winterizing,often over looked things to do!!

[hirk]

A few general items to add,if you have a water presure gauge disconnect the hose at back or gauge may freeze and die.Add enviro friendly antifreeze to your livewell,bilge area and make sure your livewell drains are left open.Jack trailer up so weight is off tires & leaf springs,it will prevent a flat spot on tires and keep springs from going soft over time.If you have efi/dfi you can mix extra 2 stroke oil in gas (pull gas line and use 1gal tank if you have full fuel tank) last time out just before shutting it down to better protect bearings/crank along with the stabilizer since you can't fog the front of these.WD 40 all wire connections on boat/powerhead and spots on trailer prone to rust and grease all engine fittings/wheel bearings as this will push out any water present.Personally I have run my tank almost empty and will store this way as I believe it is better way to go,see copy of another site post below regarding chance of condensation forming in a plastic/fiberglass builtin tank,saves you come spring having a full tank of ???? octane gas due to fuel degradation (yes even with stabilizer). Just my 2 cents

Here's a good argument against the " fill er up " theory. Based on a 200 gallon tank.

The new reformulated gas breaks down a lot quicker, especially with the added ethanol. You have more to worry about with that than any condensation.

 

 

"Frequently we hear it said that the cause of water in fuel tanks is due to condensation. I have long doubted this assertion but the issue has come up so frequently that I was finally motivated to try prove to the point. The basis of my belief or assumption is that:

 

There isn't enough air volume within a tank to hold much vapor.

 

On average, tanks are half full, further reducing volume

 

The amount of water vapor in air is very small, even at 100% humidity

 

Conditions aren't right to cause condensation in a fuel tank

 

Research produced the following values for the maximum amount of liquid water in air at the following temperatures:

 

30C/86F 30 grams/cubic meter

20C/50F 17 grams/cubic meter

10C/13F 9 grams/cubic meter

 

There are 28 grams per ounce, so 30 grams = 1.07 oz; 17 grams = 0.6428 oz.

 

A cubic meter equals 264 gallons of liquid volume, therefore:

 

A 200 gallon tank = 0.76 cubic meter.

 

At 86F, an empty 200 gallon tank could contain 22.8 grams of water vapor, or 0.81 oz.

 

At 50F, an empty 200 gallon tank could contain 12.92 grams of water vapor, or 0.46 oz.

 

Note that this is the maximum amount of water vapor that a completely empty tank could contain, in neither case a full ounce of water

[Fisherman]

A few general items to add,if you have a water presure gauge disconnect the hose at back or gauge may freeze and die.Add enviro friendly antifreeze to your livewell,bilge area and make sure your livewell drains are left open.Jack trailer up so weight is off tires & leaf springs,it will prevent a flat spot on tires and keep springs from going soft over time.If you have efi/dfi you can mix extra 2 stroke oil in gas (pull gas line and use 1gal tank if you have full fuel tank) last time out just before shutting it down to better protect bearings/crank along with the stabilizer since you can't fog the front of these.WD 40 all wire connections on boat/powerhead and spots on trailer prone to rust and grease all engine fittings/wheel bearings as this will push out any water present.Personally I have run my tank almost empty and will store this way as I believe it is better way to go,see copy of another site post below regarding chance of condensation forming in a plastic/fiberglass builtin tank,saves you come spring having a full tank of ???? octane gas due to fuel degradation (yes even with stabilizer). Just my 2 cents

Here's a good argument against the " fill er up " theory. Based on a 200 gallon tank.

The new reformulated gas breaks down a lot quicker, especially with the added ethanol. You have more to worry about with that than any condensation.

"Frequently we hear it said that the cause of water in fuel tanks is due to condensation. I have long doubted this assertion but the issue has come up so frequently that I was finally motivated to try prove to the point. The basis of my belief or assumption is that:

 

There isn't enough air volume within a tank to hold much vapor.

