If your tanks are clean to begin with, you have a good water
separation/filtration system, and you are using the boat frequently,
you probably do not need any additives. On the other hand they don't
really hurt anything if used as recommended. The biggest risk you face
is that your tanks already have diesel bugs growing on the sides or
bottom of the tank and you do not yet know it. The crisis point occurs
when you go out in rough seas for the first time and suddenly your
filters start clogging up at a very inopportune time as fuel sloshes
around and knocks the tank slime loose. Older boats/older tanks are
particularly prone to this issue but any boat which sits around a lot
and/or never gets run in rough conditions may be suspect.

If you do not already have dual Racors with selector valves and a
vacuum guage, I highly recommend that you make that investment,
particularly on a single engine boat. The vacuum guage will allow you
to monitor the status of your working filter and swap to a new one
before any problems develop. It is worth its weight in gold. A vacuum
guage reading of 5 inches or more is generally regarded as the right
time to change filters.

The other issue you face with a turbo engine is running too slow. You
must run the engine at near maximum cruising speed for at least 20 to
30 minutes a day to prevent carbon accumulation in the turbo. If not,
expensive, premature overhauls will result.

I still use Soltron®. See: http://www.solpower.com/soltron/soltronmain.asp

Hanz


wrote:

If your tanks are clean to begin with, you have a good water
separation/filtration system, and you are using the boat frequently,
you probably do not need any additives. On the other hand they don't
really hurt anything if used as recommended. The biggest risk you face
is that your tanks already have diesel bugs growing on the sides or
bottom of the tank and you do not yet know it. The crisis point occurs
when you go out in rough seas for the first time and suddenly your
filters start clogging up at a very inopportune time as fuel sloshes
around and knocks the tank slime loose. Older boats/older tanks are
particularly prone to this issue but any boat which sits around a lot
and/or never gets run in rough conditions may be suspect.

If you do not already have dual Racors with selector valves and a
vacuum guage, I highly recommend that you make that investment,
particularly on a single engine boat. The vacuum guage will allow you
to monitor the status of your working filter and swap to a new one
before any problems develop. It is worth its weight in gold. A vacuum
guage reading of 5 inches or more is generally regarded as the right
time to change filters.

The other issue you face with a turbo engine is running too slow. You
must run the engine at near maximum cruising speed for at least 20 to
30 minutes a day to prevent carbon accumulation in the turbo. If not,
expensive, premature overhauls will result.

Its all mostly snake oil sold by the same type of charlatans who
invented and hocked slick 50 to all you putzes who bought it. just a
bit of marvel mystery oil will lick any problem diesel may have, it
even slicks your hair back nicely in a pinch.
Meye, friend to capt. neal and like minded
fellows of the sea.

Just be cautious with adding oil to diesel fuel in
turbo-diesel engines as the higher energy content of the
added oil may increase your EGTs. As a previous poster
stated, one quart per 100 gallons would be a good ratio. It
will help with the lubricity for the high-pressure injection
pump, injectors and, to a small degree, the fuel-lift pump,
but that would be it, pretty much. It won't help with
top-cylinder lubrication because it's not spray injected
with the fuel into the cylinder during the intake cycle,
like a gasoline engine. Too much and you may also affect
the cetane rating and do damage to the top of your pistons
and cylinder walls (that is, for direct-injected diesels
versus pre-combustion chamber diesels).

Franko

"Meye5" wrote in message
ups.com...
Its all mostly snake oil sold by the same type of
charlatans who
invented and hocked slick 50 to all you putzes who bought
it. just a
bit of marvel mystery oil will lick any problem diesel may
have, it
even slicks your hair back nicely in a pinch.
Meye, friend to capt. neal and like
minded
fellows of the sea.