how could this possibly happen

[thedog]

My motors have had an issue this year coming out of winter storage, ran the boat fished hard last year up until december, then winterized and put it away.

last week I had issues with the motors running(first time I started it up this year)
after a week of trying I brought the boat to the dealer. he added some chemical to the fuel in tub after he pumped a bunch thru the filters and noticed a lot of water. then took the top sending unit off the tank and sticked it, 12" yes 12" of water in the fuel tank. I have always treated the tank with startron at every fill up. and in december had no issues.
the cap and vent were covered all winter with a full cover., over the entire boat, and i filled the tank up when I put the boat away.

either the fuel dock filled me with 40 gallons of water at the last fill, or someone stole my gas. but why would they fill the tank after taking out half of it.

could there be another issue? fuel tank has no oder under the deck breather is normal.
I am at a loss as to how 12" of water could get in the tank over the winter.

[thedog]

well I just talked to a guy and he had a scenario. the boat was at the marina for a week on a rack at ground level. if you put a fuel vent cap over a boats vent. with a hose and fitting on it. pump water into a tank. fuel comes out of vent. fill up 40 or 50 gallons and then leave.

this way you don't have to worry about anti syphon devices and snaking a hose down the fuel fill cap. all fuel tanks fill from the bottom. if you syphon from the fill cap the first few gallons you may get is water. syphon from the top and you get only good fuel.


I wonder.

[thedog]

thieves in some cases aren't dumb. just to lazy to work and don't want to run for office.

[thedog]

more great news $450 to pump it. then another $600 to fill it,

[FishMagnet]

Originally Posted by thedog

well I just talked to a guy and he had a scenario. the boat was at the marina for a week on a rack at ground level. if you put a fuel vent cap over a boats vent. with a hose and fitting on it. pump water into a tank. fuel comes out of vent. fill up 40 or 50 gallons and then leave.

this way you don't have to worry about anti syphon devices and snaking a hose down the fuel fill cap. all fuel tanks fill from the bottom. if you syphon from the fill cap the first few gallons you may get is water. syphon from the top and you get only good fuel.


I wonder.

I guess this is possible theoretically but I would think that there would be signs that this occurred. does the vent cap and the fiberglass next to it look normal? I would expect some subtle signs that this had been removed and replaced

[thedog]

Originally Posted by FishMagnet

I guess this is possible theoretically but I would think that there would be signs that this occurred. does the vent cap and the fiberglass next to it look normal? I would expect some subtle signs that this had been removed and replaced

they sell vent covers at the maine stores, some marinas require them on boats, the covers suction cup over the vent and have a fitting on them to catch overflow in a bottle.
very easy to rig that to put a hose on it to fill gas cans.

[thedog]

I can't believe theft is this rampant, well the tank polisher arrived this morning and we pumped the tank dry, 80 gallons of gas and 25 gallons of water,

hey wait a minute, the tank was full last tuesday(150 gallons), now one week later after the boat has sat in the back of the dealers yard, 45 gallons of water are missing, from the tank bottom

so in this amount of time, someone has siphoned 45 gallons of gas smelling water out of the bottom of my tank, and hopefully is now broken down somewhere with a big problem

can people be this desperate, thankfully there is no water hoses around this yard, and siphoning worked.

[McGillicuddy]

Sounds like you've got a real scumbag on your yard.
I'd be setting a hunting style infra-red camera nearby and nail that pos Seems he's a regular at the yard because he's coming and going at will.
Hope someone catches the rat bastard

[Blue_Heron]

Originally Posted by thedog

if you put a fuel vent cap over a boats vent. with a hose and fitting on it. pump water into a tank. fuel comes out of vent. fill up 40 or 50 gallons and then leave.

Seems a little far fetched to me. Water is heavier than gas, yes, but unless they brought along a fitting that made a tight seal with your deck fill, it would be a very slow messy process to capture gas pushed through a vent.

The water in the gas at the last fill up is unlikely, but I think more likely than the theft by water displacement scenario. Every time I've had water in my gas, it's been a problem with the tank. 12" is a bunch, though. Is your tank really 24"deep?
Dave

[McGillicuddy]

That does seem strange. If I'm a thief, that is a waste of time and fairly high risk.
Id be looking for a leak around the fill hose or tank, and checking to see if anyone else has had a fill with bad gas due to old supply tanks or something.