Ethanol not fiberglass friendly

[Sal4]

I just read this article from california. I thought this may be helpful incase you have fiberglass gastanks and avoid ethanol as much as possible.

FYI

By Elizabeth Douglass, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

Ethanol Strikes

Something was wrong with Sally Ann.

For months, she sputtered and choked, and Barry Treahy's remedies weren't working. He kept changing her fuel filters. Then he rebuilt her carburetor. Finally, he cut into her gas tank, cleaned out the mysterious caramel-colored gunk and patched her up -- twice.

Disaster struck on a summer day in San Diego, when Treahy's beloved 20-foot fishing boat was parked street side with the outer hull plug open to drain any residual water. The boat's 55-gallon gas tank failed and gasoline streamed into the bilge and down the street.

"I wasn't smart enough to figure it out at first," Treahy said of Sally Ann's chronic troubles. Finally, he found the answer in a boating magazine. Ethanol-laced gasoline was dissolving his boat's fiberglass fuel tank, sending bits of resin to clog filters and ultimately eating a hole all the way through the tank. Years of adding ethanol to gasoline to reduce air pollution and foreign oil dependence has had a nasty side effect: The stuff appears to damage boat fuel tanks made of fiberglass.


The conclusion was that the boat owner is now going after the oil company.

[wmalloy382]

There is a huge class action suit about ethanol in boat in California right now. Ill find the details.......

[wmalloy382]

Here is is.......
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news0...nol_class.html

Ethanol-Blended Fuel Blamed for Boaters' Problems
Blended fuel damages marine tanks, engines, class action action charges

April 9, 2008
Ethanol
• Ethanol-Blended Fuel Blamed for Boaters' Problems
• Sales of Ethanol-Burning Cars Up 10%
• How Green Can Your Drive Get?
• Ethanol Producers Say Rising Food Prices Not Their Fault
• Ethanol Driving Up Meat Prices, Congress Told
• MIT Gas Saver: Ethanol Turbocharger
• Ford Flex-Fuel Claims Challenged
• Tests Find Ethanol Cleaner But Not Cheaper
• Ethanol Lobbying Disclosures Questioned
• Ethanol Benefits Questioned
• Chrysler to Step Up Flex Fuel Production
• Automakers Want More Ethanol Pumps
• Ethanol Increases Consumers' Fuel Bills
• Ethanol A Waste, Study Concludes
• Ethanol Bandwagon Rolls on in the U.S. Senate

A class action lawsuit charges that major oil companies are manufacturing and selling ethanol blended gasoline that damages marine fuel tanks, engines and other components.

"The price of gas is bad enough, but selling gasoline that dissolves gas tanks is a new low even for the oil companies," said Brian Kabateck, the lead attorney on the case. "The oil companies know this fuel is corrosive, but they're keeping consumers in the dark to pump up their profits. The cost to the consumer is thousands of dollars in repairs."

Companies named in the suit include ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP, Shell, Valero, and ConocoPhillips, as well as PetroDiamond, Tower Energy and Big West.

ExxonMobil last year recorded the largest profits recorded in U.S. history with $40.6 billion. Chevron posted profits of $18.7 billion in 2007.

Oil companies have long mixed additives into their gasoline as a way to boost octane. Methyl tert-butyl ether, commonly known as MTBE, was widely used as an octane booster until 2004, when it was banned in many states because of environmental concerns. In response, ExxonMobil, Chevron and other oil companies selected ethanol as a replacement.

Consumers were never informed about the differences between MTBE and ethanol-mixed gasoline, nor were they informed about the disastrous effects ethanol has on fiberglass marine fuel tanks.

Fiberglass is widely used in the construction of boat fuel tanks. Fiberglass is a combination of individual glass "threads" bound together by a resin. Ethanol dissolves this resin, destroying the tank. Moreover, the dissolved resin enters the fuel system, causing damage to the engine and other components.

Ethanol blended gasoline is particularly harmful in the marine environment because of "phase separation," Kabateck said. Ethanol attracts water. When enough water is absorbed by the ethanol blended gasoline, the ethanol and water solution separates from the gasoline (phase separation), with the gasoline floating to the top.

This results in a layer of water with a high-concentration of ethanol at the bottom of the fuel tank.

"The environment pays the price for Exxon and Chevron's deception each time a damaged fuel tank leaks gasoline into the water," Kabateck added.

The suit was filed in U.S. District Court, Central District of California in Los Angeles.

The suit seeks to represent a class comprising all owners of boats with fiberglass fuel tanks who filled their tanks with ethanol blended gasoline from a California retailer. The suit also seeks to represent all persons in California who own boats with a fiberglass fuel tank that had to be replaced because of damage caused by ethanol blended gasoline bought from a California retailer.

[Capt. Dan]

They should be sueing the US Governemnt for mandating ethanol levels. A**holes!

[StingerII]

Yes they should be suing the US Government.. Hell they should file suit against George W. Bush!

[Sal4]

Meanwhile there seems to be a lot boats outthere with fglass tanks and crapy gas.

[TG_190]

FYI, In the May issue of BOAT-US Mag, they give details on the big lawsuit in CA.

In the same mag, they also said that Oregon will not use ethanol in marine, or aviation fuel because of the reported problems in other guinea-pig states. No info on how/if this affects the price of marine gas in OR.

[bigbender]

No only is the government mandate of ethanol screwing up gas tanks it is also diverting crops from food production to ethanol production driving up the cost of food to the end consumer. It seems like every time the government gets involved mandating things it ends up like this.