Fuel Additive

[Denis]

I did not use my boat this summer, it was in the water but I only ran the engine about three hours total. My question is what do I put in the fuel to help stabilize this year old fuel so that it lasts another winter? I filled up the tank in the fall of 08 so that fuel will be a year and a half old by the spring of 2010. I have put in an additive during the summer to kill bacteria but what else should I do to help it?

[RobS]

During the season I go through multiple tanks of fuel so I do not use any addittives but for winter layup I add the Star Tron additive. Never had any issues and the fact that my layup is only 4 to 4.5 months it's probably not that important anyway. That being said, the Star Tron product should do what you are looking for and is readily available. Another good company is FPPF and they offer a few different products. I'd start with a call to FPPF and explain your situation and decide from there.

http://www.starbrite.com/sproductdetail.cfm?ID=1538

http://www.fppf.com/searchbyTransportation.asp#marine

http://www.fppfsales.com/index.php/diesel-products

[Carl]

Maybe Butch can chime in here as to the "shelf life" of treated or un-treated diesel fuel. I think you will find it is not like gas, and can be stored for quite some time without problems.

[Carl]

Looks like you should be fine.

http://www.bp.com/liveassets/bp_interne ... diesel.pdf

[Carl]

Now you really got me looking!

http://www.survivalunlimited.com/fuelstorage/prid.htm

[Denis]

Thanks for the reply's. Reading some of the technical articles scare the hell out of me, eg. drain water monthly, treat fuel and then drain tank etc.! On a boat those things are hard to do. The PRI-D looks like it might do what I need and I should just carry more spare fuel filters when I take the boat out, at least for a while.