Name: |
Walter
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Subject: |
Ethanol gas
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Date:
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5/6/2009 9:24:41 PM
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First of all, is anybody certain that marina gas has no ethanol??? Refineries are being forced to produce part-ethanol gas and I'm not so sure the marine industry get's a pass on that. Secondly, an I/O engine is just a car engine modified for boats. They all should have water/ fuel separators and their seals and hoses are no different from those of cars, so why is it okay for a car to run on mixed fuel, but not on I/O boat engine?? Please enlighten me.
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Name: |
alahusker
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Subject: |
Ethanol gas
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Date:
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5/6/2009 9:37:37 PM
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Not sure Pal.. running a 200 hp black max on my boat for the past 12 years.. use gas from the economy, most of which is 10% ethanol .. no probs so far, other than when it was $4.50/gal.. That really bite..
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Name: |
HP HQ
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Subject: |
Ethanol gas
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Date:
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5/6/2009 9:41:04 PM
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its actually a fairly easy answer,alcohol is a median between gas and water, this allows water to mix with gas, the problem is ethanol ie alcohol absorbs water, its so bad about this that it will absorb water from air and lucky us that we live in alabama with very high humidity. so if you leave a tank with ethanol for a period of time, basically you end up with water in the fuel, and the reason cars are not as much of a prob is because we use them more often and pass the water thru the system, where as a boat may sit for months between runs.
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Name: |
Kizma Anuice
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Subject: |
Ethanol gas
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Date:
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5/6/2009 10:05:46 PM
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don't know much about ethanol but methanol is the alcohol that they use in fuelies. it will produce much more power than gasoline. problem is it attacks aluminum and creates scales and gums things up.
i thought that the problem witn ethanol was that it would disolve fiberglass gas tanks and create deposites in the engine. I think that is why they quit putting fiberglass tanks in boats about 25 years ago.
btw most alcohol is acidic and that can cause problems. but the lake water is probably as acidic as ethanol.
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methanol breaks down some rubber and plastic products; Rubber fuel lines can become brittle and plastic and fiberglass tanks can develop a gummy residue. You get less power from methanol than gas, which can effect the an engine if it's not tuned for methanol use. The byproducts of the combustion process (with methanol) are more acidic and it's rumored to cause higher wear rate on an engine without proper oil additives.
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I was thinking methanol vs. ethanol, but both are similar in these concerns. Both are used as fuel additives.
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Name: |
dmp
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Subject: |
Ethanol gas
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Date:
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5/7/2009 8:05:06 AM
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Need to correct a previous post. Ethanol has much less energy content per unit than gasoline (only about 75%) as much as gasoline.
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Name: |
LakeLover
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Subject: |
Ethanol gas
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Date:
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5/7/2009 8:38:39 AM
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Pretty sure Alabama State law requires a sticker on all gas pumps that contain more than 1% ethanol.
LL
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Name: |
BigBill
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Subject: |
Ethanol gas
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Date:
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5/7/2009 8:55:12 AM
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My Hurricane boat has a fiberglass gasoline tank which will not dissolve with the new E10 gasoline. Old plastic tanks will dissolve.
Dragsters will use alcohol because it only requires about 4 or 5 pounds of air to one pound of alcohol while gasoline requires no less than 13.5 pounds of air. Power is measured in BTU per pound. There is fewer BTU's in alcohol than gasoline and it gets about 5% less gas mileage.
URL: Hurricane for sale
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Name: |
BigBill
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Subject: |
Ethanol gas
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Date:
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5/7/2009 9:11:57 AM
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typo here. He means they stopped potting in plastic tanks and replaced with fiberglass.
I think that is why they quit putting fiberglass tanks in boats about 25 years ago.
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Name: |
CAT BOAT
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Subject: |
Quote from Walter.......
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Date:
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5/7/2009 9:32:01 AM
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"Secondly, an I/O engine is just a car engine modified for boats". CAT thinks car engine is just a modified boat engine! :) :)
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Name: |
Swimmer27
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Subject: |
Well.....
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Date:
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5/7/2009 9:48:20 AM
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..when you think about it, we had boats before we had cars!!
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Name: |
Kizma Anuice
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Subject: |
IT COULD GET WORSE 15%
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Date:
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5/7/2009 9:49:22 AM
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GOT THE INFOR ON FIBERGLASS FROM THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE
It can dissolve some types of rubber and plastic, and it can even dissolve the resin in fiberglass fuel tanks built before the early ‘80s. If you own a boat with a fiberglass fuel tank built around 1983, we advise you to call the manufacturer and ask if it is safe to use E-10 in the tank
see article @ http://www.boattest.com/Resources/view_news.aspx?NewsID=3345
URL: IT COULD GET WORSE
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Name: |
Lakewood
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Subject: |
Ethanol gas
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Date:
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5/11/2009 1:22:57 AM
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Pretty good summary. My Merc inboard engine manual says the same thing and suggests avoiding ethanol blends, while recognizing you can't always. But it's quite emphatically against storing your boat for long periods with an ethanol blend in the tank.
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Name: |
Lakewood
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Subject: |
Ethanol gas
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Date:
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5/12/2009 12:23:19 PM
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Here's the current official word from Mercury. On the whole, it says ethanol up to 10% is OK as far as their engines are concerned, and probably OK with current fiberglass and rubber boats/components. They are't happy though about proposals to go to ethanol higher than 10%.
URL: Mercury Warranty and Ethanol Info
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