It's the little things

halfmoa

halfmoa

Ensign
Joined
Aug 19, 2011
Messages
955
The wife and I are going out on the boat first thing tomorrow after the kids get on the bus, so I took the time to make sure everything is perfect with the boat today. You know the drill...towels, cooler, drinks, food, gas etc. the went to the gas station and filled the 6 gallon tank that was nearly empty, 16oz 2 cycle oil and topped off with .6oz Stabil Marine formula when the little paper gasket that was inside the lid popped off the top of the container and went directly into the tank. The FULL tank.

Drive home, swearing all the way knowing I had to get that 1/2 inch circle of paper out of there. Ended up using an old clean cloth with a little fuel on it to clean out the inside of my cleanest bucket and siphoned the fuel into the bucket (the firefighter inside me was paranoid the whole time to say the least) outside in the breeze. Wait....bucket is 5 gallons and I've got a 6 gallon tank. More swearing. Found a clean 2 gallon bucket and put the rest of the fuel in there. Pulled the paper circle out of the tank with the longest pair of needle nose pliers you've ever seen and had to resist the urge to eat it and spit it out.

Moral of the story is be sure to completely remove those aluminum seals and paper gaskets from your fuel additive bottles every time you open a new container!
 
dwco5051

dwco5051

Commander
Joined
Sep 14, 2008
Messages
2,410
Re: It's the little things

Must have been a super long pair of needle nose pliers to make it to the bottom of the tank. I have had to reach into a tight space to retrieve a dropped lockwasher or nut and found a pair of El-cheapo stamped tin fish hook retrievers that came with a set of knives I got for Christmas years ago. Have never used them to take out a deep hook but they are great for reaching into tight places. I put them in my tool chest and have used them often since. They are the ones that are a minature version of the ones the grocer would use to get things off the top shelf when he was filling your order. I guess that shows my age if I can remember when you went to the corner grocery and shopkeeper got you stuff for you.
 
j_martin

j_martin

Admiral
Joined
Sep 22, 2006
Messages
7,474
Re: It's the little things

Those little foil thingies get in tanks more often than they should. Really suques when the fuel shortage caused by it getting over the fuel pickup burns down a 2 cycle V6.
 
Cadwelder

Cadwelder

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Aug 30, 2010
Messages
1,780
Re: It's the little things

j_martin said:
Don't axe.
Click to expand...

LOL....well I'll let you in on one of my stupid ones. I used to alway strain my gasoline as I filled the tank. (made a little rings from metal rod and attached a piece of cheese cloth and panty hose around it). Used for years until one time it came loose and right down in the tank it went.

Well I thought no biggy, it's not solid it'll be fine. Wrong!!. It found it's way to the end of the fuel pick up and caused high speed problems. The fuel pump would pull so hard it would collaspe the primer bulb.

I took one of those four foot long grabber things (the one with the claw and push button) and went fishing in the tank and got lucky. (only took about 500 tries). Lesson learned.

But I can say that I've never forgotten the plug that you hear so much about. I have gotten to the lake and realized the plug was still at the house, but never launched without it in. I have several spare plug around now.
 
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