Marina filled the water tank with gas.

[79MERC1150]

We bought our first stern drive a couple of weeks back, a 1990 Mach I Condor 22" Sport Cuddy with a 7.4 Bravo I. The old boat was owned by an older couple like us, and spent its down time stored in a carport on the trailer.
I is strickly a fresh water boat, and very clean. Finding her felt like I had won the lottery. My mechanic gave her a thumbs up, as the previous owner had replaced the bellows, shift cable, and all of the rubber parts.

We were all set for a great weekend. Relatives drove in from several states, five of our 11 grandchildren were present. We rented a boat-house and a pontoon boat on Fontana Lake North Carolina. We took the recently aquired Mach I, and our trusty 1980 Astroglas bass rig with the 115 Merc outboard. Saturday I drove back to the marina to get some fuel for the stern drive, and the wife needed some stuff from the house. I uinstructed the young man at the fuel pump to top off the tank, and tie the boat up in a slip for about an hour, and we would be back.

We returned after our errand, paid for 11 gallons of fuel, and boarded the boat. The first thing that I noticed is that the fuel guage had not moved. Thinking the gauge was stuck, I drove out, and watched the gauge. I could see the gauge rocking, but never moving from the 3/4 position. Something told me that they had pumped the fuel into the water tank. We returned to the marina. When I asked the attendent which fill he pumped the gas into, he pointed to the black water fill, marked water.

I turned on the sink, and guess what? It was GAS!

What I have done so far. Ran the water pump, pumping the gas via the stern shower into portable gas containers, which I will dispose of at the local waste disposal site. They will take contaminated gas for a fee. The boat has a 20 gallon water system, and we were able to pump 21 gallons out of it, so I think that most of the gas is out of it. When the system ran dry, I shut it down, and poured a 1/2 bottle of DAWN dish soap into the water fill, then filled it with lake water until it ran over. I capped it and have not done anything else with it yet, as we just got off of the water this evening.

What else should I do? Thanks for any and all imput. We are sort of sick about the safety and the fate of our nice find old stern drive.

 

[dockwrecker]

Re: Marina filled the water tank with gas.

Go to the marina management and demand they replace it TOTALLY. No way you're ever getting that smell out of there no matter how much dawn you put in there. Don't wait, contact them immediately!

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: Marina filled the water tank with gas.

Agreed... all plumbing, all fixtures, tank, pump, water heater, and labor at the marinas expense.... Might be too late already..... Gasoline is toxic and cancer causing and this is your bathing and drinking water

 

[seabob4]

Re: Marina filled the water tank with gas.

X 1 BILLION!!! And tell the marina to hire some moron who can read!!!

What if, while you were tapping the fuel gauge, one of your little granddaughters went below, poured her a cup of GASOLINE, and drank it? Put that to the marina!!!

 

[H20Rat]

Re: Marina filled the water tank with gas.

short of replacing every single piece of hardware in that system, you will NEVER get 100% of it out. You will always have an off-taste and bad smell.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Marina filled the water tank with gas.

100% agree with all above. personally i would get my $$ back, and find another boat.

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Marina filled the water tank with gas.

wow. I don't want to think of all the bad stuff that could have happened. Water systems are not all that tight. And the pupmps are not made for flamables.

Hopefully the marina will apologize and make it right. That's why they have insurance. Give them that chance.

 

[capt sam]

Re: Marina filled the water tank with gas.

you should have immediately notified management, now it could be a little tougher to prove they were responsible, hopefully they'll do the right thing.

 

[79MERC1150]

Re: Marina filled the water tank with gas.

Thanks for the information,

I forgot to mention, we did turn around and go back to the marina that fueled the boat. They are aware. It was Saturday, and the owner was not there, however they informed the owner this morning. I called the owner this morning, and he stated that they will take care of it. They are decent people, and have always been good to deal with. The young kid that works there just made a mistake.

The boat is at the repair shop now. They have the water system out of the boat, and have the parts ordered to fix it. The system is pretty basic, a 20 gallon poly tank, demand pump, a sink, and an outside stern shower. The sink drains overboard, and the toliet is a porta potty. There is no water heater. The tank sits on the floor right behind the ice box, so it comes out very easy. I thought that it was probably below the floor, however that area is full of floatation foam.

As soon as I get the boat back from the repair shop, I am going to put some decals on the boat next to the water fill (water only), and the gas fill, (gas only). Then I will take the time to watch everything anyone is doing to my boat, and basicly no one will do anything to the boat except myself, and the mechanic who does my repairs.

As for getting my money back for the boat, I bought the boat from a private individual as a consignment unit through the dealer that the previous owner had bought a new boat from, so they have nothing to do with this problem. The boat was not purchased from the marina that filled the water tank with gas.

