Ethanol Update

Post by **dougl33** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 5:19 am

Good luck. The good news for you is that I don't think you'll have an issue. Frank has had parts of Rick's 1985 tank soaking in ethanol for almost a year and half with no effects. Regards, Doug L. 1986 33 Bertram FBC Queen Elizabeth Marblehead, MA [img]http://www.bertram33.com/photogallery/p ... sabeth.jpg[/img]

Rick · Post by **Rick** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 8:46 am

Welcome to the party ! Reading that article was brutal.....all of the same lies they've had for years now. Good luck in your battle, soon you'll have a list of marina's that still sell MTBE in the back of your mind for filling up. From what we've learned, empty your tank to the last drop before putting it in there. Rick Ticket 85 SF Falmouth, MA

BottomLine · Post by **BottomLine** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 10:46 am

Is there any realistic way of getting the accumulated "gunk" cleaned out of the tank or do you have to let the ethanol do its thing and have plenty of fuel filters? Mike Ford

BECCA ROSE · Post by **BECCA ROSE** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 11:36 am

Are you sure you have gunk in your tank? Bill 1988 33 FBC Ipswich, Ma. > ~------- [img]http://www.bertram33.com/photogallery/p ... a_Rose.jpg[/img]

Post by **dougl33** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 11:46 am

Mike, I ran ethanol for one season before changing to diesels. If I had to guess I'd have to say I probably ran through about 1500 gallons. I never changed one filter and I never had 1 problem with the engines and I liked to run them at 3150-3200 rpms all the time. If you go through the ethanol thread on the Insurance and Safety forum you will see the steps several of us New England boaters went through. I would start using a product like Startron before you take on your first load of ethanol. You may also want to install a second in-line fuel water separator (Bill and I both did). Finally, make sure you run down as much of the non-ethanol fuel as possible before taking on your first load of ethanol. The bottom line is that depending on the year of your boat, ethanol is not that big of a deal. Unfortunately, most of the "experts" on other boating sites will tell you different. They don't know dick and you can tell them I said so! All they're doing is killing our re-sale value. Ask them for proof and they'll quote a couple of articles. Ask them for examples they've seen and/or people they know and they'll say they knew a guy who knew a guy. Ask them for the details of the failure and they run for the hills all the while saying that we're living with our heads in the sand! Sh!t. Frank Price ran ethanol for 2 years with no issues. Regards, Doug L. 1986 33 Bertram FBC Queen Elizabeth Marblehead, MA [img]http://www.bertram33.com/photogallery/p ... sabeth.jpg[/img]

BottomLine · Post by **BottomLine** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 12:32 pm

Bill: Not sure. Just figured that after 30 years (1978 FBC)there has to be "something" in there. Doug: Thanks ofr the insight. Mike

Rick · Post by **Rick** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 12:50 pm

I think we're the only site that has hard empirical data on both older tanks breaking down and what happens to tanks built in the mid-80's that are exposed to ethanol. Can't one of us write an article to give those guys something informative to talk about ? Rick Ticket 85 SF Falmouth, MA

Rick · Post by **Rick** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 12:52 pm

BTW, isn't Frank still running ethanol ? He's going to marry that Cummin's job ! Rick Ticket 85 SF Falmouth, MA

BECCA ROSE · Post by **BECCA ROSE** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 1:58 pm

Frank has diesel number 2 on the way to the shop. Ethanol is in the rear view mirror for him. Mike, I think you will have what Al had in his tank as far as gunk. The info is in one of the threads. Your filters have kept up with any debris thats in the tanks so far, I doubt ethanol will increase any gunk going through your filters. Most important is not to MIX the old and new fuels and ask lots of questions to the fuel dock manager in regards to what he did in preparation of ethanol coming to his tank. Some of them are right on top of it, and others are clueless. Good luck, I think you'll be fine with good fuel management. Don't forget startron. Does it work??? I have to say yes because I used it at every fill up and didnt have any troubles. Bill 1988 33 FBC Ipswich, Ma. > ~------- [img]http://www.bertram33.com/photogallery/p ... a_Rose.jpg[/img]

No Yacht Yet · Post by **No Yacht Yet** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 5:00 pm

Doug, Did you keep the same water and fuel separators when you put the diesels in? If not and you still have the ones you took out I would be interested in them as diesels are a couple of years away for me. Brian

Post by **dougl33** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 6:04 pm

Sorry Brian. Those are long gone (as are the engines, gennie, props, flo-scans, etc...). They weren't very expensive. Maybe $25-$30 each. They're the same ones you probably already have on your boat. We just plumbed in an extra one on each fuel line. I added mine when I installed Flo-scans. I would probably add one for the gennie as well: http://www.go2marine.com/product.do?no=85448F Regards, Doug L. 1986 33 Bertram FBC Queen Elizabeth Marblehead, MA [img]http://www.bertram33.com/photogallery/p ... sabeth.jpg[/img]

franklyprice · Post by **franklyprice** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 7:02 pm

Brian, I never added any extra filters and had no problems. I didn't use any additives either. The one thing I will say though is that the first season with the E10 it seems like the gas was slightly more orange than normal. It also could have been my imagination but I attributed it to the ethanol scouring the tank sides of any old gas residue.

No Yacht Yet · Post by **No Yacht Yet** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 10:59 pm

Doug, Frank, I stored with about 50 gals in the tank. I'm going to pull the cover and take a look in there. The marina I buy my fuel at uses Valtech. It did run a little rich last year early in the season. I bought a tank of fuel in Point Judith on the way up from CT that I think was questionable.Pulled the filers, they were OK. Changed them a couple of more times during the season and they looked good. I was thinking that another set of filters would catch it but maybe I will roll the dice. Regards Brian

franklyprice · Post by **franklyprice** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 3:56 am

Not sure another set of filters would do much good but they wouldn't hurt. It seems like the only thing I noticed was so insignificant that it wouldn't have been a problem. Of course, like Doug mentioned, I made sure I didn't mix old and new gas , etc. I also looked in my tank before I started using E10 to make sure I didn't have lots of stuff to loosen up. I never changed filters untl fall.

captgene · Post by **captgene** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 6:10 am

I think I mentioned in the other E10 thread that Crusader now recommends the extra Racor filter on the new 8.1. I installed them when I did mine. I ran a bunch of Bahamian fuel thru it and when I changed the filters at the end of the summer, I may have had a couple specs of junk in the bottom of the drain. So the tank I assume is pretty clean. So if they start pumping E10, I will clean out the tank and have a look. My boat is a 1989, so I'm not going to panic unless I see somthing that isn't normal. My concern is that the Bahamas won't be on E10, and I would be mixing the fuels at some point. But I guess I'll worry about that when it happens. I think the Bahamas buys a majority of fuel from Hugo Chavez. It is their import taxes that make it so much higher, and the cost of getting it to the out islands from Nassau. Gene Dugan Boca Raton, Fl. "Nauti Marie" 1989 33 FBC