[Mark]

Is anybody else having this problem? When I go to put gas in my boat with a gas can it will not accept it. Yet, at the pump it goes in fine at $3.60 a gal.

[ShabahZ280]

So, your boat doesn't like gas from a gas can? Or it physically isn't possible to fill your boat from a gas can? I'm confused

[Mark]

It will not take the gas from the 5 gal can. It will take about 1/2 gal then just over flow.I put a longer filler tube on the gas can and still does the same. I just dont get it.

[ShabahZ280]

That's really bizarre, I've never heard of that! Is your vent line clogged up or something?

[SEMIJim]

Maybe there's an anti-siphon gate in there that the force from a pump overcomes, but the relatively weak flow from a gas can does not?

I'd be interested in knowing the answer to this one, too, because I'd rather fill a 5 ga. can on-shore than pay gas dock prices.

Jim

[WetWilly]

Hi guys, it might have to do with the fact that as the gas leaves the can, it creates a vacuum and so the gas can has to "breath" every so often to relieve the vacuum where as the pump just forces the fuel into the tank, no vacuum.

When the can is full, there is little space to create vacuum, as the can empties the space gets larger and the vacuum get stronger. I'd say at the halfway mark, there is a enough space in the can to create a strong enough vacuum that when the can tries to replace it with air, it sucks back any fuel between the tank and the can and you get a back flush.

OK, maybe I was over thinking it all and your Shabah likes to burp after a good chug...

WetWilly

[s.a.charlie]

it is probably the angle of the boat in the water the gas line and the vent are in the back of the fuel tank the vent should be at the front the tank air locks will not accept fuel if you put weight in the bow to level it out when fueling it should take care of your problem

[depman160]

I have not had the issue with trying to fill from a gas can, but rather the gas pump.

The first weekend in the water I put nearly 40 gallons in.....for the next 3 weeks, the only thing I could get in the tank was about 7 gallons.

It would pump a few gallons and then overflow out the fill tube...and rather than keep polluting the river, I gave up.

A week later, I put the gas pump in and it took 30 gallons like nothing!

Not sure if it was just vapor locking on me or what, but I knew I was getting low on fuel and needed more than the 7 gallons I managed to squeeze in.

[SEMIJim]

I don't know what the vents on these tanks look like, but sailors (we have a sailboat, too) are familiar with a problem that can occur with holding tank vents. These usually come out somewhere on the hull, not far under the toe rail, and are just a small fitting with a tiny little hole. Well, sometimes spiders find these little holes an attractive place to nest, blocking the hole. The result, of course, is difficulty flushing waste into the tank, and the possibity of implosion when pumping-out. (Which, as you might imagine, can be exceedingly disgusting.)

So I guess the first thing I'd check, if encountering problems filling as have been described here, is that the vent is unobstructed.

It's usually considered wise, amongst sailors, to occasionally give such vents a squirt of something like Home Defense bug killer/repellent.

Jim

[mariah bob]

I have never been able to fuel on the water. If i go to a marina, the pump will constantly click off like tank is full. Fuels fine on the trailer. Mine is a 96 Shaba 200