ABYC and fuel hose

[Sailing Drummer]

I recently had the boat surveyed for insurance purposes and the surveyor hit me up for A2 hose where he said there should have been A1 hose. All of the hose up to and from the engine are A1 hose. But the hoses ON the engine as supplied by Yanmar are A2. There are 3 hoses - 1 from the electric fuel pump to the filter and 2 from the filter to the engine.

Since these were supplied on the engine from Yanmar my assumption is they are ABYC compliant. Is he correct and they need to be changed?

[Paul L]

Ask the surveyor to show you the ABYC section he thinks the boat violates. Looking at web searches it sounds like the a2 restriction applies to gas not diesel.

[DougR]

The major difference between A1 and A2 hose is the fuel vapor permeation rate thru the hose wall. A1 hose is rated for continuous fuel contact, and A2 is rated for non- continuous contact. A2 is often found in fuel tank fill and vent hose applications. Typically both grades have to meet the same fire resistance requirements, resistance to vacuum collapse, etc.

So, technically your surveyor is correct, the engine mounted hoses should be A1 rated as they are in continuous contact with fuel, but the real issue is whether your insurance company will accept it as is. Given that we're only talking a few feet of hose at most, why not change it out and make everyone happy?

DougR

[Sailing Drummer]

I probably will change out those hoses. The total of all 3 is a little less than 3'. What bothers me is that the engine came that way. Yanmar states that they are compliant so that is why I was wondering about this. And their time frame for reporting/correcting this kind of issue ended a year or two ago.

Maybe there's a Yanmar rep on this forum that could chime in????

[Cuttyhunk]

I'm looking at my July 2015-2016 ABYC standards book and Standard H-33, Diesel Fuel Systems, revised July, 2015, section 33.14 "Fuel Distribution, Return and Transfer Systems"

subsection 33.14.7: "Flexible hose shall be USCG Type A-1, A-2 or A1-15 (see H-33 TABLE1) if the line is within an engine compartment."

H-24, which is the Gasoline Fuel Systems standard, specifies A1-15 within an engine compartment.

Your surveyor appears to have made a mistake. I have to get retested in diesel in another year, so I definitely wanted to check to see if there had been a change to what I memorized in 2012!

[Sailing Drummer]

Cuttyhunk,

Thank you. Thanks the info I was looking for!

Larry