June 3, 2009. A morning ritual is to read Scuttlebutt, the online newsletter for sailors. If you are not into this try it - see below for their link. Anyway, this morning they had a short note on ethanol concerns for boaters and a link to an excellent article and products review that appears at the myboatsgear website. This is the Scuttlebutt article
ETHANOL CONCERNS
With concerns about the levels of Ethanol in fuel for boaters we take a look at what Ethanol and E 10 gas means for you. There is a move afoot to increase ethanol levels to 15% which would not be good as engines and Fuel systems will not cope without modification. To learn more about Ethanol and boating, click here:
http://myboatsgear.com/newsletter/2007620.asp
While this is to some extent old news this is the time of the year we take out our gas tanks with over-the-winter stored gas, so the risk of water in the fuel is higher. I found the myboatsgear article interesting, and a reminder. In addition to a general description of the problem the article has a list of products that can be helpful.
This whole Ethanol issue hit me hard last summer on a cruise up in Maine where twice I picked up gas that had water in it - a very disruptive experience. Finding a OB motor repair place/guy willing to drop everything to work on your motor, twice, was not easy. And I was fortunate that these incidents did not happen at a time when an inoperative motor was a safety issue.
Its a hassle to deal with these preventitive measures - but nothing like the hassle when your motor fails at an inconvenient time.
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If Scuttlebutt is 'news' to you here's a link to find out more about it and sign up if you are interested. Its free. http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com