Full or empty fuel tank this winter?
 

Is there a general consensus with this? My local marina wants my small outboard Grady-White as empty as possible with Stabile in whats left. Thats gas with ethanol. Some guys say fill it up. How about ethanol free ? Same guidelines? Five months of sitting.

I used to be in the "leave it full" camp but now with ethenol in the fuel and the fact that it separates in storage that long I have for the past several years run the tanks down as far as possible, added Stabil and in the spring fill with ethenol free and add some of that Starton blue stuff . THe fact the the ethenol based fuels separate is bad enough but on older boats and motors it eats some rubber parts as well so I like to keep it to a minimum.

I park my Grady in the boathouse with non-ethanol fuel, no additive, and what ever quantity it has in the tank and it sits for 7 months.

In the spring, I just start it.

I do the same with my Donzi.

No issues for the past 4 years...however now that I have posted this.....

Ken

I'm in NE too. 5 months totally fine either way with Stabil.

I have it zero'd down to where I run into fuel related issues, if it happens, over 8 months. Predominately , boats around here is stored outside. Shrink wrapped.
If you are concerned, drain fuel in spring and put it in to your truck or car. Fresh gas to the boat.

I have an electric pump set up (mucho ft of rubber fuelline both ends, electrical many feet of wire with alligator clips to hook to battery or battery pack)I use to do this....boats, sleds, pwc's...you name it.

I leave it mostly empty, my final time out I add seafoam at ~1oz/gallon and make sure I get the secondaries open to get it through the whole system then store it. Usually one can or less.

Probably don't even need to do that as I run non-ethanol gas, but if nothing else it makes me feel better :)

I start adding Sta-Bil (blue) around this time of year and the tank level ends up where it ends up. Top off in spring. Never an issue.

Seafoam in the fall to half tank or less, add five gallons of race gas in the spring + top up.

There is no issue with going empty. Go ahead and drain it as best you can. With an outboard this is pretty easy by hooking up an electric fuel pump for less than $40 bucks from Advance auto or similar. Just make sure that whatever goes through the motor last during your winterization process is stabilized.

You do NOT want to mix ethanol fuel with non-ethanol fuel; to try to "whittle down" the ethanol content by adding non-ethanol fuel.

Gasoline loses octane over time. I leave my stuff empty in the winter and fill it with fresh fuel in the spring. Never had an issue.

Diesel on the other hand will condensate in the open air. Fill the tanks up as full as possible before you put it away.

With ethanol- I used to fill it up and treat it til two years I had 30 gallons go bad and separate after sitting 5 months. Pain to dispose of. Now I keep tank as empty as possible and treat it heavy. This is in MD.

Non-ethanol- Try to get tank down past half and treat it. I leave a boat in NY stored 7 months like this every year no problems.

I now think if the gas does go bad...what's easier to get rid of...a little or a lot?