Where do you keep your petrol?

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PhillM

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Now I have an outboard I expect that I shall have to put some fuel in it. I don’t have a pushpit so it’s going to have to lie on its side in the locker. I really don’t like the idea of petrol being able to leak into the bilges. My current thinking is not to use the engine’s tank but to use an external one instead, then when finished, let the engine run dry.

Does that sound like a decent plan and where would you keep the external petrol tank?
 
I currently keep my 5l petrol can on the cockpit sole, tucked under the aft thwart. Fine from a fire safety purpose, but not ideal otherwise as it can sometimes slide forwards and get underfoot.

On the new boat, I haven't yet decided where it will go. Possibly in the anchor locker, which has a small shelf aft of where the chain falls, and is sealed from the cabin and self-draining.

The ideal place is in a roomy gas locker, if the boat has one which I know yours doesn't.

Is your cockpit self-draining? If so, a lot of smaller wooden boats I see have odd corners and spaces where a can could perhaps be stowed, with wooden chocks around the base and a strap over the top. Some have a sort of gap at deck level between the cabin top and the mast, where I've seen owners stow all kinds of junk, including gas bottles on bigger boats. Sorry, don't know if this applies to you as I don't think I've ever seen a picture, just picked up an impression of the boat from your posts.

Pete
 
'Where do you keep your petrol?'

I have the outboard mounted on a bracket on the pushpit and the spare petrol in a container on the aft deck.

I don't like them being there but I'd rather that than having them somewhere where spilled petrol or fumes might end up in the bilge.
 
My OB lives on it's transom hung bracket, so any leak of fuel from the engine would be overboard. Not that it leaks, and it always remains upright.

5L petrol can on a shelf in a cockpit locker.

TIP not all plastic petrol cans are equal. Buy one and try it. Keep it in your car for a few weeks. If you get the merest hint of a smell of petrol, it's no good.

I have one that has a lousy poor sealing cap that I would never carry in my car or my boat. That one lives in my petrol store cupboard well away from the house and is used just for the lawnmower.
 
Outside, on top of the lazaret locker's lid.
 
I follow government guidelines and keep mine in my oven in case of lightning strikes!


Just joking, gas locker not big enough so anchor locker for me.
 
If the intefral fuel tank is large enough for your needs then stick with that.

Shut off the fuel tap and allow the engine to run the carb dry by all means.
Make sure the fuel tank cap is fitted properly and the vent screwed down and you should have no trouble from fuel leaking.

If you do need a greater range than the integral tank gives then obtain a remote tank if the engine has provision to connect one.

the logic in running the carb dry still applies.

There is no problem with a remote tank provided the cap is fitted and the vent closed although AFAIK few, if any, modern ones have a detachable fuel line.
 
It's a difficult problem on small boats. Although my OB lives on the pushpit when I carry it, I then have 5l of petrol in a cockpit locker, which is far from ideal since it drains into the bilge. I must have another think about it.
 
My main outboard stays on the bracket. The remote tank stows in the cockpit locker

The Seagull stows in the cockpit locker once the above fuel tank is removed.

Been doing this for most of 30 odd years without any problems of leaking fuel.
 
The interesting one on our new boat is that the anchor locker is also the gas locker. And yet it also contains the working parts of an electric windlass, which I very much doubt is sealed and approved for potentially explosive atmospheres :eek:

This is as-built, and apparently common on scandiwegian boats.

Pete
 
PhillM said:
Thanks guys, going to have to have a think. No pushpit and no anchor locker.
Click to expand...

For what it's worth, I had no pushpit on KS, so when I carried the outboard I did as Vic says - closing the tap and the cap on the internal tank and then putting the engine in the locker. I suppose strictly speaking there was a risk of petrol leaking into the bilge but I didn't worry too much. It was a very new, clean engine with no sign of any leaks, which helped.

Pete
 
In addition to the 12l external tank that sits on the pushpit or in the cockpit depenting on whether it's in use, and the 2l in the outboard, I keep 2 spare full 5l cans of petrol in a cockpit locker. In theory these might leak if they were upside down but they aren't, and the caps are on tight. Next to these I keep 2 stroke oil, matches, charcoal and BBQ lighting gel as well as some (probably flammable) paint, a (definitely flammable) can of carb cleaner and some rags.
In the opposite locker is the battery, although this is technically the same compartment.
I also have anywhere from 2 to 8 cans of gas inside the boat for the camping stove.

None of this worries me, and I can't sensibly change any of it either. Well, I guess I could leave the charcoal at home, but what kind of boat doesn't have a BBQ?!
 
I take the Mercury 3.5 off the dinghy and put it on the transom bracket as a third method of propulsion after sails and diesel inboard. However it only has its built in tank and I wouldn't get far on that. I usually take a 5 litre plastic can with me and take it home when I go. Recently I left it - about 3/4 full - in the cockpit locker for a week. When I went back it was like a drum with the pressure but no leak, just a loud hiss when I released the cap. Presumably these cans are designed to withstand normal pressure build up.
Sailorbaz
 
sailorbaz said:
I take the Mercury 3.5 off the dinghy and put it on the transom bracket as a third method of propulsion after sails and diesel inboard. However it only has its built in tank and I wouldn't get far on that. I usually take a 5 litre plastic can with me and take it home when I go. Recently I left it - about 3/4 full - in the cockpit locker for a week. When I went back it was like a drum with the pressure but no leak, just a loud hiss when I released the cap. Presumably these cans are designed to withstand normal pressure build up.
Sailorbaz
Click to expand...

Scary when they do that ! It emphasises the need to use the proper plastic cans for petrol and not any old plastic cans!

I have been leaving my plastic fuel tank in the locker for as long as I have had it, and the one before it that was nicked, and its a big 22 litre one!

I did try leaving the vent just cracked open once but the locker full of petrol fumes was not nice to arrive to so never did it again!
 
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