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Fueling Your Bennie

Whether you've had this problem, or not yet, remember to peek at your gas hoses next time you are out. You might be able to avoid the issue.
 
kaydano said:
You may have fixed this by the simple fact that you ran a separate vent (and not so much the size of the hose).

What did you do to terminate your new vent? Just let the vent hose lay loose (or tied up) inside the boat? Or did you drill a hole in the side of your boat and run it through a plastic tube/grommet/flange thingy? Maybe you just stuffed it down the hole where the canister hose goes? Curious what you did...
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I ordered a external vent and a loger piece of hose from overtons and mounted it right next to the fuel fill, I had to drill a hole to mount it but it looks great and I have no more issues with fuel splash back.

I will take a pic of the mounting and vent when I get back home in a couple of days and post it.

Cheers
 
My Bennie has the deck mounted tank (under the port/stearn seat) and I have no experience with the center-toon mounted tank. So far, I have always fueled up with the boat on the trailer so it's been very easy to experiment with the angle of the boat during re-fueling. I usually plan ahead and when I am going to trailer the boat down to the gas station I adjust the ball on my truck to angle the boat with the bow higher than the stearn. It has become very apparent that when my boat is angled with the bow several inches higher than the stearn that filling the tank is not a problem as long as you take it slow and easy. None of our local lakes have fuel available on the water so I have not tried that yet but will be going to Shasta soon and will get the opportunity there. Seems to me that if fueling on the lake becomes a problem that the simple fix would be a couple bodies on the stearn while pumping gas. I'll post the results of that after my Shasta trip.
 
I just bought a 2012 GCW. Fuel spits out every time regardless of trailer or marina fueling. We are going out tonight and I will check for low spots in the vent line. Hopefully an easy fix.
 
Good luck with this and let me know what you find. I think you will find a low vent hose.

Thanks again Hapehour for pointing this out and for posting the schematics that explain the fuel system. That was a huge help.
 
I just bought a 2012 GCW also. Fuel spits out every time when I fuel at the pump. I have used a 5 gallon gas can with a long bendable nozzle on it and not spilled a drop. I think that is what I will have to do from now on, just fill 5 gallons at a time using the gas can.
 
Looks nice!

Last night I added a battery combiner relay, and then took the boat back to the marina. On the way I filled it up with gas. 16 gallons went in at full throttle on the gas pump handle. Removing the pee trap on my vent hose made all the difference. No more problems here. BUT, I will keep your fix in mind if I start having issues again. Which I probably will now that I've written that.

Do you think you'll have to do anything in the winter since your tank is no longer a closed system? It would be easy enough to detach the vent hose and plug it just like you did to the filler neck. I'm not sure if you'd have to do this, just something to think about.
 
Not completely sure yet but my last two bow riders had factory vent systems just like this and I never did anything additional other then adding stabil to the tank.

Open to suggestions.

Cheers
 
I found this video just last night, but it is pretty much the reason I didn't want to open up my closed fuel system to the atmosphere. If you use ethanol, you might find this interesting. If you DON'T use ethanol, you'll probably find this even MORE interesting!

I guess what this is saying, in the context of this forum thread, is if you have a vent hose to the atmosphere, don't use ethanol.
 
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Kaydano, are you saying that the Bennington factory system is closed but Ken H's solution to fueling your Bennie makes it an open system?
 
CcanDo said:
I may be missing something, however it is obvious more fuel is going in than vent air is coming out. The spew occurs when air rushs out the filler neck and brings fuel with it..... So, either the vent line is under capacity or restricted. Modern EPA has something to do with the fuel cap and safety may mandate a restrictive vent design. Though, from a point of safety, spewing gas is not safe.

Perhaps an "enlarged vent line" from the tank To a "T" To a capped auxilary vent head, to be opened when fueling. The other leg of the "T" will create the original circuit. There should be less back pressure if the "T" is placed close to the tank. At that point the only restriction would be subject to capacity of the tank vent fitting.

