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Small Engine Envy

spinzone, you must have a marina owner who cares about his customers boats ;) Valv-Tech is the only fuel i have seen that is advertised as marine fuel, and their's has 10% ethanol in it, along with an additive package to "reduced the negative effects of ethanol". 100% gasoline is hard to find, so i would agree, it's worth the extra buck!
 
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I'm hijacking my own thread here but go to www.pure-gas.org for the nearest station with 100% gasoline. Marinas aren't listed but stations along the way are.
 
My marina serves up good ole' 91 octane E-10. I've been running it in my 2 snowmobiles, Harley and Benni with no issues. My fuel is treated.
 
Geoffrey & Brenda said:
100% gasoline is hard to find, so i would agree, it's worth the extra buck!
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It might be hard for a retail customer, but a vendor wouldn't have any problem.

Look, I'm not in the business, but it was explained to me a few years back and I'll try to give you the gist of what I remember.

There are underground gas lines from refineries that run all over the country to different distribution points. They then store and blend gasoline at those centers.

When you want to fill your tanker truck with say, Exxon 87 Octane summer blend with 10% Ethanol, they pump a base stock of gasoline that is common to ALL gasolines and blend it with the aforementioned Exxon package of additives before it goes into your tanker.

The next tanker pulls up and perhaps they pump Sunoco 100 racing gas. They use the same base stock of gasoline with a different additive package, one which probably includes a lot more Toluene.

Since price is a factor of how much a particular additive package (or blend) is in demand, the most popular blends are the least costly. The selling of automotive fuels being such a cutthroat business, most people buy the least expensive blends possible for resale to their retail customers.

BUT...

Getting marine gas is easy...

If you're ordering bulk delivery.

Now that's how it was explained to me, as best as I can recall, and hopefully that represents by and large how it's still done.
 
Sounds right to me Eric. We have a refinery about two hours from here. Tankers from many different companies, as well as independents, get their fuel there. What you just explained is what the people I know in the fuel business say as well.
 
Most of us have newer motor and newer fuel systems that are capable of handling the effects of ethanol. This is right from the Yamaha website : All current models as well as most engines built since the late 1980’s have been designed with fuel system components that are tolerant to fresh fuel containing ethanol up to 10% (E10). Outboard fuel systems can still be affected by: water, dissolved gum, varnish, corrosion particles, and dissolved resins that E10 fuel has cleaned from the distribution system and your boat’s fuel tanks. They also have several tips to reduce problems such as: avoid ethanol if possible; get your fuel from a place that sells a lot of fuel, it will be fresher and less water; change your fuel filter regularly; and of course buy and use their conditioner products. I live in the Mid-west where you are hard pressed to not find ethanol in the gasoline (they make the corn here). I have a lot of toys that use gasoline. I use up to 10% ethanol in all of them. The only ones that I have fuel problems with are the ones that don't get used often enough. In these cases, you have to drain the fuel tanks and start over with fresh fuel, and changing the filters of course.
 
I'm not here to debate if ethanol will truly cause problems or not. I'm not that well versed in combustable science.

I just know that I have the opportunity to buy pure gasoline and my mechanic and engine manufacturer seem to be in agreement to avoid it if at all possible. I don't look down on or blame anyone who runs with ethanol. It's your boat and your choice. Hell, you'll have way more money than me for beer at the end of the day!
 
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