Fueling my boat through the rod holder

M

mccleaftm

Member
Joined
Jul 23, 2024
Messages
5
Fluid Motion Model
C-24 C
Vessel Name
NautOnCall
Yep. That's right. I did the unthinkable. I've heard several horror stories about people doing just that and thought I'd never do such a stupid thing in my life. I'm posting this as a true confession so maybe you'll think of me when you re-fuel your cutwater. Here's how it happened.

I bought one of those new syphon hoses which by the way work extremely well. It has a copper end with a ball inside. It comes in a plastic bag all rolled up. To stretch it out I placed one end in the rod holder which is roughly 4 to 6 inches from the fuel cap. Without thinking (obviously) I placed the copper end into the ethanol free gas can and starting shaking the hose. Before I realized it I had managed to dump about a gallon into my stern storage compartment.

This is Darwin Award material. The fumes could have easily ignited and blown both myself and my boat apart. Fortunately I was able to lift the storage lid without issue and remove the fuel and water using the same syphon hose.
 
I have never made a mistake.
Until I ground looped my plane…; )
Then I bought a boat thinking it was more economical… it isn’t ; )

Glad you are safe.
 
I retired from the aviation world. Just about every airline has an Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP). Pilots, mechanics, dispatchers (all FAA certificate holders) use ASAP to report safety lapses. Those reports are then used to educate and alert the various constituencies. It works well.

For sure, there’s a lot more involved with an ASAP report than a forum post, but you just filed your first ASAP. There’s no question that you have educated Cutwater owners to a potential safety issue. Thank you.
 
mccleaftm said:
Yep. That's right. I did the unthinkable. I've heard several horror stories about people doing just that and thought I'd never do such a stupid thing in my life. I'm posting this as a true confession so maybe you'll think of me when you re-fuel your cutwater. Here's how it happened.

I bought one of those new syphon hoses which by the way work extremely well. It has a copper end with a ball inside. It comes in a plastic bag all rolled up. To stretch it out I placed one end in the rod holder which is roughly 4 to 6 inches from the fuel cap. Without thinking (obviously) I placed the copper end into the ethanol free gas can and starting shaking the hose. Before I realized it I had managed to dump about a gallon into my stern storage compartment.

This is Darwin Award material. The fumes could have easily ignited and blown both myself and my boat apart. Fortunately I was able to lift the storage lid without issue and remove the fuel and water using the same syphon hose.
Click to expand...
I feel your pain. - I can't repeat what I did with fuel, way too embarrassing. One moment of a massive brain fart. If no one saw it is it really a mistake? Unless you post it on an online forum.😛
 
Working in service dept of a car dealership, years ago, I emptied a quart of oil in radiator of a Econaline van. Rad was full so most overflowed, but made a mess on customers van.
 
Not trying to one-up you but to show we have all made stupid mistakes. Some will share them others will not. After thinking I had made them all, my most recent tops the list of my bone headed mistakes. I recently changed the oil on my R-21EC and after finishing up I took the number off of the filter and went online to order a couple of spare filters. It kept coming up as a fuel filter. Thinking there was something wrong with the online page, I went out to the garage to retrieve the old filter. Sure enough I had just put over 180hrs on my engine (D1-30) with a fuel filter on the oil filter location. My only explanation is that I keep spares on the boat and just grabbed a filter and screwed it on without confirming I had the right one. Never in a million years would I have thought that one would fit the threads of the other. Another life lesson of assuming.
 
Niels Bohr, the great Danish physicist, said, “An expert is a person who has found out by his own painful experience all the mistakes that one can make
 
Maggie Anne said:
Niels Bohr, the great Danish physicist, said, “An expert is a person who has found out by his own painful experience all the mistakes that one can make
Click to expand...
I must be getting close to being an expert.
 
At least you didn't shove a fill hose in there, click it on full bore, and walk away. When I was a young man running a charter boat I saw that done by a deckhand on the boat in the slip next to mine. Luckily it was diesel. It finally occurred to him that something was wrong when he saw 400gal and counting on the pump register for what should have been 150gal fill up. Ooops.
 
My close friend’s wife filled up their brand new diesel truck fuel tank…
With DEF…
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

  • Tugnuts.com is the community hub for Ranger Tug, Cutwater, and Solara owners. Since its inception in 2008, the Tugnuts forum has grown into an active and thriving community of more than 9,000 members. It serves as both a meeting place for the best boating community online, and an invaluable archive of information.

  • User menu
Back
Top