I have had this boat 2 years . The end of last year i had to pull boat , motor would not run. The mechanic found water some 20-30 gal in gas tank . He re did vst assy filters all, vent for tank . new o ring on fill cap. Pulled all water out of tank . Ran motor on his seperate tank tested fine . This year with empty tank and all new filters I put in 85 gal fuel non Ethanol . from a busy Marina with above ground tank. Went to start motor same thing would not start /run . [ note when i launched boat on inclined ramp bilge pump cam on and pumped out alot of water no gas smell.]I brought boat back to repair shop same thing loaded with water ?? not sure how much yet. My question is it possible tank could leak in water and not leak out any gas or fumes ? as we have no fumes or gas . any suggestions on a test of the tank ? it seems odd when i went on a incline the water pumped out does this boat perhaps have a blockage for water to make its way to back where pump is ? Any ideas or help would be great . Thanks Larry
2007 222 FISHERMAN WATER GETTING INTO TANK
- Thread starter GRADY 13
- Start date
Hookup1
GreatGrady Captain
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- Oct 16, 2007
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- Age
- 69
- Location
- Cape May, NJ
- Model
- Islander
I assume you had the drain plug out. The water in the bilge may just be how the boat sat on the trailer all winter.
With all you had done to the boat last year, with the most important think being changing the o-rings on the fuel fill , I would say the water is either left over or from condensation. It's great to have access to Non-ethanol fuel - it doesn't adsorb water and degrade when water is present - but it will be picked up first on the way to your motors.
The first thing you need to do is figure out how much water is in the tank. Even a few pints will drive you crazy. I have had water in my fuel a number of times in the 15 years I have owned my boat. I think its fixed now (o-rings on fills). Here is what I recommend.
Don't panic just yet. I bought my 1997 268 Islander in 2007. I run a dual season program - Summer in NJ and 5 or 6 weeks in Florida in the winter. I have been working this 'water in fuel' problem almost every year since I bought the boat. When it happens I work the fuel filter hard and get the water out. After that everything is fine. I have considered everything from condensation, tank leaks, fuel phase separation and other suggestions. Seasick pushed me this year (Jan 2021) to look at my fuel fill o-rings which I never looked at - and sure enough they were gone! I won't know for sure until next year if that was it but I think it was.
This year in Islamorada (boat did not go in the water in NJ for 2020) I had fuel problems after launch. I spent two days with my Sierra filters getting a 1/2 gallon of water out of of one of the tanks. The other was fine. After that everything was great for 5 weeks.
Prior to this (summer 2020) I came close to replacing my tanks but after testing I decided they had some life left in them - no leaks.
When tanks in GW boats get to 20+ years old they are in the replacement zone. But this is because they are corroded on the bedding and leak fuel into the fuel compartment. Fuel tanks are in compartments that are isolated from the boat bilge to prevent you from blowing up the boat.
New o-rings on fuel fill caps. Sierra clear bowl filter. Run it to shake the fuel up. Drain filter. Repeat. Get fuel cleaned up. I'll bet everything will be fine.
www.greatgrady.com
If it ran for 20 minuets then died you immediately need to pull the filter can off and dump into a somewhat clear plastic quart container (West, Home Depot or takeout). Or a glass jar as seasick said. It will take less than a minute for the fuel to separate from the water.
It's difficult to get all the water out of the tanks at the dock. I found that running the boat and bouncing around gets the water somewhat in suspension where the pickup in the tank gets fuel and a little water up into the filter. Remember the water sits on the bottom of the tank and the fuel floats. And it takes a while to fill the fuel filter up with water - maybe 20 minuets in your case.
Once it stalls you need to get the water out of both the can filter and the one on the engine. I bring a small can of gas with me and a disposal container (orange juice bottle). Dump the filter can into a container, give it a minute, dump only the fuel back in the filter, top off a little with fresh fuel and put it back up. Same with the filter on the engine. Pull cowling off, unscrew filter, dump into container, give it a minute, dump only the fuel back in the filter, top off a little with fresh fuel and put it back up.
