kitchen towel in fuel

[Maurice55]

I thought I would warn you as it is a first to me (but that doesn't mean much). I got a big load of kitchen towel in my fuel tank because the little bugger before me didn't want to drop any diesel on his posh decks and stuffed some paper kitchen towel up the nosel so far that the attendent serving me just after didn't see it.....a right pain I can assure you.
All this confirmed by fuel station attendent and some boaty people around here.

 

[puddock]

What an idiotic and selfish thing to do. Makes you wonder about some people.

 

[Searush]

It probably won't work, but why not send him an invoice for emptying, cleaning & refilling your tank? Add the threat of a County Court action with additional costs if he doesn't cough up within 28 days. CC actions are not that expensive & he will have to attend & prove he isn't liable - which may be annoying enough for him to make an offer. A witness statement or two will add to your case.

Good luck anyway.

 

[fisherman]

On a practical level, get some towel the same, put it in fuel and see what happens. No point trying to clean the tank if it dissolves.

 

[highandry]

Searush... if the OP is in Corsica as his details show, following your advice will get him thinly sliced and probably fed to ze fishes. It will be them "Making the offer" one he cannot refuse eh! Eengleesh..

 

[vyv_cox]

On a practical level, get some towel the same, put it in fuel and see what happens. No point trying to clean the tank if it dissolves.

Paper towel is a very similar product to the element in fuel filters, so it's unlikely to dissolve. In a diesel bug emergency a few years ago I cut the top off a fuel filter, pulled out all the old stuff that was thick with goo and replaced it with the heaviest paper towel we could find. It worked a treat, as we subsequently had to motor overnight to get home, with no repetition of the blockage.

 

[Thistle]

On a practical level, get some towel the same, put it in fuel and see what happens. No point trying to clean the tank if it dissolves.

A dissolving towel - now there's a useful concept!

 

[Maurice55]

conclusion

Well, I can assure you that kitchen towel does not disolve in gas oil and that is most unfortunate, and as for revenge or suing, I am in Corsica so that's that, and in any case, I didn't make a note of the boat's name which was most probably hired . The simplest thing to do, learn the lesson and look down the nozzle next time.

 

[Resolution]

Maurice
You have my sympathies, I have suffered in a similar manner. When I worked in a yacht dealer we had a demo yacht whose sink was always very very slow to drain. Rather embarrasing on a high quality yacht. After putting up with this for a whole season, we lifted the yacht for its winter service and I asked the yard to take special care when checking the seacocks. Imagine our surprise when the engineer came back with a bent but intact styrofoam cup, which had been blocking the seacock!
Then the penny dropped: the boat had been on our stand at the boatshow, close to the Guinness bar, and we had suffered from certain elements larking about under our boats. Perhaps we had been too officous in clearing some of them off, and they had taken their revenge with the cup. Too effective by far!!

 

[duncanmack]

Some sheets of paper towel in the fuel tank used to be one of the standard ways that unscrupulous competing bus operators or hauliers would sabotage their competitors vehicles...

Very difficult to remedy - the tank has to be thoroughly cleaned out.

Sorted a few in the past with the problem. NOT funny.