old fuel

[made2008]

i just purchased a 1971 30ft searaider with trailer. that i can say is in pretty good shape for her age the owner seem like he took very good cared of her, but anyway my questions is on the fuel. since the previous owner had purchased a bigger the boat i bought had been sitting for a year, one fuel tank have 1/4 fuel in it and the have about 3/8 fuel in it, but he had added additives into both tanks. should i go ahead and drained both tanks and put new fuel in them or just added new fuel the one existed? would it hurt anything if i do

[BobCT]

one year as long as it's treated should be fine. When I bought my boat last year I had over 100 gallons of untreated feal that was at least 18 months, maybe two years old. I just ran it and burned it off while adding some new.

I had to change the canister filter but that might have been a coincidence because it looked like it had been on for many years.

I don't know if you have fiberglass tanks like some of the older boats, that might be a whole different issue.

Bob

[made2008]

no fiberglass

[Peter]

assumeing the rest of the boat is ok,I personally,would check/change the filters add a fresh bottle of stabil to each side,top off both tanks to dilute the old fuel,then boggie....

[Danny Bailey]

One year old gas with stabilizers added 9 months to 1 year ago should be fine.

[made2008]

do anyone has a searaider 30ft. how do they performed in the ocean wich is where i would be using mine

[k9th]

I agree with the rest, add some stabilizer and you should be good to go.

Don't have a SeaRaider but understand from others on here that you need to choose your days carefully if you are going to use it at any great distance offshore. Getting back safely when seas unexpectedly kick up can be a bit tricky.

[turtlem1969]

The tri cabin i picked up had 240 gals of 2+ treated year old fuel in it, I am presently siphoning it into my 93 mazda pick up and it has been doing fine. Would definitely change the fuel filters and carry a couple extras.

[mpulsev10]

Is it a trailered boat ? Did you ask if he used non ethanol fuel ? If it was Non ethanol it will be ok, if it was pump E10 (ethanol) gas get rid of it. and i mean GET RID OF IT. Your engine will ping, valves will be chattering, more then likely will need to clean the carbs too. I run a powersports shop and we have boats too. take my advice and flush it, put new filters and refuel.

my 2 cents.

[jimbo36]

Don't waste your time and money adding stabilizer to old fuel. That is not what it is for. Stabilizer is used in fresh fuel to (help) retain it's octane level. (which you have said the previous owner did) If you want to treat old fuel use an octane boost. However, with the amount you are dealing with I would get rid of it and add fresh fuel. As mpulsev10 says, if it is E 10, it is garbage. If you add non Ethanol to it you will have big problems with Phase Seperation. jimbo36

[mickeydd]

hey gents........... I just had the same problem. I work on a ship and I asked the experts. I asked our chief engineer and he said that if you add a octane booster & add a high octane fuel it would be ok.

I did what he stated & my gas was older than a year. I've been running all season so far and no porb. I just spent two weeks on the ole baby and she just purred. But I'd suggest to have extra fuel/water seperaters on hand.......lol

Mickey

[mpulsev10]

again, with what mickey states, if it is non ethanol fuel, it will be fine and burn fine. If it was E10 GET RID OF IT. There is a test system out there, my supplier of non ethanol gas has it, kinda like a pregnacy test, you put some of your gas on it, no red, no ethanol. Red = ethanol. Again, if it has ethanol anything you add/treat to it, can still harm your engine. I bought my boat and it sat in my back yard for almost 2 years. Drained everything, added new fuel and filters, rebuilt carbs, no problems with fuel. Of course other problems, heat exchanger, prop couplings, but after a few months running good. woohoo