KLC Lewis wrote:
"Gordon" wrote in message
...

My neighbor, who is a bit of an entrepreneur, had dirty fuel problems in
a cruising sailboat. When he tried to find a service to polish his fuel,
there wasn't one.
So his idea is to start such a service. Finding a serviceable old
bowpicker or such with deck space for barrels, hoses, spill gear, etc and
traveling marina to marina with pre publicity to service all those
pleasure boats that feel they may have a need.
So, is this feasible? Enough customers for a reasonable income? What
would customers be willing to pay? Bill by minimum charge and then by the
gallon or poundage on top of that?

If you feel this is spam don't bother answering. Just plonk me! It's not
spam, it's just looking for help to maybe set up a service you may someday
want.
Thanks
Gordon


There was such a service in the LA/Long Beach/Alamitos Bay area, possibly
more than one, and it was a rather valuable service that seemed popular.
This past spring I was looking for a similar service here in Marinette
Wisconsin, nobody had ever heard of such a critter. The thing is that
Essie's tank holds about 40 gallons of diesel, which is good for about 200+
hours of motoring. At my current burn rate, I should need to fill the tank
again sometime around the end of the Iraq war -- call it four years from
now, give or take.

Fuel sitting in the tank tends to pick up greyish black particulates. These
filter out and don't cause me any engine problems, but I would prefer to
polish the fuel at least at the beginning of each season. The only other
option seems to be to keep a minimum amount of fuel in my tank and risk
considerable water condensation problems.

Therefore, it is my considered opinion that you'll either go broke or make a
go of it. But the service should cost no more than...hmmmm, what would I be
willing to pay? A buck fifty per gallon of fuel polished? Dunno. What is
reasonable?


There are at least four "fuel polishing" ad's in the local boating
newspaper here in Ft. Lauderdale. They have been in business a number of
years. My neighbor used on a few months ago. The guy drove up with a 55
gal. drum on wheels in a trailor, a big pump, hoses, a fuel gallons
counter and a huge Racor filter. He removed the access port to the tank,
dropped a pickup and return line in the tank. When the fuel was being
pumped through the filter he sprayed the returning fuel around the sides
of the tank and moved the pickup around the bottom. Did a good job.
Charged $100 to filter 40 gallons.
krj