Petrol spill on teak - and where do you store your outboard fuel?

Yngmar

Yngmar

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Just noticed a petrol smell outside and had a look - turns out our red 10L petrol can with the extra outboard fuel (our Suzuki has a small built-in tank only) had cracked at the bottom and was seeping all over the teak deck. You can see photos of the cracked can here: https://imgur.com/a/GKt06

Am I right to assume that with this being petrol and not diesel, it should just evaporate out of the deck soonish? Or do I have to do anything? I've just thrown an oil absorbing pad on the puddle for now and put the can on the side so it would stop leaking.

Will have to go on a mission to source a new can somewhere here in Albufeira.

The can being less than a year in use and bought new, I wonder if this is about the expected lifetime of them. It wasn't treated roughly, lashed on the rail and cracks in the bottom are unlikely to be caused by UV exposure. I suspect it's because the can bloats and contracts quite a bit during day/night cycles and this weakened the material.

So where do you store your outboard fuel? I'm glad it wasn't in a locker, or the mess would've been bigger and less likely to be noticed. A cover would keep UV away, but probably just increase the temperature problem. I did always squeeze the air out a little when closing it, to give it more room for expansion - but it bloated anyways. Or was it just a lousy can?
 
We have 2 x 5 litre plastic petrol cans, which we keep in the cockpit locker- not had a problem in 10 years.
 
Probably just a poor can, exacerbated by repeated temperature changes. I don't store petrol on the boat any more, but when I did I used a metal 10litre can similar to this pic. The bottom is smooth with no seams, the welded seam is around the middle. I still have it in the garage with petrol for the mower, it must be 20+ years old now.

green-10litre-rhino-600x600.png
 
I use two five litre cans. Ready use one lives in the cockpit locker, the spare lives in the chain locker. I use cheap plastic cans from the local shops. Cost about €8-10 a time and last a couple of years. I've only had one split on me over the past few years: that led me to keeping a closer eye on them and dumping them if they look in any way suspect.
 
Petrol shouldn't be a problem on teak, though it might leave a stain if it has o/b oil in it. I occasionally spill a little diesel on my deck and it very soon disappears.
 
For what it's worth I keep it in the anchor locker, which has a handy shelf at the aft end to keep it clear of the chain, and of course it drains overboard. In the previous boat with no anchor locker as such, I kept it in the gas locker.

Pete
 
I had a similar problem last year in September, the stain lasted a few months but has now disappeared so don't worry about it, in time it should go. My problem was caused by my own incompetence; I've never had a problem from storage of fuel in a cockpit locker FWIW.
 
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JFowler said:
We have 2 x 5 litre plastic petrol cans, which we keep in the cockpit locker- not had a problem in 10 years.
Click to expand...
We no longer store the petrol container in our cockpit locker. On a hot sunny day the plastic container expands and released vapours which subsequently got into the engine room. The engine then raced and couldn't be stopped. The only way we finally stopped it was by jamming a rag into the air intake.
 
I had a petrol spill on my flybridge teak due to a split fuel pipe on a portable generator in June of last year. I applied plenty of water with a mild detergent (Stardrops) and , as the weather was kind, allowed plenty of ventilation. It took a while for the petrol smell to completely disappear but there seems to be no lasting damage.
 
Make a cover, and make it white. In fact in many countries, above ground bulk gas tanks must be either silver or white by law to reduce solar heat gain. No, a cover would only make it warmer if the heat were coming from inside, like a person, or if the cover were a dark color, which would be dumb.

Yes, reducing solar gain is important. I have always found or made a safe locker, sealed from the rest of the boat, like a propane locker.
 
Yngmar said:
Just noticed a petrol smell outside and had a look - turns out our red 10L petrol can with the extra outboard fuel (our Suzuki has a small built-in tank only) had cracked at the bottom and was seeping all over the teak deck. You can see photos of the cracked can here: https://imgur.com/a/GKt06

Am I right to assume that with this being petrol and not diesel, it should just evaporate out of the deck soonish? Or do I have to do anything? I've just thrown an oil absorbing pad on the puddle for now and put the can on the side so it would stop leaking.

Will have to go on a mission to source a new can somewhere here in Albufeira.

The can being less than a year in use and bought new, I wonder if this is about the expected lifetime of them. It wasn't treated roughly, lashed on the rail and cracks in the bottom are unlikely to be caused by UV exposure. I suspect it's because the can bloats and contracts quite a bit during day/night cycles and this weakened the material.

So where do you store your outboard fuel? I'm glad it wasn't in a locker, or the mess would've been bigger and less likely to be noticed. A cover would keep UV away, but probably just increase the temperature problem. I did always squeeze the air out a little when closing it, to give it more room for expansion - but it bloated anyways. Or was it just a lousy can?
Click to expand...

I'm assuming youre in the Marina, you have a few options. You can go to Portimao for better price/choice or walk into the Praia dos Pescadores in Albufeira and ask the first Fisherman you see where you can buy one. Take the old one and show it with the crack and tadaaa they will point you to the place. or you can write this down: Onde posso comprar um tanque de combustivel para o meu barco por favor. (where can I buy a fuel tank for my boat please)
There's a couple of places.
you can also just walk into the Restaurant Tavern The Ruin ( A Ruina) and ask the old lady. It used to be the fisherman hang out and they know where to point you and speak english.

www.nautiworks.com

289587833

Celular: 915681009

E-mail: info@nautiworks.pt

ESTALEIROS DA MARINA ALBUFEIRA, Nº2
ALBUFEIRA - FARO 8200-394
PORTUGAL
 
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Thanks for all the advice. Yesterday it seemed the petrol (no oil mixed in) was evaporating out of the teak pretty quickly, although hard to tell in the pouring rain now.

I don't fancy keeping it in a locker - a leak would've been a much bigger mess there and we don't have any compartments that drain overboard that aren't already stuffed full of gas bottles.

Metal cans might be more durable, but inevitably turn into a rusty mess (just look at my gas bottles - and those are in a dry locker).

So I guess the best thing I can do is get a new plastic jerry can, store it on deck, but dress it in a white t-shirt and inspect it for cracks regularly. The white cover solves the problem of the local ferreteria only having black jerrycans. Guess I'll go back there and then to the Chinese clothing store when the rain takes a break :-)

Cheers!
 
The rain stopped and there's only a very light petrol stain on the teak deck that will hopefully fade over time.

Found a red 10L jerrycan at the China bazaar (made in Italy) and while the 1st mate was sorting through her locker to find a t-shirt to give up, she actually had a much better idea:

petrolcan.jpg


The top bag comes off to reveal the cap and handle, while the bottom bag fits snugly and provides extra carrying handles. We'll see how long this lasts now.
 
I don't know if a bit late now but there is a K spray to remove oil stains from your teak decks. If your guests drop their croissants on the deck in the morning it means you can have a perfect deck by dinner time. If your guests are into sun cream you can get through this by the crate load.
 
Just search K2 r from John Lewis at 3.99 for the mini size . Clearly real teak decks get through loads if greasy food and greasy bodies are on board so you might want to check out volume suppliers. No yacht in Antibes is without its case of K2r I'm told along with the Rose wine of choice.
 
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