Fill her up or leave her empty ?

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GRR

GRR

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I will be having my Sealine 200 lifted out for the winter in a few days . /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

will it be best to fill her up with petrol ( to avoid condensation ) or drain the fuel?

if the answer id drain the fuel - does anyone know if there is a drian cock on the 218 / 220

thanks in anticipation
 
I thought petrol goes off, loses it's octane or something. Best to leave room for fresh fuel next season.

If you drain the tank won't the empty tank still create condensation.
 
I can never get very worked up about this. When my boat was lifted out last Friday, the tank was about half full and I will leave her like that until she goes back in next April, when I'll probably fill her up, although I've neglected to do so in the past and not had any particular problem in consequence. Petrol does degrade over time but I've never noticed a difference come the spring - perhaps because it's cold over the winter and nothing much evaporates? There are additives to "stabilise" the petrol but I suspect it's just another stratagem for parting boaters from their money.

Degredation seems more noticeable with two-stroke mixture: I always dispose of any petrol left in my outboard tank at the end of the season, by putting it into the car (making sure that the car's tank is fairly full, to allow for maximum dilution of the two-stroke oil).

Diesels are a different matter, of course.
 
I agree. When I was on petrol, it never seemd to make any difference how much fuel was in the tank over winter. I never paid it any attention, and never used any additives. All fired up fine in the Spring.
 
It's heat that seems to "damage" petrol.

I left a 10 litres of petrol in the cockpit under the canvas in the summer, and when I got back, the can was a different shape (bloated). Opened the vent, huge hssss, and all the good stuff escaped.

What I was left with worked in the lawnmower, but not the tender outboard: it wouldn't even start.

dv.
 
When I bought my petrol Sealine 310 the fuel had been in the tanks standing on the hard for 3 years, don't know how long it had been in before that, both tanks nearly full.
Was dreading slinging 120 gallons of petrol but starting proved no problem and naven't even noticed the difference since using it and putting in fresh.
My 255 had no means of draining the tank so guess that would apply to a 200

Ian
 
Hi
I have to say that when I had my petrol Sunseeker I used to fill her up on the way towing home for the winter lay up, normally at Tesco's (good for the Clubcard points) and in the 18 years I had this boat I never noticed any drop off in performance at the start of the new season.
Whilst the price of petrol is low (ish) I might be tempted to fill the tank now because we all know it will not be this for long.
 
It probably won't make a great deal of difference either way IMO. Yes, the petrol will "go off" the longer it is left but it won't damage anything if you run the engine with 6 month old fuel. On the other hand, leaving it empty will encourage condensation and hence water in the fuel. IMO water in any part of the fuel system can't be good but if you have plastic tanks then it probably won't harm anything. It will need to be cleared out prior to running next year and water will probably make the fuel deteriorate even more but if you don't have much in there then when you fill up before starting up next year it will be diluted so again, no harm done.

For me it is difficult and I would't criticise anyone doing it either way but for me I would prefer to keep the water out and accept a bit of fuel deterioration.
 
I was reading an american site the other day and they all mentioned that you have more chance of condensation buidling up on a half full tank, they all reckonned to fill the tank up fully.
 
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