Winter storage....E10 gasoline
 

We've had this stuff for a couple years now and it appears all the "experts" have changed there recommendations on how to store your tanks.

Years ago I always stored tanks near full and added stabilizer. When we first saw E10, everything I was reading said to store the tanks near empty......now it seems everyone is recommending going back to a near full tank (boatUS among many others)

What's the deal? Who's doing what and why?

I am no expert but I run my tanks down as low as possible.... I treat whats left with Stabil...... and 1st time out in the Spring I top off the tanks. So far I havn't had a problem.... I would have to say a fresh full tank of gas in the spring can't be bad.............

I still run mine near empty as well, then double dose stabil. I believe gas loses octane over time so I don't want a tank full of 80 when I need 92.

I leave my tank full, I don't add any bull****, and I siphon it into my truck in the spring and then fill the tank with 100% fresh fuel.

low as possible, stabalize whats left... Stabil was just about useless for E-10.. Was in wal-mart the other day and Stabil has a new E-10 compatibale formulation.

I try to run mine LOW too - unfortunately this year I put abotu 150 gallons in and never got to use it, so I still probably have about 100 in there.....

Then I throw stabil in and top it off next year. It's only sitting for 6 months.

If you had come up to Kingsmill with us that would just about burned all 100 gallons!!!!! :)

What's winter storage? Oh yeah, that where you leave beer outside on the back porch, and it won't get hot!
Sorry couldn't resist, but I do know that I have let me boat sit for months when traveling with work, and all i do add about 10-15 gallons of fresh when I go the next time, and no problem.
I just found a BP station in town, that's owned by the local Jag dealer, that has regular old GAS, no e10 e 85 e nothing. Going to set-up a business acccount thru the wife's co.
Dean

Even Merc is now recommending you fill the tanks if you can't completely empty them. For what it's worth, here's what I do and why:

On my boats with removable tanks I emptied them into the car. With fixed tanks I fill them up with super (to counterract the octane loss) and double dose them with Startron or Stabil for ethanol (whichever one I run across first). I always felt that leaving the air space in a partially empty tank just invited moisture but know people who don't fill up and they don't have problems either. It probably isn't critical one way or another so long as the boat doesn't sit longer than the winter months. The main thing is to use your boat; if it sits for a couple of years you're going to have problems no matter what you do.

That was definitely one of the weekends I had planned to burn it.....

I try to get mine as low as possible on the theory that the Alcohol is going to absorb the water, and adding 150 gallons of fresh gas in the spring cannot hurt.

I run mine low. Probably down to 15 gallons, put in Marine Stabil yesterday. My boat may sit two months tops. I'll get it out at least once in Dec or Jan at the latest just to keep things flowing. I've never had a problem and this is the first time using Stabil.

Low,low,low

Add the Marine formulated (for E-10) Sta-Bil and fill them up.

The reason for a near full tank was to have less room for air laden with moisture to condense in your tank. Aluminum corrosion is nearly as bad as steel corrosion inside your tank. StaBil is a good investment either way.

I DO like the idea of fresh gas in the Spring, but old habits die hard and I've never had a tank problem keeping it full.

Ethanol in the fuel makes the StaBil more important from everything I've read and heard on the subject.

With the price of gas where it is today compared to what it might be 5 months from now, how does that factor in to your planning?

That's part of what I'm thinking!!!! 200 gallons at a $1.50 savings is worth considering......and since I might have to splash a few gallons in it just to winterize the engines I've considered filling it up. (probably won't though)