Whaler Central - Boston Whaler Boat Information and Photos

Posted by Bgreen on 02/25/14 - 5:36 AM

I have a 170 Montauk with a 19 gal, under seat gas tank. When I pull up to gas station to fill up, I get in boat, slide tank from under seat and remove fuel cap. I then get out of boat, insert credit card into pump, remove hose nozzle, select grade, then crawl into boat to refill tank.

My question, is there a static potential that can cause a spark to ignite fuel vapors while filling tank?

I actually am filling up at a gas station that had a fire due to someone getting back into car, a when time to remove the fuel hose from their car, the static charge she created while being in car caused a spark, burnt car and pump up.

Posted by tom blinstrub on 02/25/14 - 7:42 AM

I think the possibility is there. One of my Toyota Tacoma's had some sort of cloth seat covers. When wearing certain shirts I would get a hell of a shock when exiting the truck and touching the trucks body. It happened one day at the gas station and my fried who works there said not to try and fill the truck myself.

Posted by Bgreen on 02/25/14 - 11:12 AM

A follow up question. If this is a concern, How do you protect against the static charge? I have to fill my boat up but do not want to get hurt or burn things up, especially the boat.

Posted by JMartin on 02/25/14 - 2:20 PM

Static electricity fires at gas stations can occur two ways. You pull into the station and start pumping gasoline. You get into your car and back out again without touching the frame of the car. The first thing you touch is the gasoline nozzle and you spark igniting the gasoline vapors. You have a gasoline tank/can in the back of your pickup, It has been sliding around on your bed liner. You get into the bed of your truck with the gasoline nozzle and the first thing the tank touches is the nozzle and you get a spark. To avoid fires, ground yourself, touch the car somewhere other than the gasoline nozzle. Remove the gas can/tank from the back of your pickup and put it on the ground to fill it up. Climbing into your boat with a gasoline nozzle, touch the tank with your other hand before introducing the nozzle to the gasoline fill opening.
John

Posted by Tom W Clark on 02/25/14 - 7:17 PM

John -- With a plastic tank on a fiberglass Montauk on a trailer where the tank cannot be removed for filling, where should you ground yourself before climbing into the boat?

Posted by Bgreen on 02/26/14 - 4:26 AM

I have talked with an Electrical Engineer. His thought was the nozzle on tank is grounded. As long as you are continuously holding the nozzle while filling the tank in the boat, you should be OK. The problem comes in when you set lock on handle to pump gas automatically to fill tank, let go of nozzle, move around doing other things while picking up a static charge, and then reaching to touch handle again causing a static spark. Same as cars.
So don't let go of the fuel nozzle while filling inside your boat.
Hopefully, some of you can verify this.

Posted by JMartin on 02/26/14 - 9:35 AM

The tank in the boat has not been sliding around so it should not have a static charge built up. You are standing on the ground holding on to the nozzle so no charge should be built up. The act of climbing into the boat should be the only place where a charge will build. Touching the tank with your hand should dissipate any static.

Fires with portable tanks can occur when the tank has somehow built up a static charge, Usually occurs when the tank has been sliding around, like on a bed liner.

John