gas in bilge

[Pboettger]

I bought a 2000 model 21 SE this past spring. Fixed it the way I wanted it and used it quite a bit during early summer. Everything was working fine mechanically. Then, due to personal circumstances I had to pull the boat out of the water in mid August. Last weekend I topped off the gas tank and put it back in the water, again no problems. Today when I arrived at the dock I checked the bilge and only noticed a little water, but it was a very brief check. I putt-putted about a quarter mile from the dock to do a little fishing and moved several times. It wasn't long before I began to notice a gas smell, and sure enough there was a small amount of gas in the bilge, although the bilge had come on several times. This hull is only 9 years old and I believe has an aluminum tank. I can't imagine the tank has gone bad. If so, do I have any recourse with Parker? More likely I'm thinking a line somewhere between the tank and deck is leaking. Any thoughts on how to approach this?

 

[GW]

I doubt it's your tank. Check a few things before you get too worked up:

Open the deck access plates and check
#1) the fuel fill and vent hose connections to the tank

#2) the fuel pickup elbow and hose connections

#3) the fuel sender and gasket

Are they all double clamped?

Might want to check the whole length of the fuel hoses too for cracks. I noticed that my fill hose had worn almost completely thru over the 15 years of its life because it rubbed continually against a "nub" of fiberglass cloth/resin that was sticking up in the layup of the fill hose box. Had I not pulled the entire length of hose out to examine it, I would have never seen it.

Something about what you said..."I topped off the tank" has me thinking it's likely related to that. It could be that some gas ran down the fill hose to the bilge or the vent hose is clogged or the vent fitting cracked. Or it could be that you filled the tank so full that the fill hose had gas in it and it just seeped out around either the deck fitting or the fill elbow on the tank.

 

[Megabyte]

#3) the fuel sender and gasket

This is a common problem area for this sort of trouble, especially after having topped off the tank.

 

[Pboettger]

Thanks guys for the suggestions. Since I am not much good with things mechanical, I took the boat to my trusted long time mechanic, and brought along the list of possiblities you wrote out. Everything checked out okay. He tilted the boat up and about 1/4 inch of gas drained out of the bilge into the bottom of a 5 gallon bucket. He is going to pull the lines in the bilge and replace them, just to go ahead and rule that out. If that doesn't solve the problem, he believes there is a leak in the tank itself. I still find it hard to believe, since this is only a 9 year old tank. I have e-mailed Robin Parker to see if there is anything they can do to work with me, since this should be a rare exception, even though the warranty is long past expired. Just holding my breath that replacing the lines will fix the problem. I've got 3 guests coming from Maryland to do some speckled trout fishing down here on the Pungo River on the weekend of the 6th, and hate to have this ongoing problem.

Peter Boettger
Greenville, ,NC

 

[Megabyte]

Pete, Let us know if your mechanic finds anything of note after he swaps out the hoses.
Ask him to check the gasket under the sending unit too. Leaks there are a common problem, but easily fixed.

Good luck!

 

[greatcir]

Sure hope the gas leak is in something simple like a hose or fitting or seal.

I have to remember that any tank can leak. I had a boat with round aluminum tanks (like big barrels) and had to replace three of them on what was then an older boat. One was weeping at a weld and the other two had corroded from the inside where there was a sludge like deposit that apparently ate the aluminum from inside.

To find the defective tanks was fairly simple. We sealed off each tank and put a little (very little) air pressure on one at a time & the next day the pressure had leaked out so it was a bad tank......................Pete K.

 

[mulliganb]

When I bought my 2820xl last year, i topped it off with gas for the first time and the next morning i could smell gas in the bilge. i also had a small amount of gas in the bilge. the fuel sender ended up having a hair line crack in it and when the tank was full it would leak fuel. the dealer replaced the sender and i have never had another problem.

 

[arima]

When I bought my 2820xl last year, i topped it off with gas for the first time and the next morning i could smell gas in the bilge. i also had a small amount of gas in the bilge. the fuel sender ended up having a hair line crack in it and when the tank was full it would leak fuel. the dealer replaced the sender and i have never had another problem.

i had the same thing happen to me

 

[Pboettger]

Good news folks! Although he could not detect any gas coming from the sending unit, I had my mechanic go ahead and replace the unit and gasket, just to be 100% sure. He just called and said there was no further gas in the bilge! He advised me to go ahead and top it off again before using it to be absolutely sure, which I will do, but hopefully this is the end of this problem. Thanks for all the help.