[C320-list] Water in fuel

[Jeff Hare]

There is also a new gadget written up in sail mag recently (or latts and atts) that is an inline fuel vent desecant canister to absorb the water out of the air. It doesn't soak up fuel, just water.

I've been considering this.

Also, if your climate changed, you may be in a more humid area or an area with greater temp swings?  If so, it seems more important to try to keep a full tank to prevent condensation.  I suspect you are aware of all this already.

Jon Vez and some others have replaced the fuel tank themselves.  I may be mistaken, but that didn't seem to be too outrageous of a job and you would have a fresh system to move forward with.  Do be very careful about not dropping any screws or metal objects where they could roll up to the fuel tank.  Salt and dissimilar metals will give you a nice tank leak at some point.

Good luck!
Jeff



On Jun 25, 2012, at 11:25 AM, Marko Jamnik <mjamnik at markocreative.net> wrote:

> Into my third sailing season with my 1995 - 320. Boat came from brackish waters to fresh water.  I had the motor taken out and had the  motor mounts replaced as well as reconditioning the engine, all of the hoses filters primary & secondary filters, zinc nodes impeller etc.  after all that it was tested and the result the engine was in A1 condition. The last two seasons no problems until now.  It's a Westerbeke 30B with a total of 1000 hrs.
> 
> I tried starting the engine this week and after two minutes the engine stalled. I cranked it a number of times and no luck. The fuel gauge was full. I had a mechanic look at it only to tell me that I was pumping through water, out of the injectors that all I saw. The plan is to clean out the tank and replace it with cleaner fuel. I think it was a matter of time that the balance of water levelled with the fuel and with some sloshing around I reached that cutoff point. Now my concern is that this will be a costly fix especially since I have water in the system now. Concern of mine is that a complete removal of water has to happen, I can't afford water in the cylinders since it won't burn and once the fuel does kick in it can blow a seals. The mystery here is how much water is in the system already 
> 
> 
> I have checked the O ring and it's not cracked I still have to check the vent fitting but this will be after the fact.
> 
> Before I hand over my retirement fund, just kidding. I'm wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience.
> 
> If only it could run on water?
> 
> Mark
> 
> #304