Fuel Hose Disaster!

Dougal

Dougal

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Wiltshire / Brittany (50/50)
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Just tried to fit a new 1.5mtr length of 51mm ID diesel hose. Total disaster!
Fuel gauge showed about 2/3 full, so no qualms pulling off old rotten hose from tank. Diesel floods out into bilge! Gauge or sender obviously faulty! Try to rapidly fit new hose but it won't fit tank outlet, even though it fits deck filler perfectly.
Old hose now too damaged to go back on. Bilge now has about 3 gals of fuel sloshing around!!! Oh what a lovely smell lol.
Had to cut out bigger hole in bulkhead to get better access to tank spigot, it measures 54.5mm dia. Deck filler spigot measures 51mm plus lip.
Close inspection of old, and now useless hose... it is (or was) 51mm, but the last 6cm at each end has NO steel spiral windings, allowing the hose to stretch over tank spigot.
The hose 'looks' to have been made this way rather than previously butchered.
What the bloody hell do I do now...?
 
Dougal said:
Tried pulling out steel from new hose but it destroys it.
If I made up a reducer from GRP with epoxy, how would it handle diesel over the long term?
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GRP is fine with diesel (that's what my tank is made of - the side and bottom of it is the inside off the boat's hull - and it's been fine for 40 years). I don't know if there's any advantage/disadvantage epoxy vs. polyester resin with diesel.
 
RichardS said:
Are you saying that your fuel filler hose holds 3 gallons of fuel ..... and that's after you've run the engine for a considerable amount of time such that a tank reading of 2/3 seems possible? :confused:

Richard
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No Richard that's not what I meant at all;) My fuel gauge said the tank was only about 2/3 full, so I had no hesitation pulling off the old hose. When I did, lots of fuel exited the tank, meaning the tank was actually more than 3/4 full.
I now need to reduce the tank filler spigot from nearly 56mm to 51mm.
 
Dougal said:
No Richard that's not what I meant at all;) My fuel gauge said the tank was only about 2/3 full, so I had no hesitation pulling off the old hose. When I did, lots of fuel exited the tank, meaning the tank was actually more than 3/4 full.
I now need to reduce the tank filler spigot from nearly 56mm to 51mm.
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I'm really confused Dougal. The fuel filler hose normally attaches to a spigot on the top of the fuel tank. As soon as the hose is empty and the level of fuel is contained within the side walls of the tank rather than the filler hose, you should be able to remove the filler hose without and spillage. Even if the tank was still 7/8th full, I can't understand why removing the hose would cause any spillage. :confused:

I'm sure you could use exhaust hose as it has to be fuel resistant, surely?

Richard
 
RichardS said:
I'm really confused Dougal. The fuel filler hose normally attaches to a spigot on the top of the fuel tank. As soon as the hose is empty and the level of fuel is contained within the side walls of the tank rather than the filler hose, you should be able to remove the filler hose without and spillage. Even if the tank was still 7/8th full, I can't understand why removing the hose would cause any spillage. :confused:

I'm sure you could use exhaust hose as it has to be fuel resistant, surely?

Richard
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I think I get it - the gauge (like so many) was rubbish and showed 2/3rd when the tank was completely full, plus a bit.
 
What I might do, use the 55mm. hose which gives a tight fit on the tank spigot, buy a roll of duct tape and sweil (good irish word that) it around the deck spigot several times to achieve the required thickness of 2mm. fit other end of pipe over the enlarged spigot and clip well with at least two or maybe even three jubilee clips. As long as you avoid filling above the deck filler spigot it should be fine.If you do not trust it you could apply suitable sealant to the deck spigot-pipe joint using your index finger, lots of diesel resisting sealants available.
 
RupertW said:
I think I get it - the gauge (like so many) was rubbish and showed 2/3rd when the tank was completely full, plus a bit.
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I'm sure it's not that because Dougal is saying the rather than 2/3 full the tank must actually have been more like 3/4 full .... but that doesn't make sense. Unless the filler hose holds several gallons of fuel, something like 1/4 of the total fuel capacity, once you have run the engine for a few hours surely it must have dropped below the level of the top of the filler spigot?

Richard
 
I think what's confusing folk, is that the tank spigot is not actually on the TOP of the tank, but on the rear upright wall! Crazy I know, but there's almost zero access to top of tank as it's located directly under cockpit sole. Gotta love French design (Beneteau).
That damn fuel hose cost me €75 grrrrr
 
Hi why don’t you use a short piece of 51.5mm ID hose on the fuel spigot then put the larger size hose over the top of it. I wouldn’t be keen on using gaffer tape as packing material the diesel will probably attack it. If you have to use packing material you could use plumbers PTFE tape. Otherwise if you use the plastic pipe with the reinforcement braid at 51mm internal you can make it soft by putting it in boiling water and it can then be expanded.
 
philwebb said:
Hi why don’t you use a short piece of 51.5mm ID hose on the fuel spigot then put the larger size hose over the top of it. I wouldn’t be keen on using gaffer tape as packing material the diesel will probably attack it. If you have to use packing material you could use plumbers PTFE tape. Otherwise if you use the plastic pipe with the reinforcement braid at 51mm internal you can make it soft by putting it in boiling water and it can then be expanded.
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You can't stretch that hose with hot water. Neither the steel windings, nor the stitched internals will allow stretching.
I'm with you on the tape though. I might try silicone amalgamating tape.
 
Dougal said:
You can't stretch that hose with hot water. Neither the steel windings, nor the stitched internals will allow stretching.
I'm with you on the tape though. I might try silicone amalgamating tape.
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see post 7
mine doesnt leak & can be softened in boiling water, why hose specifically for diesel, when in fact the fuel is just "passing through"
 
Dougal said:
I think what's confusing folk, is that the tank spigot is not actually on the TOP of the tank, but on the rear upright wall! Crazy I know, but there's almost zero access to top of tank as it's located directly under cockpit sole. Gotta love French design (Beneteau).
That damn fuel hose cost me €75 grrrrr
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The light bulb has flicked on. :)

A side entry filler spigot where the top of the spigot is lower than the top of the tank?

OK, that's the first time I have ever heard of that. Presumably there must be some kind of tapping into the top of the tank for a vent pipe otherwise there would be a dead space of trapped air at the top and you would never be able to fill the tank?

Richard
 
RichardS said:
The light bulb has flicked on. :)

A side entry filler spigot where the top of the spigot is lower than the top of the tank?

OK, that's the first time I have ever heard of that. Presumably there must be some kind of tapping into the top of the tank for a vent pipe otherwise there would be a dead space of trapped air at the top and you would never be able to fill the tank?

Richard
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The filler spigot on my Furia's tank is on the side too with a separate breather next to it.
 
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