2000 Hydrasport Seahorse 23 CC fuel tank ???

[adm1476]

I have a 2000 23 ft Seahorse with a 105 gal tank. Today for the first time ever I have water in the tank. I do not know how it got in there. I have owned the boat for 3 months and have had it out almost once a week since I got it. It has been running excellent! Here is a little background info. The boat sat for a year with half a tank of fuel in it. The motor was bad so I bought it and put my 250hp Johnson carved 2 stroke on it. Filled the tank up the rest of the way with fuel. And been using the boat ever since with no issues. I premix my fuel in the tank. I do not use my oil injection. So today I go to use it and it runs like crap. I remove the fuel hose from the primer bulb and squeeze out a half water bottle full of fuel. Let it sit for 2 minutes and already could see a water level of about an inch in the bottle!! No idea where the water could be coming from all of a sudden. Tank is at 3/4 full and no sign of a tank leak of any kind. Anyone had this problem on one of these boats? Any suggestions? I am thinking the vent line???

 

[alldodge]

Does it sit in the water or on a trailer?
Are you buying fuel from the same place?
Did you take any water on from rain, splash over the bow or other way recently?

 

[southkogs]

Any chance you're getting condensation in the tank? Some sort of vent problem?

 

[adm1476]

It sits on my trailer. I have not put gas in it since I filled it the first time. Half of the gas that was in it has been in it over a year. It did not have any water in it and the boat sat with that half a tank for a year. I have used the boat every week since I filled the tank the rest of the way up, with no problems at all. Until yesterday, now suddenly I have water in the tank. It has rained some this week. But I am sure it rained a lot while it was sitting for a year also. But I was using that fuel also with no water in it. So this must be a new problem. Do these boats vent from the same fill cap? I do not have a separate vent anywhere on my boat.

 

[ondarvr]

There are many ways for water to get in the tank, and yes, it could have been in there for a very long time. Water collects in the bottom of the tank and doesn't always get picked up right away.

Normally condensation doesn't add enough water to cause problems, but it can, typically there's a leak around the gas cap or on the top of the tank where water collects. You can't see these leaks, so just looking may not be of much value.

Occasionally you pump it when getting the gas, it happens.

 

[dingbat]

I had the same thing happen to me a couple years back. Turned out to be a problem with the "ventless" gas caps.

My fuel fills are recessed into the gunwales to keep them flush. Combination of a weeks rain and the boat not setting level allowed the recess to fill with water and leak into the vent on the underside of the cap.

Contacted the fill manufacturer of the fill for input. Turns out there was a service bulletin related to the problem and retrofit kit was avaiable. $13 and a half hour labor the problem was solve

 

[adm1476]

Dingbat do you have a hydrasport ? I am wondering if that may be my problem.

 

[ondarvr]

Having a Hydrasport doesn?t matter, it?s a common issue, boat builder buy this type of item from third parties, and they frequently change suppliers, a boat built the next day could have many different parts on it. Then a guy installs and plumbs it, he may or may not know what he's doing, or may not care.

 

[adm1476]

If it ever stops raining I will start to dig into it.

 

[alldodge]

On another concerning note; if your using gas with ethanol the water will be absorbed and the gas will phase separate.

 

[Blind Date]

Here's a good read on the myth that condensation in fuel tanks can cause problems. I always store my boats with with very little fuel in the tanks. More than likely the fuel got moisture in it after you started using the boat. 1.5 years isn't that long to sit, see my story below..

I ripped my CVX18 apart over 4 years ago for a rebuild. Just recently I removed the 18 gallon fuel tank that mounts under the deck because I decided remove more of the floor and stringers than originally planned. There was about 4 gallons of ethanol blended fuel in an 18 gallon tank that I hadn't done anything with (no stabilizer, etc.) so I was wondering how I would dispose of it. When we got the tank out of the boat and emptied it into a five gallon gas can it was obvious phase separation from condensation moisture hadn't occurred. It even smelled fine. So I dumped it into my '04 Sierra HD, filled the tank up w/fresh fuel and burned it up.

http://www.yachtsurvey.com/myth_of_c...fuel_tanks.htm

 

[dingbat]

Dingbat do you have a hydrasport ? I am wondering if that may be my problem.

No. I have a Grady White.

Take a good look at the o-ring in the cap as well. They get hard and crack over time.

 

[adm1476]

I am thinking it definitely got there after. Sometime within the last week. So something had to have changed. A broken fitting etc. I checked the fuel cap and the gasket seems fine. I have not had a chance to check the vent system yet.