 

On average, tanks are half full, further reducing volume

 

The amount of water vapor in air is very small, even at 100% humidity

 

Conditions aren't right to cause condensation in a fuel tank

 

Research produced the following values for the maximum amount of liquid water in air at the following temperatures:

 

30C/86F 30 grams/cubic meter

20C/50F 17 grams/cubic meter

10C/13F 9 grams/cubic meter

 

There are 28 grams per ounce, so 30 grams = 1.07 oz; 17 grams = 0.6428 oz.

 

A cubic meter equals 264 gallons of liquid volume, therefore:

 

A 200 gallon tank = 0.76 cubic meter.

 

At 86F, an empty 200 gallon tank could contain 22.8 grams of water vapor, or 0.81 oz.

 

At 50F, an empty 200 gallon tank could contain 12.92 grams of water vapor, or 0.46 oz.

 

Note that this is the maximum amount of water vapor that a completely empty tank could contain, in neither case a full ounce of water

I think I can shoot a hole your theory about condensation in a tank(not all), simply because people don't close the vent screw on the filler cap. Therefore every time the surrounding air gets warmer and colder a small amount of air will be sucked back into the tank, ususally in the evening or night when the humidity is close to ground level, do that for a while and water will actually form in the tank. That's why a full tank with almost no air volume will have less condensate and a closer to empty tank will have more. Where's that condensate go, bottom of the tank to be sucked up by the fuel line. Anyway, my tank is empty, bone dry, and, the hose and primer have been emptied too. No point in shooting 6 month old gas into the carb next spring or gumming up the hose over the winter. Carbs have been emptied, and tomorrow when the filter gets replaced the remainder of the lines from the connector to the fuel pump and up will be drained too.

[hirk]

Well we are talking about winter storage,during this period relative humidity is very low (% of moisture in air) and yes I realize you have open gas vents but there is not a lot of air transfer and with no gas nothing to absorb mositure from it so it's just condensation that can leave water but this only occurs when the air is much warmer than the object and that just doesn't happen enough in winter to become an issue.

[forrest]

I think both you guys have the right idea:

 

I empty mine into the car.

 

forrest

[irishfield]

I always leave my airplanes (customer and personal) and boats as close to empty as I can get them at seasons end.

 

That way they get topped with a max amount of fresh fuel before the first time out in the spring. Moisture has NEVER been an issue and condensation is so bad in my hangar from temp swings that at times that I can wash the outside surfaces of everything in there without getting out a hose!

[tschirk]

@ end of season I do fill my tank with High Octane (0% ethanol which does absorb water) & double up on Marine Stabil. My main concern is that any rubber items in the fuel system (seal, fuel line, etc....) will dry out or degrade if not kept wet.

Cheers

Ted

[Guest skeeter99]

I agree with hirk and irishfiled on this one and my dad taught me the same things about winterizing

 

 

use or get as much gas as you can out like irishfiled states and fill up with fresh gas in spring and never a problem, I do this and never had a problem!!!

 

I have seen friends and people who came into my grandfathers small engine shop who filled there tanks up before winterizing and now had 20 gallons of bad fuel, even guys leaving tank half full and topping up in spring never had any problems, but always add stabilizer to any amount of fule no matter how little is left in the tank.

 

and leaving your boat outside in the bitter cold is better for internal parts than indoors, less moiture outdoors plus cold stop oxidization and rust

[lookinforwalleye]

I have always filled my tank and added Stabil and have never add a problem with the gas come spring time.

[hirk]

Ted you are right about your engine fuel system,I am just referring to gas tanks being left empty or close to it.I agree you won't have a water problem with any higher oct. that doesn't contain ethanol but if you filled your tanks even with ethanol gas you would be ok with water because there would be little to no air transfer to absorb atmospheric moisture.The problem with filling the tank is that even with stabilizer the gas may degrade over winter and worst case you have laquer/gumming from it,but the one thing that will occur for sure is a drop in it's octane rating which could spell disaster for your engine in the spring due to pre-detonation due to low octane.

[ecmilley]

thanks hirk, that's great advice, never thought of putting that other site in the bilge and livewells but makes perfect sense, I'll be by the store I need to order some cleats for the boat

[hirk]

Ok Ernie, now get back to work

[HTHM]

Another thing to do is photgraph all your tackle in case of the need for an insurance claim.