Plastic Gas Tank Vents in the Lazarette
My gasoline tank is one of those red plastic 6-gallon Tempo gismos with a Nissan OB fuel line adapter. My motor began to act like it was sucking water. It coughed and died a few too many times at a critical time while running at 1/3 throttle after about two minutes at full throttle. After that, the motor would crank right up again, run for about 30 seconds to a minute, and then cough and die again. This happened at various throttle settings for about six cycles. Once I was back in the harbor, the motor ran perfectly. It was time for a service anyway, so I pulled the motor.
My mechanic agreed with me that the cause of my motor coughing and dying was likely water in my fuel. He recommended that I remove the “contaminated” fuel. When you heel an Ariel to 40 degrees and beat to windward there is one heck of a lot of water in the lazarette. On a port tack that water sloshes all around the gasoline tank. The Tempo tank has a funky little twist vent on top. I am not in the habit of closing that vent as long as the fuel line is connected to the motor. I always keep the vent closed when the boat is moored. I have not had previously had any problems with water in my fuel. Of course, I am not sure that I have that problem now either. If I do have water in the fuel, condensation could also be the cause rather than water entering through the vent.
I have now switched to the 3 gallon Nissan tank that came with my new Nissan 6 hp motor. It has what appears to be a more reliable twist type vent, which is located in the center of the filler cap/fuel gauge. I plan to shut the vent whenever I shut the motor down both when moored and also under sail.
Has any other Ariel or Commander owner had problems with water in the fuel and if so, have you devised a way to keep the water out, run a remote vent, etc.? Of course shutting the vent when not motoring would help, but these little twist type vents are only so good, and you have to remember to close them whenever the motor is not running...or do you?
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