I store my boat outside with a shrinkwrap cover for the winter. A few weeks ago, I uncovered it and after a few days, my boat had to be moved to accommodate a boat stored behind me that was ready for Spring launch. Rather than slip me back in my original spot, the boatyard guys moved me out into the open parking lot area with my portside in clear view of the warm afternoon and evening sun. I thought the spot was great until I noticed (on the first really warm day) that the fuel in my portside tank began to squirt out the overflow vent on the side of the boat (I believe) from expansion. It seems to discharge about a good 8 ounces of gas (or so) every couple of hours depending on how warm it is. I did fill both tanks close to full last fall before pulling her out of the water but this has never happened before in my 25+ years of boating.
My first and only defense has been to open the gas cap to relieve the pressure in the tank but that didn’t seem to help. I then completely removed the cap with the same result. I asked the gas dock manager what to do but he said after removing the gas cap, there was nothing else left to do but “Don’t smoke around the boat” (obviously)!
Well I don’t smoke but I sure hate to just sit there and watch my $4+ gas from last year drain out of my portside tank onto the ground. So far, I guess I’ve watched more gas spill on the ground than I burned most of last year cruising on the water! I’ve got another week of work to do before I can have her launched which (I hope) will end the problem but I sure would like to stop the flow now.
So does anybody have any ideas on stopping the leak?
