Ethanol taking a toll on marine engines
Ethanol has been touted by many environmentalists as the fuel of the future because it doesn’t have to be imported. But one marina owner said that energy independence for boat owners comes with a price they didn’t anticipate.
Dean Clausen, owner of Gulf X Marina on San Carlos Boulevard, said since the percentage of ethanol added to gasoline was increased from 5 percent to 10 percent, more and more customers are having major problems with gas lines.
“The first version of fuel lines were good for 5-percent ethanol and what happened is they upped it to 10-percent ethanol and it’s eating fuel lines,” Clausen said. “This is going to be a big problem.”
Clausen said typically, boats have a line running from the fuel tank to a water separator, which catches a lot of the disintegrating fuel line, “but from the separator to the engine and the fuel lines that are on the engine, they start to deteriorate.
If the engine is fuel injected, Clausen said the particles from the fuel lines to into the VST (vapor separator) and it can plug up the fuel pump, it can get into the injectors and the carburetors where the debris collect and plug up fuel flow.
“It’s an ongoing problem,” he said.
Boats manufactured after 2006 should have an improved line that can withstand up to 15 percent ethanol, but Clausen said there could be cases where some manufacturers used old fuel line until the supply was exhausted.
Clausen said the problem has continued to escalate for the six to eight months.
“We’ve got more frequent calls from boats that were being towed in and we started to look at the water separators,” he said. “We would pull the fuel lines off and they’re all deteriorated. It’s really taken its toll.”
Clausen said it’s not specifically the ethanol that causes the problem, but an additive called methyl tert-butyl ether that is used to increase octane in gasoline.
“The additive accelerates the deterioration of the lines,” Clausen said.
Clausen said boat owners should be proactive about the problem.
“They should take their boat to their dealer and replace the lines before they have problems,” he said, adding that if fuel lines do deteriorate it could be more serious than just shutting down. “What happens is it will lean the engine out and the long term of that will cause serious engine damage.”
Another way to prevent fuel line damage is to only purchase fuel that does not contain ethanol, Clausen said, adding that most Fort Myers Beach marinas do not use ethanol.
“When we had that situation during the gas crunch and people were carrying their gas cans to stations because they didn’t want to pay the prices from the marinas,” he said. “They weren’t doing themselves any favors because they were dumping the ethanol in their tanks.”
Clausen said another problem that comes with the increased amount of ethanol is for boats that have fiberglass fuel tanks.
“Virtually, the resin in the fiberglass turns into this goo,” he said. “You either have to cut the tank out of the boat and put an aluminum tank in or cut the top off and put a bladder in.”
Clausen added that fiberglass tanks manufactured after 2006 use a new resin that should not have problems.
If you have questions about fuel lines or gas tanks call Clausen at 454-8008.