was great!...lol. but seriously, it wasn't that bad. it ran fine for the first 15-20 minutes. got up on plane, ran at 4600RPM. surveyor had me hit my own waves and after that i backed it down to idle and it started stumbling and stalled. it would start right back up but wouldn't idle. we got it going again and as long as we weren't at idle it was good. got to my slip and plugged in shore power and tried the AC. the pump was running and the AC was blowing cooler air but the thru hull was barely dribbling water out. then tried the fresh water and the pump ran but no water anywhere. the seller said they just replaced the fresh water pump 3 years ago (jabsco). the freshwater pump has a filter on the output side so it may be plugged? the surveyor took that off after the filter and it barely dribbled out. the AC pump would run but nothing coming out of the thru hull. shop owner thinks both pumps are bad but seems to be a stretch that both are bad? the seller is going to call the shop tomorrow about the pumps.

as for the stalling issue i'm thinking it was the old fuel? need to replace the water separator too and dump it out to see how it looks.

the hull was good. no issues with fiberglass, transom, etc. all other systems worked too.

waiting to hear from the seller tomorrow on the pumps.
 
the seacock? yes.
 
I'm surprised the seller did not have all this tested and worked out prior to your sea trial..

Really? Many sellers can't be bothered to straighten up the cabin before they take photos to post with the listing. Why would you expect them to shake down a boat? Maybe you or I would, but this doesn't surprise me at all. This is a seller that is done with the boat and wants it gone. They don't want to do anything else with it. If the buyer continues onward, he should realize this as he has excellent leverage to renegotiate the price down.
 
I have left fuel in my seasonal recreational, and only used on weekends vehicle for 3 years. No issues. Today's fuel is more stable. I believe you'll be ok. Top her off and take her for a long run.
 
yeah. it has just over 1/2 tank of fuel (75 gallon tank). it ran perfect up to that (about 15 minutes) point so could have taken that long for the separator to fill with water?

the seller hasn't been very motivated. she had a job interview yesterday and even said she wished the interview was a few weeks earlier so she wouldn't have to sell the boat. she had a guy look at it earlier this season but i guess he walked after 2 weeks of her dragging her feet. she seems like she wants to sell it but not put any money into it. she came down $6000 on her asking price and thinks because of that then i should pay for all maintenance/repair, etc. she is supposed to call the shop today about the pumps so i will wait to hear what she says.

what is the consensus on shore power cords? the surveyor asked about it yesterday because he was going to test it and she said she was keeping it. i told her i need it and they usually go with the boat. she said they had to buy that one so were going to keep it for their next boat when they got one. as far as i know the shore power cord usually stays with the boat?
 
That varies from sale to sale. I'd be mad if I bought a wet-slipped boat with many 110V or 220V systems and found it sitting at the dock unplugged. A smaller boat, or a boat in storage on the other hand could go either way.
 
As a practical matter, boating related items on the boat when it is sea trailed go with the boat unless the buy sell agreement specifically lists them as not part of the deal. A shore power cord is not a personal item and would normally be included. This is a small ticket item on a boat in this price range. The seller would be foolish to kill the deal over a power cord. It is best to remove items you want to keep before prospective buyers ever see a boat that is for sale.
 
Water pumps and taps plug up over time. To see if it is the lines and taps hook the boat to the water system on the dock and see if the flow and pressure are good.
As to stalling water in gas will stall the engine and it will not start. If boat is carburetor engine you may need to rebuild them; if fuel injection the system may need cleaning. The garage I take my SUVs to puts stuff in the gas every so often to help keep the system clean. Have no idea if it works but the SUVs are 10+ years old and work fine. AC pump is $400 the lines for that AC system may just need cleaning. No idea how to do it.
 
The pumps, shore power cords, etc. are all small items. If you like the boat otherwise, I'd eat them. But I would not assume the engine issues are due to the fuel. It may be big, it may be small. But either way, I would want that resolved.
 
Pretty common for a boat that was just put back in the water to have to bleed AC water lines. If your pump is running and no water is being discharged I would try bleeding first. The water pump and systems are pretty straight forward and I would deal with that as a condition of the sale. However, as mentioned the engine could be any multitude of things and I wouldn't make any assumptions of how major or minor until it is thoroughly diagnosed.
I give you credit as you have way more patience then I would to be dealing with this type of seller, it must be frustrating for you.
 
if you got carbs and the boat sat that long you get a white oxidation in the float bowls and then when you ran it it gets in the jets and it will make it idle rough. When you go out the next time just run the motor up at a higher rpm and it usually clears the jets. Mine I take it up max rpm and run it for about a 1/2 mile and it clears the crap out of the jets.
 
k. waiting to hear back from seller about pumps. there is a filter on the outlet side of the pump so my first check would be that filter.

dunno. a canoe is looking pretty good right now...lol
 
Sounds like it had a bunch of crap in the bottom of the fuel tank that got stirred up when you started hitting wakes. At the very least you’ll need to get the tank cleaned out and I would have the carb rebuilt.
The AC pump was coming on and had a weak stream? If it was that weak it should have shut the unit down. That could be something as simple as flushing out the lines. Even if it needs a new pump, they are a few hundred dollars if you shop around online and they’re easy to install, but I would give it a good flush first.
Sounds like the freshwater system is clogged up too and will need a good flush out.
These are things that happen to boats that sit for a few years.
If you really like the boat that much it might still be worth buying, but hopefully you’re getting a good enough price on it that it’s worth it to take on a project.
 
Still waiting on the survey report that is supposed to be here today. I have no problem fixing these things but only if they are willing to discount the price by an appropriate amount, which I'm not sure they are ok with.

As for flushing the tank, what does that involve? Just sucking out the old fuel and adding new fuel?
 

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