What to do with diesel in the tank over Winter?

[pbiJim]

Originally Posted by delmarrey

USCG reg's no longer allow valves at the bottom of fuel tanks now. A hard plug yes, but nothing that can be opened accidentally. All feeders and returns have to be in the top.

How about if you have a valve on the bottom of the tank with a hard plug in the outside end of the valve?

That aside, if the fuel is suspected of being very old but still runs the motor OK, I would pump it out & find some trucker to take it off my hands for 2/3 of the going fuel price in the area. I can almost guarantee that you would find a taker for that deal at any truck stop you might try.

After that, I would inspect the tank, clean if needed & refill with fresh fuel.

If you find that your normal 6-months fuel usage is far less than 1 tank full, you may want to consider installing a smaller tank.

[Stumble]

A lot of good advice here, so I will avoid beating a dead horse...

In the future, I would really recommend installing a small (<5 gallon) fuel tank. And keeping the large one empty unless you know you will be using a lot of fuel for a particular trip. This allows you to keep a relatively modest amount of fuel onboard for normal operation, and only need to fill up the big tank when absolutely needed.

This way you ensure that the fuel onboard is fresh, the big tank can be kept very clean, and since the small tank can be kept pressed (topped off) that condensation is minimized. I installed a tank like this on my Beneteau, and for a cost of about $100 it has been well worth it. I now fill up every two months of so instead of every two years. And my big tank is absolutely clean, dry, and free of bugs.