Petrol vs Diesel

One of the few downsides of modern outboards is that there seems to be a shortage of people who are prepared to mend them.
 
To be fair, modern outboards are so reliable they don't often need repair beyond basic oil, filters and impeller changes. Hence a lack of people to repair them....
 
We used petrol in/ out of steel jerrycans for nigh on 14 seasons. All filled up at local service stations sometimes up to 4 at a time. Close to the coast, petrol stations accept it. Inland, I was trying 2 fill 2 x 5 litre petrol cans, they stopped me from filling the second one ! Maybe Illegal to carry such quantities of petrol in a car , but we were never stopped on the 1/2 mile journey. We used to take the jerry cans to the boat on a trolley.

We started out using a (plastic) fuel funnel, but for most of the time used a big fuel siphon from Machinemart; incredibly fast emptying of the jerrycans with no leakage like we had with the funnel. Yes, in theory static could have ignited fuel vapours( plastic funnel and siphon) but I didn't think it would in the British climate so close to water/ humidity and it never did.
 
When I lived in Africa, an illegal petrol trader had a warehouse full of 55 gallon drums of fuel just down the road....when that went up in flames it was a sight to behold...the drums of fuel would take off into the air at great heights...while the rest went into a mushroom cloud. The amazing thing was this was his second fire...a few weeks earlier it all went up but I was at the coast (probably seeing a dentist) at the time
 
Several issues here.

If you have an estate or hatchback you cannot legally carry petrol in them and in many cars with boots now you cannot carry petrol as the C&U regulations state you must have a steel bulkhead between the boot carrying the petrol and the passenger compartment and many saloons built for cheapness only have a partial bulkhead and the rest is the rear seat.

You can use a pick up truck with the fuel on the bed as long as the rear window is fixed and cannot be opened as this constitutes a solid bulkhead, fit one of the tops such as a Trucktop on the bed and its classed as an estate car and fuel cannot be carried, stupid I know.

Most councils have legislation limiting you to 10 litres of petrol stored at home and this was recently reviewed as people began making their own transesterified diesel at home and the resulting explosions prompted a review and 10L is classed as the standard if it is not in a vehicle fuel tank or approved storage and dispensing tank; and councils generally do not differentiate between plastic and steel petrol cans.

If yo have an on board fuel tank which is either permanently attached to the engine or securely attached to the boat this is classed as a permanent fuel tank and you can affix as many fuel tanks to your boat as you like as this is covered by exactly the same legislation as a car or lorry fuel tank and your boat mounted fuel tank only needs permanent fastenings such as a few nuts and bolts and its permanent as you cannot undo them by hand as you need tools, if you fit another tank alongside in the same way with your pick up and return pipes going through the lid and both the lids in the centre of your boat next to eaxch other you simply take the fuel tank lid with the pipes in and put it on your second tank and take the solid lid from your second tank and out it on your first tank.

There is no limit generally on fuel cans but plastic cans were designed to hold 10L maximum so anything above this doesn't comply with the regulations and would be illegal but you can carry as many steel cans as you like in your boat while being towed as long as they are securely loaded and fastened down.

Mate has 2X 60 litre inboard tanks fitted and he fills them with petrol station fuel (Morrisons) and he is totally compliant with the law and the High Court agrees and set a Lawful Precedent on this exact issue.
 
Assassin said:
Several issues here.

If you have an estate or hatchback you cannot legally carry petrol in them and in many cars with boots now you cannot carry petrol as the C&U regulations state you must have a steel bulkhead between the boot carrying the petrol and the passenger compartment and many saloons built for cheapness only have a partial bulkhead and the rest is the rear seat.

You can use a pick up truck with the fuel on the bed as long as the rear window is fixed and cannot be opened as this constitutes a solid bulkhead, fit one of the tops such as a Trucktop on the bed and its classed as an estate car and fuel cannot be carried, stupid I know.

Most councils have legislation limiting you to 10 litres of petrol stored at home and this was recently reviewed as people began making their own transesterified diesel at home and the resulting explosions prompted a review and 10L is classed as the standard if it is not in a vehicle fuel tank or approved storage and dispensing tank; and councils generally do not differentiate between plastic and steel petrol cans.

If yo have an on board fuel tank which is either permanently attached to the engine or securely attached to the boat this is classed as a permanent fuel tank and you can affix as many fuel tanks to your boat as you like as this is covered by exactly the same legislation as a car or lorry fuel tank and your boat mounted fuel tank only needs permanent fastenings such as a few nuts and bolts and its permanent as you cannot undo them by hand as you need tools, if you fit another tank alongside in the same way with your pick up and return pipes going through the lid and both the lids in the centre of your boat next to eaxch other you simply take the fuel tank lid with the pipes in and put it on your second tank and take the solid lid from your second tank and out it on your first tank.

There is no limit generally on fuel cans but plastic cans were designed to hold 10L maximum so anything above this doesn't comply with the regulations and would be illegal but you can carry as many steel cans as you like in your boat while being towed as long as they are securely loaded and fastened down.

Mate has 2X 60 litre inboard tanks fitted and he fills them with petrol station fuel (Morrisons) and he is totally compliant with the law and the High Court agrees and set a Lawful Precedent on this exact issue.
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That is very interesting ??
Are there any environmental laws about filling a boat fuel tank on the water…to protect against spillage?
Here in the SoF you are not supposed to fill a boat by jerrycan
 
oldgit said:
On the navigable Medway from above the lock Allington down to Sheerness there are only three places shoreside with petrol.
Average price around £2.20 per litre.
EA claim around 400 boats registered on the upper Medway.
The tidal section must have several thousand boats but perhaps not that many with petrol engines , between the lock and Garrison Pt, not counting the marinas and boatyards in the Swale.
Doubt that the petrol situation is going to get any better.
Suspect a majority of petrol boats are being topped up via a supermarket fuel forecourt.
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Even less on the Norfolk Broads, 136 miles of waterway and there are precisely zero petrol pumps riverside..
 
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