gas stroage

[chadster2]

Is summer or winter gas better for long term storage?
And this new stuff said it could be added every 6 months
(to keep gas fresh for a few years?)
What do you think?

[chpthril]

Both blends will begin to degrade
(spoil) in about the same amount of time, so there is no advantage IMO, to try and lay up the boat with one or the other in the tank.

The only real issue is storing with winter blend and then waiting till the warm days of Summer to get the boat out. The winter gas can be problematic in the warm temps as it's more volatile.

[chadster2]

so summer blend it is.....

[whitlock87]

I add STAB to my gas

[hoopykat]

I add StaBil with each fill up...never had an issue, and if it's a while between outings, I don't fret about gummy gas.

-Mike

[st68]

along the same lines would you winterize your boat with a full tank of gas or not?

[gcalkins]

Do not store with a full tank. I always did, but when I picked the boat up from my enclosed but unheated barn this spring, gas had burped out resulting in stained fiberglass and one destroyed decal. I do not know why it happened this year unless I really had it topped off.

[chadster2]

Dang it, sorry to hear that! I’ve been lucky most of the time with storage, except for the first year. A bit of water got left in the boat and rusted my steering cable. Live and learn.. Thanks all!

[chpthril]

along the same lines would you winterize your boat with a full tank of gas or not?

It's never a good idea completely fill a boats fuel tank, that way some room for expansion is left. For winter, I do like to have the tank mostly full. This leaves less room for condensation to form. Of course, this depends on the kind of humidity one sees. The most important thing is storing it with fresh fuel and some sort of stabilizer, especially if the boat will be stored for a long winter. For us, we used the boat at least once a month through the winter, so spoiled fuel wasnt and issue., but I did put in some Stabil in the fall.

[robert theisen]

i have always stored my boats full of gas and stabilizer for the last 20 years. now i used the blue marine stabil. it is made for the 10% ethanol gas. the less air you have in your tank the less moisture builds up.ethanol soaks up moisture and degrades in your tank.seafoam is also good to get if you have water in your gas.but don't count on gas lasting more than 6 months. if you have to store your boat more than 6 months. i would run all or as much as you can out. put stabil in first. that will insure that fuel in the line is treated. then when you take boat out of storage fill with new gas and however many cans of seafoam to match the gallons of gas and run several hours the first time.i fill my tank evey time i use my boat,i have 8 five gallon cans i keep with my boat and that way it always has fresh gas and no air.i have never had a fuel issue in 20+ years of owning a boat.

[robert theisen]

gas only expands with heat i've never seen a winter hotter than the summer.

[chpthril]

gas only expands with heat i've never seen a winter hotter than the summer.

True, but it's not uncommon for the Fall day it get put away to be cooler the the Spring days before it's pulled out. So, the warm days expands the fuel in full tank and it over flows.

[robert theisen]

if it's warm enough for gas to expand i better be riding.LOL

[chadster2]

That puts a chill in me. I have never thought about what if a gallon or so expanded out all over my garage floor and the a/c kicked on…. AAAAAAAAAHHH! OMG!
Now I have Oboma and my boat to be very afraid of….My garage is right below where I sleep! From here on out….. top off the boat, take it to the lake to do my 'winterization steps' and burn some gas, (not the other way around.) My garage stays 45-75 all year… Now If I can just figure out the oboma thing I’ll be able to sleep again.

[chadster2]

OMG 1/2 gallon in 40 for every 15 deg. SOOOOO could be 1-2 gallon on the floor! AAAAAAAAAhhhhhh!