It only applies if the electrical equipment is not ignition protected. All
boat manufacturers are required to use ignition protected components and any
fuel tank located in the enclosed bilge area is permanently installed and
vented to the outside instead of the bilge. Any removable/portable fuel
tank is required to be located in an open naturally ventilated area.
Therefore there is no requirement for a blower in the bilge for an outboard.
I have yet to see any outboard boat w/ a blower in the bilge made any year
to include 2004.

--
Tony
my boats at http://t.thomas.home.mchsi.com



"JAXAshby" wrote in message
...
check the regs of enclosed spaces wirh gasoline and electrical equipment.

Blowers are only required w/ inboard or I/O engines. Outboard boats do
not
require blowers for the bilge as there is no engine ignition source.

--
Tony
my boats at http://t.thomas.home.mchsi.com



"JAXAshby" wrote in message
...
harry, check the regs

I read that one should run blowers to vent the gas tank area before
starting the motor


if you have any electrical equipment (such as a battery) in an
enclosed
compartment that contains gasoline you are required under
regulations
to
run
the blower for 5 minutes (?, it might be 4 minutes, who the hell
remembers).
Opening it up and sniffing is even better, but doesn't meet regs.



That doesn't explain the hundreds of thousands of outboard boats
extant
that have fuel tanks under the deck, aling with batteries and all
sorts
of other devices, and no blowers.