Aluminium fuel tank advice please
Submitted by beeroclock on Tue, 2021-08-03 11:38
Gday all i had a 180lt fuel tank fabricated for a boat I refurbished at beginning of the year, Ive never had a boat with an ali tank cause all the other smaller boats ive had used portable plastic fuel tanks. I keep the boat stored on a property out in the open on a gravelled area and ive just realised that I forgot to fully fill the tank before storing it for winter. Its got about 20lt in it and been sitting there since mid May. First question - should I have filled it full before storage?, secong question - when I go to fill it now for use am I supposed to put some sort of addiditive in to disperse any moisture build up that may have occured? if so whats best to use? cheers for any advice
scubafish
Posts: 962
Date Joined: 15/08/12
I would
Drain the 20lts out and put one bottle of meth in and put that in something else Car etc.
Then put another bottle of meth in boat tank fill fuel and check water separator reg.
Meth will emulsify any leftover water with fuel in tank.
As far as leaving for long period ,I would prob hang a moister absorb pad or something along those lines in the tank after I had air it out and dried as much as poss,filling it with fuel is costly and fuel could go off plus water in fuel will settle on the bottom of your tank.
Ventilation and dry is the best option IMO.
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sea-kem
Posts: 15005
Date Joined: 30/11/09
Need to be very careful with
Need to be very careful with the amount of meth used, I'm pretty sure there are some guidlines online for amounts.
Love the West!
jighead
Posts: 725
Date Joined: 03/02/12
Very true
We've all seen what can happen when too much meth is used
Dhu_west
Posts: 116
Date Joined: 30/06/20
Definitely should've filled
Definitely should've filled the tank before storing it
More of a fisherman than a catcherman
Rob H
Posts: 5806
Date Joined: 18/01/12
Dont add meth if you can
Dont add meth if you can drain the water of the bottom.
But I sincerely doubt there is any moisture in it anyway, unless you can physically see it
Give a man a mask, and he'll show you his true face...
The older you get the more you realize that no one has a f++king clue what they're doing.
Everyone's just winging it.
scubafish
Posts: 962
Date Joined: 15/08/12
Common sense at work one would hope.
https://autoexpert.com.au/posts/qa/how-do-i-fix-water-in-the-fuel-tank
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beeroclock
Posts: 741
Date Joined: 22/08/12
We use pure ethanol (absolute alcohol) at work
would it be best to add that rather than methylated spirits?
Darren253
Posts: 570
Date Joined: 23/07/16
Pump it round via the separator
If worried i would pump it around from the pickup, through the separator and back to the tank. If its only 20ltrs the is actually easily doable with the primer bulb. Maybe jack the boat or tank up to maximize the pick volume.
After a few laps you will easily see if you are picking up water in the separator.