brian wrote:
i have a merc alpha one on a 1999 bayliner 1850ss capri. Anyways, my
wife came to me the other night telling me that the basement smelt like
gas. (the previous night i filled up the i/o and put it in the garage.)
when i filled it i did spill some on the back of the boat. however i
did wipe it up. well now it is 2 days later. i have not done anything
with the boat, it is still sitting in my garage. i came home from work
tonite and opened the garage door and smelt gas. so i opened up the
bottom cover between the 2 front seats of the boat. (where you may put
like skis or something) and WOOO did i smell gas fumes .. i looked all
around and did not see any leaks. is this normal and do i just need to
make sure not to fill up the boat until i am going out in it. is this
why i am smelling gas, do i have anything to be worried about? let me
know if you have any ideas with this. thanks brian


The good news is probably that you didn't see any liquid gasoline in
the bilge. A ruptured tank is unlikely

The bad news is that it is the vapors, not the liquid, that is
explosive in a confined area.

Sounds like you filled up on the way home from an outing, overfilled
the tank ("spilled some on the back of the boat") and that this could
have contributed to your problem.

After you get the boat out of your house, open it up and air it out
thoroughly, inspect it very carefully for any evidence of fuel leaking
from the tank (and find none), here's something specific for you to
check. You should have a flexible vent line running from a fitting on
your fuel tank to a fitting on the hull. Based on what you have
described, and if the smell is the result of the overfilling you
report, I would check the outboard end of that vent line to see if it
is cracked or otherwise not properly seated on the through hull ven
fitting.

While your vent hose cold be loose at the tank, if it were loose at the
tank you would have a constant smell of gasoline in your boat. However,
if the same hose is loose at the through hull, the venturi effect of
the air passing over the vent fitting will "scour" the fumes from the
end of the vent line before they find a way out of the loose or
fractured connection. If you overfilled the tank so badly that you
forced gasoline up the vent line, the same breach that is of less
consequence when vapors are being sucked from the line while the boat
is in motion could have resulted in the leaking of some fuel into your
bilge. If you were driving home with a cover on the boat, that would
tend to slow down the evaporation of the gasoline- and also,
unfortunately, help the smell permeate all of your cushions, etc. Long
after you get the gasoline smell out of the bilge you may be dealing
with some pretty stinky canvas and cushions. :-(

It may also and could easily turn out to be something else entirely,
but whatever it is you want to be darn sure it's comnpletely cured
before you use the boat again and before you put it back inside any
structure you'd rather not see burn down.