Water in fuel

[Colin Varley]

Was in rough water yesterday with my 1990 16' 8 Smokercraft. It appears I now have water in my fuel. The boat has a built in fuel tank with a vent. I'm thinking the water got in through the vent (fairly rough conditions pushing into waves). Does anyone have an opinion on whether this could be the source of the water and if this could be the source, how do I avoid this happening again?

 

[WAVENBYE2]

Re: Water in fuel

Do you have a fuel/water separator?? How did you find out you have water in your fuel? the vent is supposed to allow fumes to escape but shouldn't allow the water in? You could drain the tank or change the filter a few times on the water/fuel separator. do you know for a fact that thats how the water got in?

 

[rcracerx]

Re: Water in fuel

The vent is always pulling air in when the motor is running. If you submerge the vent you will be sucking water. I recenly had this happen to me and it was too much water for my sep to handle, ended up being towed in.

My problem was 2 fold...my vent holes were facing straight down, instead they should be facing towards the stern of the boat and slightly down - between the 7 and 8 oclock position is correct. Also my vent line to the tank did not have any rise to it so the water just went straight down the hose into the tank. I have since ordered a new vent with a single hole and a splash shiled and re routed my vent to go up almost 8 inches before turning downwards to the tank. I also decided to go with a Racor filter system with the clear drainable filter system so I can see whats going on easier.

Rc