Gas cans fueling at the dock

GMSLITHO

So my brother keeps his boat on the Hudson river at a public marina run  by the town ,I was there yesterday helping him with a electrical problem and noticed a boater a few slips down carrying gas cans down to fill his tank .I was surprised and always thought it was illegal to fuel up like that at a dock .I did some searching on line but cant find any laws against it .He told me a few people at the marine do it .Anyone have any info on it .seems crazy that their isn't a law against it 

McGarnicle

I don't think its illegal but my marina doesn't allow it. Doesn't stop a few boaters though cause I see people doing it all the time. 

raybo3

My yacht club pumps fuel and we have what we call the "Fuel Dock". If a member wants to carry cans and put in his/her own fuel they have to move their boat to the fuel dock to do it. BTW no one brings their own fuel........... Just say'n

Liberty44140

Never heard of it being illegal or against the rules as long as its from an approved container. 

Dream_Inn

I know the marinas that are "environmentally certified" have rules that state it is not allowed.  For most public marinas here in MD, it is a big no-no.  I've heard the marinas can be fined.  I'm sure the rules vary in other states.

boatman37

Our marina allows it and even has loaner cans in the storage shed that we can use (15 gal, 30 gal, and 50 gal). At our old marina it wasn't allowed but I saw people either fuel at the dock anyway or pull away from the a little ways, shut their engine off and start pouring their fuel in

Cableguy Greg

We are allowed to carry cans down to the dock to fuel boats at our marina. We just can't leave the cans on the dock when finished. I do it all of the time. I carry, via a fold up wagon, 34 gallons at a time. Three trips, full boat and I saved $68/trip. Gas in Pittsburgh is a cool $5/gallon on the water. If I can save $2/gallon, I will carry. It it a PITA, heck yes. But I can get 2 or 3 cases of beer with the money saved.

bella-vita

I used to do that on my 21 foot only one motor only held 55 gallons. 342 has 235 gallons to much of a pain.  I have a friend that uses two 55 gallon drums and he has a pump that he hooks to his battery with 100 feet of hose but  his boat is in his own backyard on water.

boatman37

The 50 gallon tank our marina has you just load it in your truck then back down the ramp to the edge of the water and pull your boat to the courtesy dock. I have never used the 50 gallon one but use the 30 gallon one all the time.

McGarnicle

On the topic of fuel, does everyone make sure their tanks are filled or do you only put enough fuel to last you a few outings? Where I boat if I topped off both tanks on my 342 it would last me almost a whole season, so I usually only put $200-$250 in each tank when I get fuel. 

Willhound

No gas cans allowed at most marinas around here. Marina is held responsible for any spills. I cheat a bit though in that a local road station backs onto the water and has a gas dock that prices about 40 cents more a gallon than road price. Not ethanol free but I use a bottle of Startron every second tank and burn lots if gas. About 6 full tanks last year. I try to not let my tank ever get below half. Just a thing I've always done doesn't matter what I drive.

boatman37

I try not to let me fuel get below 1/2 and I always fill up. Both in the boat and in my truck. I add a bottle of Star Tron every tank

LaRea

When I was running our club 12 years ago, I forced a rule change so that nobody can bring a fuel container bigger than 6 gallons on the club's property unless they are licensed and insured for dispensing fuel.  

At the time, our "town idiot" club member was bringing an unlicensed 100-gallon trailer to fuel his boat, and we had no way to stop him.  Imagine the cost impact if he spilled 100 gallons of gas into the Potomac.  

My preference was no fuel containers at all, unless absolutely needed to move the boat from the slip to the fuel dock.  Cooler heads prevailed, so we allow 6-gal cans.  

Ian

In general here if a marina sells gas they won’t allow decanting. Sales preservation as well as accident prevention.

Black_Diamond

Not like anything bad could happen doing that:

http://a0953106.uscgaux.info/photos20-06/boat_fire/BoatFire.htm

cmelt2003

Black_Diamond said:

Not like anything bad could happen doing that:

http://a0953106.uscgaux.info/photos20-06/boat_fire/BoatFire.htm

I forgot all about this. Crazy!

