Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 19, 2013 21:37:41 GMT -6
I bought my SeaPro V2100 CC back in '07 from the original owner. It been a great boat and I would not trade it for anything up until this past winter. The boat started running horribly and to make a very long story short I have found that when it rains I am getting water in my under deck fuel tank. I do not mean a little either like from condensation.
I had completely drained my 54 gal fuel tank a couple weeks ago. I had found it had 7 gal of liquid left in it.. the bad part is 5 of the 7 gal was water! So i opened up the small 6" deck plate and pulled out the fuel sender and even went as far as to vacuum out all water/gas from the tank. I took he out fishing a couple of time and It stayed dry with only a couple tea spoons of water in it. I thought no big deal. Next trip out I put about 8 gal of gas and ran and fish all day with no issues.
Well, this past week we had 5" of rain. 2 days after the rain stopped I take her out again to do some fishing and she is running like crap again! I know the symptoms and its water in the gas. Now, I'm a smart man and Keep a 6 gal Spare tank in the boat JIC. I hook her up and once i get her to run a little and get the water run out and the gas from the spare tank ge into the Merc she runs great again.
Today i start by pulling of rthe fuel water seperator and it is full of nothing but water. So i disconnect the filling to the motor and start pumping out of the tank into a gallon glass jar using the primer bulb.... yes it is a pain! After 6 gal of pure water i give up. I know I am going to drain the tank again, but not sure if i am missing something where water could be leaking into the tank.
Have any of you guys had this sort of issue and if so do you have a solution? I think the whole top of the boat has to come off to get to the main tank. The tank seems to hold pressure when i hooked up my air line with 6 psi to the tank so i do not know where or what the issue is. Do any of you have an owners manual for the 1999 SV2100? Or maybe even a schematic? Am i stuck running an external tank from this point on? I tried to take some pics of the top of the tank, but they are less then informative. You fellow SeaPro owners have any suggestions as to what to do or try? Thanks for any info.
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Post by Simple Man on Jul 19, 2013 22:04:18 GMT -6
Welcome to the forum.
Wow. You've got quite an issue there. I'm trying to understand how rain is even getting to the gas tank in the kind of quantities you are talking about. Is the tank aluminum or plastic? Be careful trying to put pressure on it too. A couple of pounds on a gas tank would be enough to rupture it. Them "per square inch"'s will get you.
I'm going to have to think on this a bit and see if I can come up with any ideas.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 19, 2013 22:22:02 GMT -6
Thanks for the reply! It is a plastic tank. If worse comes to worse I may just get a 12 gal external tank and keep it behind the back seat, However, it sure would be nice to have my 54 gal of fuel capacity again. Then I could think about making another offshore trip some time. As it is now I am running off a 6 gal tank and keep a spare 5 gal gas can in the boat.
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Post by Juan on Jul 20, 2013 5:12:35 GMT -6
As SimpleMan said: WELCOME TO THE FORUM as he also said: WOW... I too can't imagine how that much water could be getting into the tank especially since the fuel system seems to check out when pressurized. I would guess that there had to be a direct source of the water connected to the tank..Is it possible that you have an external fuel tank vent line and the vent cap is angled up instead of down and it's catching rain? I doubt that even that would let that much water in though. Was the seal on the sender unit intact? Do you smell gas fumes in the bilge? (Just grasping at straws here) When you find the problem. keep us posted since this is a first to my knowledge and we'd all be interested in knowing what caused it. If you don't figure it out, you might want to look at having the tank lined with an inflatable bladder...I don't know anything about how they do that, but have heard about it being done to repair leaking tanks. Good luck!!!! EDIT: After thinking about this most of the day, I still can't figure it out... Have you got an enemy close by or ticked off your wife?  Get a locking fuel cap. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 20, 2013 18:48:41 GMT -6
The enemy was one of my thoughts also. The fuel cap does not lock, but its on my list of things to get/do.
I pumped a little more out of the tank and finally have gotten it down to the gas again! So I had about 6.25 gal of water in it. I think I am going to replace the gasket for the fuel sender and put that lock on the filler cap. I sure hope no one is doing it because if they are and I catch them Castle law my come into effect! The wife is cool and knows better as then I would just spend more money on the boat! That is a total of 11.25 Gal of water I have pulled out of it in the last month! I really hoped it was something simple and an easy fix. I hope the tank is not catching water!the vent tube is connected to the filler cap/cover. I'll keep ya'll updated.
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BoutTime
Master Chief
Posts: 337
Location: Emerald Isle, N. C.
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Post by BoutTime on Jul 20, 2013 19:23:36 GMT -6
Are you using NON-ETHANOL GAS ?
50 gals. Ethanol gas in high humidity can generate as much water as you stated. But it won't happen in a week or two. Could be a combination of problems.
ETHANOL GAS AND OUTBOARDS DO NOT GO TOGETHER... .
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 20, 2013 21:29:24 GMT -6
I have no choice other than to use gas with ethanol in it. There are no gas stations with 150 miles that have Ethanol free gas. I Do use Stabil Ethanol treatment and SeaFoam in it every tank! There is no way that 3-4 gal of gas could produce 6.25 gal of moisture in 4 days!
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BoutTime
Master Chief
Posts: 337
Location: Emerald Isle, N. C.
