No 87 Octane at Marina?

[hostage]

Is there any good reason why a Marina wouldn't sell 87 Octane? I asked and they only sell 89 and 91. The person's response is "boat engines work harder".

-Hostage

 

[drrpm]

Re: No 87 Octane at Marina?

They can charge more for the higher octane fuel. Unless you have high compression or forced induction there's no need for higher octane gas.

 

[roscoe]

Re: No 87 Octane at Marina?

One tank, one pump, one fuel offered.

 

[642mx]

Re: No 87 Octane at Marina?

Its like that around here too.

 

[hostage]

Re: No 87 Octane at Marina?

They can charge more for the higher octane fuel. Unless you have high compression or forced induction there's no need for higher octane gas.

Yeah, that is what I am thinking, there is no more pure gas stations around my area, so I am looking at the Marina, which is about .80/gallon more. Well I guess it will be more convenient than trailering my boat to the gas station I went to.

 

[QC]

Re: No 87 Octane at Marina?

I moved this over to Boat Topics. I agree with the posts above, but let's not let this get into a gas pricing war OK? Less likely here than in Dockside . . .

 

[waterinthefuel]

Re: No 87 Octane at Marina?

Hmm, I'm not sure what the point of the post is. He answered his own question in the OP. What do you want us to do? You want to know why, ask the marina. You did, they gave you their answer. Why did you ask this, again?

I don't see this thread as having a good ending. I'm not getting into another bashing thread. This place has been too hot lately.

Edit: this post and the direct reactions are what cause the general nastiness we are seeing lately. Please knock it off - QC

 

[JimS123]

Re: No 87 Octane at Marina?

Is there any good reason why a Marina wouldn't sell 87 Octane? I asked and they only sell 89 and 91. The person's response is "boat engines work harder".

-Hostage

That was a poor response. The person was probably a kid and he didn't know what he was talking about.

Some of the older Mercruisers required 88 octane. Mine included. Probably other motors as well. I always fill up on the highway with 89. But, if I were to go to a Marina and all they had was 87, I would be SOL. I have never seen a marina in my area that sold 87 octane, and never saw one that carried more than one flavor. That's probably why.

 

[NYBo]

Re: No 87 Octane at Marina?

Because of the disastrous potential of detonation, many boaters use 89 octane to provide a larger margin of error. So I guess they can meet more boaters' needs with 89 and 91 than with 87 and 91. The profit per gallon is usually similar for 87 and 89, so that shouldn't be a factor.

 

[642mx]

Re: No 87 Octane at Marina?

Hmm, I'm not sure what the point of the post is. He answered his own question in the OP. What do you want us to do? You want to know why, ask the marina. You did, they gave you their answer. Why did you ask this, again?

I don't see this thread as having a good ending. I'm not getting into another bashing thread. This place has been too hot lately.

Maybe he didn't like the answer, maybe he wanted to see if everybody elses marina was the same, or maybe he wanted to know if he should run 89 octane?... Who knows?...

Threads that have a poor ending are often caused by people chiming in that aren't helping....

 

[Outsider]

Re: No 87 Octane at Marina?

I'm not getting into another bashing thread.

Wasn't much bashing going on until you chimed in ...

 

[NHGuy]

Re: No 87 Octane at Marina?

My lake has either 89 or 91 octane. I am glad of it cause my compression ratio should get 89 octane. What's weird is that Mercruiser says regular is OK.

 

[109jb]

Re: No 87 Octane at Marina?

One thing to consider is that the octane of gas decreases as the fuel ages. I fill my car at least once per week all year long. Not much chance of running into problems with octane loss in that situation. Many boats see rather infrequent use and the loss of a couple point in octane rating may be the difference between the engine running fine and detonation occurring. The higher octane may just be a way of taking this into consideration. That is why I run 89 octane in my boat even though the engine doesn't need it.

However, I think it is more likely what others have said. Running higher octane in an engine that doesn't need it is fine, but running lower octane than what the engine requires is asking for detonation. Having only the higher octane fuel means that the marina has fuel that will work for a wider segment of the boats out there. This is especially true for marinas that only have one or two pumps.

 

[trendsetter240]

Re: No 87 Octane at Marina?

They only sell 89 octane at my marina. The owner gave a similar answer; "Boat engines work harder and need the higher quality gas". Which I know is hogwash but it's convenient to fill up there.

However, I have never had any problems running the 89 octane gas from my marina. The only problems I ever had came from running 87 E-blend gasoline from gas stations.

Just about every motor can run either 89 or 91 but some can't run 87.

 

[Brewman61]

Re: No 87 Octane at Marina?

Our marina can only sell one grade, and it's ethanol free premium. For some reason, the only ethanol free gas available in our area is premium- nobody offers the regular or blend (mid) grades. I'm thinking it's exorbantly expensive these days to install below grade fuel storage tanks especially near water- so there probably is no incentive for the marina owners to try offer anything else. I don't need premium in my boat, and it is approved for 10% ethanol, but I prefer to run the ethanol free. So if it's premium, and I need to spend a few bucks extra to fill, I can live with that.

 

[scoutabout]

Re: No 87 Octane at Marina?

Our marina can only sell one grade, and it's ethanol free premium. For some reason, the only ethanol free gas available in our area is premium- ...

Same here. We actually got a mailing from our Yamaha dealer two years ago saying they were switching to premium fuel only at their pumps. Not becuase of the octane rating, simply becuase it's the only gas they could get without ethanol in it.

Certainly 87 has been just fine in any outboard or I/O I've run. My step-father's Merc Verado outboard might need higher being supercharged, though. I should check.

 

[drrpm]

Re: No 87 Octane at Marina?

The gas station associated with the place I store my boat has ethanol free gas in 87, 89 and 91 octane ratings. It is possible to get regular gas without ethanol, but most other places I've seen were ethanol free only for premium.

 

[RicMic]

Re: No 87 Octane at Marina?

The gas station associated with the place I store my boat has ethanol free gas in 87, 89 and 91 octane ratings. It is possible to get regular gas without ethanol, but most other places I've seen were ethanol free only for premium.

Where are you in GA, nothing but E-10 around Atlanta!

 

[dvandsm64]

Re: No 87 Octane at Marina?

i get laughed at for running super in our boat. it is a 1996 or newer 5.7 liter. and i buy gas at the local filling stations. in my mind , this motor is basically a 1960's -1970's car motor, no catalytic converteror,or other emission controls, etc... those cars all ran better on high octane gas.
maybe just my opinion. had an old mechanic tell me, "the higher the octane the bigger the explosion in the cylinder, thus a better running engine"

 

[WIMUSKY]

Re: No 87 Octane at Marina?

One thing to consider is that the octane of gas decreases as the fuel ages. I fill my car at least once per week all year long. Not much chance of running into problems with octane loss in that situation. Many boats see rather infrequent use and the loss of a couple point in octane rating may be the difference between the engine running fine and detonation occurring. The higher octane may just be a way of taking this into consideration. That is why I run 89 octane in my boat even though the engine doesn't need it.

However, I think it is more likely what others have said. Running higher octane in an engine that doesn't need it is fine, but running lower octane than what the engine requires is asking for detonation. Having only the higher octane fuel means that the marina has fuel that will work for a wider segment of the boats out there. This is especially true for marinas that only have one or two pumps.

I run premium in mine just for those reasons and the fact that my '79 seems to really like it.........