Fuel fill fittings

Very basic and boring question from me today but the devil is in the details so I better ask. I'm working on my engine room and as I was going to order my fuel fill deck fittings when I realized I had an option between 1 1/2 inch fuel fill and 2 inch fuel fill. Intuitively I was going to go with 1 1/2 but realized that when ever I sailed as deck hand on larger boats, we fueled at commercial docks...humm, would it be smarter to have 2 inch fuel fill on a 30 ton boat?

Murielle

 

You can always use a small nozzle in a large fuel fill. The converse is, of course, not true. If you don't mind paying a few extra dollars for hose and a deck fitting, I'd go with the larger size.... there have been a few occasions on land where I've had to coax 50 feet of truck and trailer into car gas stations because the truck pump's nozzle wouldn't fit; the same logic would apply to a boat.

 

Don't forget to have equal sized air vents to your tanks to cope with faster filling and avoid spllling fuel over your decks.

 

How often have you tried to reasonably quickly put fuel in and the gas builds up in there and burps some diesel out? If no readily available 3" deck plates, I recommend two (2) two inch deck plates side by side - one to fuel, one to look in and fast vent. With this system, I am in and out of the fuel dock, including signing the ticket, in under five minutes ("big hose please!") The best fills are on a standpipe with a cap - less water gets in as you are not reliant on an O-ring at deck level.

 

MY way is to use the 2 inch fuel fill with cap, mounted below an 8 inch deck plate.

Bronze if you can afford it , plastic till you can.

I have seen many boats that suffered from a breakdown of the deck fill pipe fitting O ring (or sloppy tightening ) .

Some had severe water in the fuel problems.

By not having the fill AT deck level , the chance of a water in leak is gone.

Be sure to connect the fill fitting to the tank with a ground strap if the fill uses rubber hose.

FF

 

Fast Fred,
How important is it to connect the fuel fill with a ground to the tank for diesel fuel? I forgot to do it and now I would have to tear apart a sizable part of the boat to get at it.

Earl

 

If diesel, not at all but it is still required by ABYS.

 

ALLWAYS Ground your tank to fuel supply! Always....

Even Crude oil tankers are electrically neutralized for a good reason. Crude oil is as dangerous as concrete. But it gasses (as Diesel), there is a sign on every tanker worldwide, NO SMOKING, el. flashes are better than smoking..........

Murielle

If possible build a sort of cabinet in your superstructure. Completely tight against deck level, acessible through a hatch / door only. Have two tubes of at least 2in. as Mark mentioned.

When a spill happens (and it will) you have the fuel inside the "cabinet" , nothing to worry. And never rain or "green" water in your tanks.

Regards
Richard

 

Richard is right, of course. I was sloppy in my answer because I am lazy! (Do it the right way)

 

I have seen copper woven grounding strap that was tinned , and super flexible.

The length of the strap is not a concern electrically , so it might be simple to install from tank to inlet fitting.

FF

 

Thanks guys for the input. I'll be going with the 2 inch fills. I don't want to skimp but also don't want to go the extra mile if it's not necessary, reason of my momentary hesitation. The few setups described got me thinking. I like the cabinet setup, have seen it before and considered but I don't think it will suit on my layout...bummers. I probably will get a wider deck plate and inset the fill, it's actually smarter than the setup we've used up to now. To avoid water in diesel from seal leakage, we've had a ball valve mounted right under the fill so we could wipe out any water before opening the ball valve, this didn't help with spills though.

cheers,
Murielle