I realize this is going to make me sound like an idiot but.... My dad recently bought a 2000 model 35 Fountain single step. We're have a lot of trouble gassing up without spilling gas everywhere. As you're gassing up, gas seeps out of the vent. When it's full it comes out of the vent and overflows out of the gas fill without warning. On his last two boats (both Baja's) you could listen to the air coming out of the vent and stop pumping before there was any spillage. Any ideas on how to stop this?

I had that problem with my 29 Fever the beginning of last season. It would take about 20 gallons (if that) and start coming out the vent and fill. I never really solved it. It solved itself one day with a big bloop of gas all over the poor marina dockhand's shoes and worked right the rest of the season.

jmeng,

My 27' does that too! What I do now is listen to the vent and when it's close to full it starts gurgling. Then I reduce the flow rate until the gurgling sounds really close! It took a couple times to get the procedure down but I havn't had anymore spills. It really sucks when you've got your boat waxed and detailed and gas pisses down the side.

Regards,

Mark S.

Yo LJ,

I have the same problem on mine too. On my old Scarab I could hear the fuel comming back up the pipe and had time to let off before a spill. Not on the Fountain.

I read on OSO sometime ago that if you can get to the fuel fill and vent hose on the inside of the boat you could reposition the vent hose higher than the fill hose and this would solve the problem. Havent really looked at mine yet.

Have you heard the news?

Ron

I have the same problem. Even running the pump at half speed it surprises you some times.

Dan

Get one of the little catch bottles that Davis Industries makes. My last boat did this and so I got one cause it would spit a little all the time unless it was on REAL SLOW. Put the bottle on(suction cups) over the vent and it catches all the fuel......unless you really screw up

That little bottle seems like a good idea. What do you do with the fuel it catches from spilling? It doesn't look like it's set up to pour back in your tank. I'd hate to put the thing back under the seat with gas residue all over it.

A little funnel works well, or I gas up the fuel dock go ped

Seems to be a common "problem" on the Fountains. There have been lots of posts about this in the past, too. Mine does it also, and so do all of my friends' Fountains,no matter how slow you run the pump - and that doesn't necessarily mean that the tank is full, either. What bothers me even worse is when you pull away from the gas station, whatever gas was in the vent line "dumps" out the vent and you look like NASCAR leaving the pits, with gas running down the side of the boat.

Last time I filled the 27 up I put my finger over the vent hose when I thought I was getting near full. This made the gurguling a bit more noticable, it worked the best of all the things I've tried.