With some amount of vent, fueling becomes similar to filling a bucket with the garden hose.
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There are several vent devices available. Some are more sanitary than others, though serve the same purpose. Yes, Ethanol is known to develop phase seperation, especially over an extended storage period. Basicly, Ethanol wicks or attracts moisture from the atmosphere, over time, the Hydrogen seperates and appears as water. Thus, phase seperation, part hydro-carbon, part water.

An uncapped vent line is a clear, unrestricted path to the atmosphere. The boat, on the water, is exposed to a greater Dew Point than land based storage. Therefore, the risk of absorbtion increases when the boat is on the water.

The solution may include a seperate vent hose/vent that is opened when fueling and closed after fueling.
 
CcanDo said:
There are several vent devices available. Some are more sanitary than others, though serve the same purpose. Yes, Ethanol is known to develop phase seperation, especially over an extended storage period. Basicly, Ethanol wicks or attracts moisture from the atmosphere, over time, the Hydrogen seperates and appears as water. Thus, phase seperation, part hydro-carbon, part water.

An uncapped vent line is a clear, unrestricted path to the atmosphere. The boat, on the water, is exposed to a greater Dew Point than land based storage. Therefore, the risk of absorbtion increases when the boat is on the water.

The solution may include a seperate vent hose/vent that is opened when fueling and closed after fueling.
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Thats a interesting solution Ccando and I was considering that very thing if I run into water issues in the fuel. I just hosed it up like my previous Tahoe boat which came that way from the factory and never had water issues but that being said I always put marine stabil in the tank every time I get gas, Not sure if it helps but so far so good.

But it would be very easy to install a ball valve and switch over to fuel up and then close it off again.

Cheers

Ken
 
Oregonizm said:
Kaydano, are you saying that the Bennington factory system is closed but Ken H's solution to fueling your Bennie makes it an open system?
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Well, now that you call me on it, I'd have to say it is semi-open, and not fully closed. From a practical matter though, it seems like a closed system to me.

All the hoses from the tank go to the filler neck except one. When the filler cap is screwed on, it seals the system, except the one hose that goes to the charcoal/vapor canister. The outlet from that canister vents to the atmosphere.

But, that canister "vent" was pretty useless at venting the tank when I was having trouble getting gas to go in because my main vent tube was plugged with gas. I'm concluding the canister must be HIGHLY restrictive as far as venting goes. So, technically, the canister line is an open path to the atmosphere. But, because it's so restrictive to air flow, the system is mostly/largely "closed", if that makes sense. In my mind anyway.

I'm no fuel system expert, just learning as I go, both here, and looking at my setup. Anyone feel free to chime in if I'm wrong. I'd like to learn more about this, while at the same time not mislead anyone reading this.
 
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Okay, now you guys have me thinking. What is the black plastic cap approx. 1" dia. to the right of my fuel cap on my 2575 RCW ESP w/ center fuel tank? It appears adjustable, screwing in and out. Is it meant to be an open/close vent ? Have no problems filling my fuel tank with it open or closed anyway. Thanks Gerry
 
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Ken H said:
Thats a interesting solution Ccando and I was considering that very thing if I run into water issues in the fuel. I just hosed it up like my previous Tahoe boat which came that way from the factory and never had water issues but that being said I always put marine stabil in the tank every time I get gas, Not sure if it helps but so far so good.

But it would be very easy to install a ball valve and switch over to fuel up and then close it off again.

Cheers

Ken
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Ken, Typically, best intentions are to fuel today and use the boat tomorrow. However, Murhy's law has proven best intentions don't always happen, as planned. Then, speaking of Murphy's law, from time to time fuel dock gas is KNOWN to contain water. Therefore, using Stabil is only prudent insurance. In fact some may say, not using Stabil or something similar, is Mal-Practice.
 
BulldogsCadillac said:
So once again, does this problem still exist with the center tube fuel tank, or does it seem to be more the deck mounted?

Thanks, Derrick
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I have a center tank on my 2575. It will spits gas out when its full. I listen for the rush or higher pitch sound and shut off the flow and step back and watch it squirt. This is at the station, boat on trailer.
 
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