Topping Up The Diesel Tanks At Sea

[edsailing]

Thought I would share this one with you and ask what others do.

As I do yacht deliveries, we often have to carry spare fuel in cans and use this to top up the tanks when making passage.

Pouring fuel can be a difficult job as the fillers are usually outside the rails and, with the boat heaving around, it is hard to avoid spillage.

An effective method I have developed is to use an outboard engine hand primer pump (you know, the kind you use with an external fuel tank) with approx 2 metres of tube on each end which will siphon once the flow is established. This gets rid of the need to pour, means the fuel can may be located in the cockpit and eliminates spills completely. The down side is that it can be a bit slow. The plus side is that it cost me about £15 to buy, it's resuable and it slips into my baggage with no trouble.

Any other suggestions?

[Istioploos]

I do something similar. I was using a plastic siphon pump but it was not tight and had to use several paper towels to avoid spillage. I than in 2000 stumbled in a chandlery in the island of Syros in Greece at a little american made siphon pump made of sturdy plastic. The owner told me that he had it in the store for 7 years so he let me have it at great discount. I have been using it ever since. No mater how rough, not a single drop is spilled.

[redbopeep]

Originally Posted by Istioploos

I do something similar. I was using a plastic siphon pump but it was not tight and had to use several paper towels to avoid spillage. I than in 2000 stumbled in a chandlery in the island of Syros in Greece at a little american made siphon pump made of sturdy plastic. The owner told me that he had it in the store for 7 years so he let me have it at great discount. I have been using it ever since. No mater how rough, not a single drop is spilled.

I've been searching high and low for a little siphon pump like the ones we used in Japan to fill our kerosene heaters. There (in Japan) people often use individual kerosene heaters to heat individual rooms. Sometimes the heater is built into a wall but the little gravity tank is removable (quite nifty, actually) and you take it outside to fill. They sell a wonderfully robust little plastic siphon pump for this filling. But, I've never found one in the USA.

Is there a maker's mark or brand on the little pump you purchased?

[Swagman]

Yup - we've got what sounds like the same plastic syphon pump ans use it on just about everything. From diesel cans to tank filler, from wate rin bilge to bucket, even empties a loo with it once.

Remarkable thing is whatever we used it for before does not appear to contaminate what we use it for after........(joke really - but we definately never clean it and never had a worry).

JOHN

[mico]

Originally Posted by Swagman

Yup - we've got what sounds like the same plastic syphon pump ans use it on just about everything. From diesel cans to tank filler, from wate rin bilge to bucket, even empties a loo with it once.

Remarkable thing is whatever we used it for before does not appear to contaminate what we use it for after........(joke really - but we definately never clean it and never had a worry).

JOHN

We have a deck filler and another under the cabin sole beneath the companion way stairs which is handy if the main decks are awash. Our spare fuel is carried in 20lt Plastic Jerry cans. These come with a plastic scew-on spout that is stored inside the 2-part cap facing back into the can. You simply undo the cap, reverse the spout and tighten the cap around it.

The spout is only 600mm long but we then slide one end of a 3m length of clear plastic hose over the spout (kept for this purpose in the on top of the tank). Due to the tapered spout, the hose can be jammed on pretty tight. We then simply place the other end in the tank, upend and pour the entire contents in less than a minute. (Our jerry cans also have additional small caps that cover air bleeder holes)

No spill and no mess - as long as we ensure the other end of the hose stays deep inside the tank!

We use the same idea (although different hose) for our water tanks although we are rethinking this now after seeing some nifty ideas for collecting rainwater off the boom, dodger and decks.

Fair winds.

Mico

[JeanneP]

The best system we found was a fuel siphoning hose that we bought in Australia, they seemed to be sold at every flea market we visited. *A clear plastic hose with a small plastic ball, like a marble, in a bubble in one end - it clsed off the one end, but was light enough that it lifted up to allow fluid in when you inserted that end into the liquid. *There was more to it, but I'm nost sure I remember well enough to describe it. *However, the unobstructed end went into the filler tube, and the end with the ball was inserted into the jerry jug, agitated up and down several times until the level of fuel in the hose lifted higher than the jerry jug, when it woujld flow freely. *We eventually bought several, one for use with siphoning our water jugs, another for the diesel, another for gasoline, and a spare. *They each cost (back then) about AUD $2.00 apiece. *We've not seen them outside Australia, though, which is a shame because it was the snazziest way to siphon liquid from one container to another. *No drips, no spills, and no need to lift heavy jerry jugs up on a heaving deck.

We had a really convenient system for collecting rainwater from our bimini and sun canopy when it was up, but we collected the water in jerry jugs, then ran it through a sediment filter before putting it into the water tanks. *In some places the daily accumulation of dust and smoke from power plants and cruise ship exhaust was so bad that we didn't want that stuff washing into our water tanks, but *frequently needed to catch every drop of water that fell, wasting none on washing the bimini and sun canopy. *Later, we attached the sediment filter directly to the collection hose to eliminate the intermediate storage step. *

[MMNETSEA]

Here is a nifty little pump - used many times.

[Frank]

I was taught a neat little trick by a Breton a few years back....

Set up a bit of garden hose.... make a collar with 3 or 4 sheets of kitchen paper where hose enters 20 litre drum.... leave small hole... blow in small hole..this pressurises the drum.. bingo! instant syphon.

2 points to bear in mind... it doesn't work well with drums that aren't full.. and don't blow too hard into full drums cos you can over pressurise them...which is not good...

Edited to add... OK the cockpit is a mess.. it was raining perros y gatos... an hour later it was snowing hard... tidiness was not a high priority

[mico]

Forget the mess - I love the cockpit canopy!

Intrigued by the paper collar - will be setting up our own version of Myth Busters this weekend to put it to the test

[edsailing]

Originally Posted by Frank

I was taught a neat little trick by a Breton a few years back....

Set up a bit of garden hose.... make a collar with 3 or 4 sheets of kitchen paper where hose enters 20 litre drum.... leave small hole... blow in small hole..this pressurises the drum.. bingo! instant syphon.

Yep, I've done that and it works - even better to use a second short length of hose to blow into - keeps the lips away from the can!

[Istioploos]

Originally Posted by redbopeep

Is there a maker's mark or brand on the little pump you purchased?

When I get back on my boat in April I will look and let you know.

[delatbabel]

Get one of those fuel filler funnels sold by West Marine in the USA (on mail order if you have to). They are a big wide high capacity open mouthed funnel with a water separator and a filter in it. So you are at less risk of splashing fuel about as it is easy to pour or siphon into the big wide mouth of the funnel, you can fill the funnel and let it drain at your leisure, and if a bit of spray or sea water splashes into the funnel then it will collect harmlessly in the reservoir at the bottom of the funnel and not end up in your fuel tank.

[Aussiesuede]

These Flo N Go pumps work really well. Can screw right on top of the Jerry can spout, and then the pump starts a siphon. Pumping once starts the siphon, and then just let it flow. About 2 gallons/minute unassisted. About as simple, and carefree of a transfer system there is.



http://www.flo-n-go.com/products/product_maxflo/

[redbopeep]

You know, I can't pour a "California compliant" diesel container w/o spilling on land--much less at sea. It seems that a suction/siphon device is becoming a necessity no matter where you are.