I don't really like messing with fuel out on the water but its the only way it works for me. Always have someone with you and a good fire extinguisher handy.
The alternative is to run the boat for a while, shut the motor down, inspect the bowl on the Sierra clear bowl. If you see water tap it off into a container. Start motor back up and run around. Re-check again.
It's really important that you deal with the water in the larger filter can BEFORE it gets up into the engine. Otherwise you will stall the engine and have a hard time restarting it. That little thin layer on top is fuel!
With all you had done to the boat last year, with the most important think being changing the o-rings on the fuel fill , I would say the water is either left over or from condensation. It's great to have access to Non-ethanol fuel - it doesn't adsorb water and degrade when water is present - but it will be picked up first on the way to your motors.
The first thing you need to do is figure out how much water is in the tank. Even a few pints will drive you crazy. I have had water in my fuel a number of times in the 15 years I have owned my boat. I think its fixed now (o-rings on fills). Here is what I recommend.
Don't panic just yet. I bought my 1997 268 Islander in 2007. I run a dual season program - Summer in NJ and 5 or 6 weeks in Florida in the winter. I have been working this 'water in fuel' problem almost every year since I bought the boat. When it happens I work the fuel filter hard and get the water out. After that everything is fine. I have considered everything from condensation, tank leaks, fuel phase separation and other suggestions. Seasick pushed me this year (Jan 2021) to look at my fuel fill o-rings which I never looked at - and sure enough they were gone! I won't know for sure until next year if that was it but I think it was.
This year in Islamorada (boat did not go in the water in NJ for 2020) I had fuel problems after launch. I spent two days with my Sierra filters getting a 1/2 gallon of water out of of one of the tanks. The other was fine. After that everything was great for 5 weeks.
Prior to this (summer 2020) I came close to replacing my tanks but after testing I decided they had some life left in them - no leaks.
When tanks in GW boats get to 20+ years old they are in the replacement zone. But this is because they are corroded on the bedding and leak fuel into the fuel compartment. Fuel tanks are in compartments that are isolated from the boat bilge to prevent you from blowing up the boat.
New o-rings on fuel fill caps. Sierra clear bowl filter. Run it to shake the fuel up. Drain filter. Repeat. Get fuel cleaned up. I'll bet everything will be fine.
Water in Fuel
Hi Guys, I have a GW Tournament 225 that I’ve owned since 2015. Last April, on the shakedown cruise, I broke down and got towed in. Mechanic got the boat and told me it was water in my fuel, like a lot of water. He asked me if I may have mistakenly put water in the fuel fill thinking it was...
www.greatgrady.com
If it ran for 20 minuets then died you immediately need to pull the filter can off and dump into a somewhat clear plastic quart container (West, Home Depot or takeout). Or a glass jar as seasick said. It will take less than a minute for the fuel to separate from the water.
It's difficult to get all the water out of the tanks at the dock. I found that running the boat and bouncing around gets the water somewhat in suspension where the pickup in the tank gets fuel and a little water up into the filter. Remember the water sits on the bottom of the tank and the fuel floats. And it takes a while to fill the fuel filter up with water - maybe 20 minuets in your case.
Once it stalls you need to get the water out of both the can filter and the one on the engine. I bring a small can of gas with me and a disposal container (orange juice bottle). Dump the filter can into a container, give it a minute, dump only the fuel back in the filter, top off a little with fresh fuel and put it back up. Same with the filter on the engine. Pull cowling off, unscrew filter, dump into container, give it a minute, dump only the fuel back in the filter, top off a little with fresh fuel and put it back up.
I don't really like messing with fuel out on the water but its the only way it works for me. Always have someone with you and a good fire extinguisher handy.
The alternative is to run the boat for a while, shut the motor down, inspect the bowl on the Sierra clear bowl. If you see water tap it off into a container. Start motor back up and run around. Re-check again.
It's really important that you deal with the water in the larger filter can BEFORE it gets up into the engine. Otherwise you will stall the engine and have a hard time restarting it. That little thin layer on top is fuel!
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