GMSLITHO

At my brothers marina one of the boaters spilt about 10 gallons of diesel fuel in the river and left .He said the DEC showed up and is now looking for him 

Dude_Himself

From that link, I disagree with leaving the blower running while fueling. I shut off the batteries (bilge pump and mercathode systems remain powered - that's the way the boat was wired) while fueling. Then I check the bilge for vapor/smell (smelling the vents on the downwind side of the boat) before turning on the blower and checking again. If there's any smell at all I wait a few minutes and check again. Never had a boat blow up under me either.

Willhound

Anywhere around here you must run blower or they won't turn the pump on. Might be legislated I believe.

GMSLITHO

Im same way close all the doors and hatches and no blower when fueling when Im done I run the blower and raise the hatch for a few minutes 

Liberty44140

McGarnicle said:

On the topic of fuel, does everyone make sure their tanks are filled or do you only put enough fuel to last you a few outings? Where I boat if I topped off both tanks on my 342 it would last me almost a whole season, so I usually only put $200-$250 in each tank when I get fuel. 

Unless going on a long trip, I usually fill to 2/3 and then re fill when it gets down to 1/4. Fill to top for long trips

mattie

Liberty44140

Unless going on a long trip, I usually fill to 2/3 and then re fill when it gets down to 1/4. Fill to top for long trips

Same here. At 1/4 tank add $200-$250.
I can usually do a pump out in the time it takes for the gas jockey to do $250.....without holding up the fuel dock.

Black_Diamond

I believe the explosion cause was thought to be static electricity from pumping out of plastic/truck bed.  We have a no fueling in the slip rule at my marina. 

69fastback

There are a lot of fast poker run boats around here that run on race fuel. They all wheel drums out since marinas don't sell it. We have a few turbine boats too, so they have to fuel from drums as well. 

Black_Diamond

At least metal drums are less likely to have static electricity. If they are smart...they ground them. Same reason fuel trucks ground before pumping. 

JoeStang

Its against marina rules & the township law my marina is in, to pump from the dock. I've snuck in a couple gallons once, because I was on fumes and didnt want to run out in the 2 mile idle over to the gas dock. Otherwise I think its ridiculous pumping anything more than enough to get you to the gas dock. I'd be p!ssed if a fire started because someone was trying to save a buck at the marina.

Dude_Himself

https://www.lakeexpo.com/boating/the_lake/blower-or-no-blower-here-s-a-checklist-for-safe/article_6a2e39ee-b5d2-11e7-91a1-6f9329efb704.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=user-share&fbclid=IwAR3GmO6YFD7qf9ojMRQ2YAcTysDf6E8iiO5czSK6cCth0FAccs3FgYWNbao

But it doesn't address the dilemma.

GMSLITHO

On my old Chris Craft I pulled up to the dock and went to use the head when I came back the guy at the gas dock was filling my water tank with gas luckily it was only 10 gallons .He was upset because he told me he would have to pay the marina for the gas 

PickleRick

I dont stay in a marina but my parents live on the lake.  They keep their jet skis, pontoon and i usually keep my saiboat on a mooring all summer.  We never pull a boat to fill up other than my rinker.   Just takes some common sense to avoid 90% of the epa approved fans that spill fuel like no ones business.  Being that my parents raised me on this lake and im raising my son on the same lake we have a respect for the water that many dont have. Each time i see a cigarette tossed into the lake i think there is someoene needing a good fine, or a cracked knee.  Either way, it all boils down to we need to take better care of controlling what goes into our waters/oceans.  If public schools would skim over a little of the common core math and do a little more common sense training(many parents dont have good sense so where else can children learn it?) We wouldn't need Marianas or local laws to police our fuel ups. We just need commom sense, fuel jugs that dont leak while pouring and a good threat of bodily harm if/when someone does something stupid to our water.