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Post by BoutTime on Jul 21, 2013 19:00:45 GMT -6
I have no choice other than to use gas with ethanol in it. There are no gas stations with 150 miles that have Ethanol free gas. I Do use Stabil Ethanol treatment and SeaFoam in it every tank! There is no way that 3-4 gal of gas could produce 6.25 gal of moisture in 4 days! I agree it should not create that much water in 4 days. IF you get gas from a location that does not have a frequent turn over in their tanks you could be getting a small amount of water directly from their tanks. Where that much water is coming from is a great mystery. The only two places I can think it could come from would be the fill tube or the vent tube. v Since you can't get totally ethanol free gas try using 93 or higher octane. It should not have more than 3% ethanol. You can order a test kit to check the ethanol percentage on line. A good idea to have one and test from time to time. t Please keep us informed and let us know what you fine.. |
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RunninLate
Lieutenant
Thinking about the boat sitting on the trailer.......WHY
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Post by RunninLate on Jul 21, 2013 19:34:07 GMT -6
Saltdawg008, Welcome to the forum.
To get that much water into the gas I would think is next to impossible from a day or 3 of rain. If your boat is on a trailer, run the jack stand up as high as you can. That way all the rain water would run to the back of the boat. It should be farther back then the tank. But it you think about it. Do you have a cover for the boat? This does not correct the problem if the water is coming from the rain but.............I do not think so.
As juan said about the vent, that is a GREAT way for water to get into the tank. I had a 18' Sea Boss that I was taking offshore and thinking how great the boat was running and how the water was running up the side of the boat and flaring out. About 5 minutes later the motor cut off. Had to be towed back in. Took the boat to a local mechanic and he pumped the 42 tank dry with 6 gallons of water. It came in through the vent. We ended up putting a clam shell cover over the vent fixture and never had a problem again.
When it been storming here the past couple of weeks with 2 to 4 inches of rain, that would not put that much water in your tank unless you had a trap to catch it and funnel it in there IMHO.
Where are you located?
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Post by freezerfiller on Jul 22, 2013 13:14:10 GMT -6
I think you are on the right track. It is amazing how much water can enter through a small opening, Gas cap, loose fill hose,sending unit, and fuel vent are all good places to look. Let me know if you find a good locking gas cap. I need one for my boat. I keep it in a storage yard, and one day I just know one day, someone is going to siphon me out clean as we get back to $4/gal gas.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Jul 25, 2013 7:23:49 GMT -6
Boy, that is very suspicious. If tank has no holes then there is only a few openings for liquid to enter. Check filler/vent hoses and fittings for possible openings for water, and sending unit seal area is a very likely spot for your problem. I definitely second getting a locking fuel cap! Your wife isn't mad at you for using boat tyoo much, is she?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 25, 2013 9:46:01 GMT -6
So, I finally got all the fuel/water pumped out of the tank. There was a total of 3.5 gal of gas compared to the 6+ gal of water I had pumped out. Something is not right! For there to be 6+ gal of water in the tank with having had 5 " of rain the self bailing deck would have to be plugged up and all the water the boat caught and funneled into the tank. I know the console has water leaking into lower hull when it rain through the rod holders, but is should not be that much... 6+ gal worth??? Below, I have attached the pics of my fuel filler cap. You can see the Fuel vent is built into the filler cap. At this point I really am leaning towards sabotage. However, it would have to have been when the whole family is gone as the boat sits right next to my house/kitchen window. I may try the pressurize test again today after work just to make sure it is holding again. Seems that if it can old pressure it should not have any way to leak into it. One question I do have for you guys is, do any of you know how the fuel cell is shaped? Do any of you guys know the dimensions of the fuel cell? I think it is 54 gal if I am not mistaken. It used to be on Sea-Pro's website which does not exist any more.    |
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Post by Juan on Jul 25, 2013 10:31:19 GMT -6
I'm still leaning toward sabotage too.. and I'm not sure anyone even makes a locking fuel cap that would replace that style cap.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 25, 2013 10:45:42 GMT -6
I have designed myself a Stainless steel one I will make for it. Just need time, material, and a big lock!  |
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Post by freezerfiller on Jul 25, 2013 11:11:18 GMT -6
Sometimes sabatoge can come from very small people who mean no ill will, trying to fill up the boat just like dad does at the fuel pump..... Don't ask how I know this!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 25, 2013 11:17:55 GMT -6
Sometimes sabatoge can come from very small people who mean no ill will, trying to fill up the boat just like dad does at the fuel pump..... Don't ask how I know this! Yeah, I thought about this, but the kids are usually not outside or in the boat unless I am. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 1, 2013 11:40:11 GMT -6
I had drained the tank completely. So last Friday night we got about an inch of rain. Yesterday I attempted to pump any of what would be in the tank out ... To my surprise the tank was still empty. I would have thought that an inch of rain would have put a gal of rain in the tank if it was leaking rain into as before. Maybe it was someone putting water in the fuel tank? I still have yet to lightly pressurize the tank again but I will do so today after work prob.
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Post by CaptWoody on Aug 1, 2013 13:14:24 GMT -6
The mystery deepens...
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jetdrive
Sailor
Don't talk about it,, Be about it
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Post by jetdrive on Aug 1, 2013 23:05:38 GMT -6
I was having this same problem. I have figured it out to be the fuel tank vent. When I had several people in the boat and they were sitting on the front deck my boat would eventually die and not restart.. Got it home and pumped a couple gallons of water out. Went back to the lake... Same thing happened again... SO I taped up all the holes in the vent except the one that faced the rear of the boat... No more problems.. I bought the attwood stainless flush vent
And now not sure how to make my hole bigger... I need to go from 3/4 to 1-3/8" hmmmm... Uni bit?
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Post by seagristle on Aug 2, 2013 9:51:04 GMT -6
Hope you (or I) don't have to replace the filler cap. I tried to get at the vent tube by taking the cap cover off and could not. It appears the screw the cap on and attach the hose underneath before they glue the deck to the hull. Would have to cut the fiberglass to clear it.
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