I found out this morning that State Farm Insurance has an exculsion in the policy that does not pay for contamination damage. This is probably a standard clause in boat insurance policies?

 

[tdrudd87]

Re: Marina filled the water tank with gas.

Glad to hear you have a good relationship with them, and they are maintaining it. Good luck getting back on the water!

Terry

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Marina filled the water tank with gas.

I like your calm and understanding attitude. We need more of that--and fewer lawsuits and fist fights over human error.

 

[tractoman]

Re: Marina filled the water tank with gas.

I agree that more than likely it was an honest mistake, and I too think you are right to handle it calmly. Give them a chance to make it right. We all make mistakes, it's how we deal with them that separate the good from the bad people in the world. Luckily nobody was hurt or killed and that is the important thing. It sounds like the marina cares about their customers and reputation.

 

[samagy16]

Re: Marina filled the water tank with gas.

OMG!!

Can you imagine how the young kid that fueled the boat feels?

Hope they don't deduct this from his paycheck .

 

[H20Rat]

Re: Marina filled the water tank with gas.

I'd even suggest painting the water cap blue. Just something small like that might be enough to make someone think, in addition to decals. (people usually ignore those near fuel anyway, they are just the standard fuel warning decals)

 

[Shife]

Re: Marina filled the water tank with gas.

It is common practice at most marine refuel stops for them to insist that the owner/operator fill the boat. They will hand you a wiped clean and tipped up nozzle and you are responsible for selecting the correct fill and preventing any drips/spillage into the water. The liability is just too great for most marinas to risk any kind of sheen fines or boat damage so they wisely pass that risk on to you.

I'm very surprised this marina allowed an employee to do anything other than hand you the nozzle.

 

[JZammetti]

Re: Marina filled the water tank with gas.

Thank you for the update, it's refreshing to see people like yourself not ranting and raving and looking for a quick buck. It's also nice to see a business finally understand that when they make mistakes it's not "OH WELL YOUR LOSS CUSTOMER". Glad to see this potentially "explosive" situation is on the path to completeness. Thank you so very much for sharing this, I gained greatly from your experience. Good luck and happy boating.

 

[79MERC1150]

Re: Marina filled the water tank with gas.

Thanks for the good advice and the compliments. My wife and I are both nurses. She works in a nursing home, and I work two jobs, one in a busy ER and the other as night charge nurse for a tribal hospital on an indian reservation. We both deal with dying patients, and grieving families every day.

Although it scared the poop out us to realize that we had a water system full of gas with 14 family members, five of them young grandchildren, we knew that loosing our tempers would accomplish nothing. My only concern was for the safety of our family. We had a rental boat house, a rented pontoon boat, our 17.6 bass boat, and the Mach I, all tied together around the boat house.The boat house is anchored to the lake bottom, and sits under a rock clift on the side of a mountian with zero access to the shore. The boat house is fully selfcontained with propane appliances. Any gas fumes could have easily been set off by one of the pilot lights on the gas appliances onboard the boat house, and the whole thing would have gone up in a big fire ball.

Once everyone was off of the boat onto the rented boat house, I took the boat to a remote location and pumped the fuel into portable marine gas tanks. I figured that once the gas was out of the system and the system was filled to the top with Dawn and water, the risks of an explosion was greatly diminished. I removed the fuse that powers the water pump, so that none of the kids would inadvertently turn on the water.

I hope the kid that pumped the gas does not have to pay for the repairs, however I have little control over that part of it:redface:.

Either way, the boat did not blow up, and no one was hurt. It will be fixed by the middle of next week, so we should be good to go.

 

[79MERC1150]

Re: Marina filled the water tank with gas.

I'd even suggest painting the water cap blue. Just something small like that might be enough to make someone think, in addition to decals. (people usually ignore those near fuel anyway, they are just the standard fuel warning decals)

I like that idea. The water fill is black plastic, with water printed accross the cap. painting it a bright blue should make anyone think twice before putting anything else besides water in the tank. Either that or change out the water access for one that locks.

 

[capt sam]

Re: Marina filled the water tank with gas.

Glad it worked out for you and they stepped up, it's too easy to be cynical anymore.

 

[Thad]

Re: Marina filled the water tank with gas.

Other than the unfortunate mistake made at the marina, I like this post. To reiterate the calm voice of reason, it was cool and collected.

I too am glad everything will turn out fine.
I am not farmilliar with the water intake port on a boat, but would it be possible to use a locking water access hatch like those that are used on campers?
My camper had a plastic cover that was locked and when you opened it, the fill neck was then easy to fill. Just a thought.