Water in my fuel tank

[mrkbrocklehurst]

Hi, i have got an inboard fuel tank which i have discovered today is full of water,unfortunately i have been unable to check on my boat for about 5 weeks due to being in hospital,when i put the key in the ignition my petrol gauge shot up to full which is about 3/4 of a tank more than i had in last time i used it! luckily i did not try to start the engine before hand but i had primed it ready to use.i have 2 questions! 1st do i need to do anything to the outboard to try and prevent any potential damage and secondly what is the best course of action for the fuel tank? as i said earlier i hadnt checked the boat for around 5 weeks so my bilge was practically overflowing,my fuel tank is unaccessible without removing a section of the deck so i am not sure how water got into the tank but it would of been below the water level in the bilge.Any ideas/suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!!
many thanks

 

[rafiki_]

Firstly, do you have any idea how the water is entering the tank? Is it simply through the fuel filler? If not then this is more difficult to resolve, especially of your tank is not easily accessed.

If you can find the source of the water ingress, then I would siphon the water fuel mix out, and discard it and start again. If your engine has not ingested any of this then the engine will be OK. If it has ingested some, then if the engine is still turning over, then you should be OK. Do not try to start with the current mix, as there is a chance of hydraulicking the engine.

 

[HotProperty]

Hi there, i would check your fuel sender electrical connections on the top of the fuel tank in case they are water logged or wires have corroded through which would give an incorrect reading on your gauge.

 

[andy59]

Hi there, i would check your fuel sender electrical connections on the top of the fuel tank in case they are water logged or wires have corroded through which would give an incorrect reading on your gauge.

Now that is deffo thinking outside the box

 

[mrkbrocklehurst]

cheers guys, i forgot to say one of the first things i did was check the connections incase they were corroded and causing the problem but they are fine,i have taken the boat out of the water now so that i can work on it on the drive. the engine is fine, i connected an external tank and aside from some shuddering when putting into gear it ran fine,the boat doesnt seem to like going slow lol! i have checked the filler point and that all seems to be watertight so dont think water is getting in there,the tank itself is near enough impossible to access and cant feed a siphon into the tank as it twists and bends everywhere and wont go down!! my main concern is that when i have eventually emptied the tank and treated it with the chemical water absorber that i will encounter this same problem again.im also worried that if water can get in,petrol can come out which would explain why the bilge always smells heavily of petrol!!! im tempted to drain the tank and then just use an external from here on out?!

 

[fisherman]

which would explain why the bilge always smells heavily of petrol

My bro would tell you having had to jump in a liferaft with his a rse on fire you need to do some thing about that.

 

[Rum_Pirate]

Drain the tank.
- Disconnect the supply to the outboard and you should be able to empty it using syphon action.

Decant the fuel (floating on top of the water) for reuse.
Dispose of the water and last remnents of fuel.

Install a water separator in your fuel line like this

Racor's famous Aquabloc filter media separates water into the bottom of the drain bowl and ensures virtually 100% removal of water and solid contaminants.
Filters come in different sizes for gasoline engines and any rate of fuel flow. Designed for use on the suction side of pump.
All filters feature a die-cast aluminum head which is anodized and painted.
See-thru bowls allow easy visual inspection for water; metal bowls are recommended for use in areas of high heat and are required by the US Coast Guard on gas inboards.
Standard filter size is 10 micron.
Standard pipe-to-hose barbs are used for installation.
Fuel Type: Gasoline
Mounting Style: Bulkhead bracket with spin-on element
Mounting Head: Die-cast anodized aluminum
Inlets/Outlets: 1/4" NPT, except 3/8" NPT on 660 series
Drain Fitting: Metal plug
Priming Pump: No

 

[Rum_Pirate]

the bilge always smells heavily of petrol!!!

I also had that problem.

Had to remove the T-top, remove the centre console, the drivers seat, then the screwed down section of the deck and disconnect and remove the aluminium fuel tank. There were three holes. pinholes mind you, but holes all the same. They were heavily corroded around the edges.

Replaced the tank with a plastic (unfortunately slightly smaller) one.

I take supplementary tanks on deck when going out fishing. Always did take a spare 5 gallon tank of fuel as a back-up.

Problem fixed, albeit with a bigger hole in the wallet.

 

[Rum_Pirate]

So have you fixed the problem yet?

 

[mrkbrocklehurst]

still trying to get the water out of the tank! the engine is fine,had that running for roughly 20mins on an external tank. the main problem im having now is that i cant get a tube into the tank to siphon off the water so im having to use a hand pump which squirts out about 50ml on every squeeze, its taking some time as its a 70 litre tank! i have managed to get a chemical which you can add to the fuel that will absorb any remaining water when i have drained it.still not found where the water got into the tank and really not keen on taking out a section of the deck to remove the tank. i may just switch to using external tanks for the forseeable future,the weather has been appalling last few days so not really had much chance to get much done!thanks for all the advice, much appreciated