if you can run carb dry(if carb) will be a big help..as when gas evaporates the crap left behind is nasty !!!

Just drain the tank!

Here is my take on it. I left fuel in the carb on one of my engines from late fall of last year to spring of this year (about 5 months) WHen I took the carb apart there was a whole bunch of fine white powder plugging up the brass filters and the fuel bowls were pitted. This was from untreated pump gas that I was running through the engine while I was testing the engine on the engine stand. I highly doubt the carb is as old as my fuel tanks so I don not want the alcohaol to eat a hole in my tanks like it almost did to my carb bowls. I'm draining all the fuel out into two 55 gallon drums and going to use it in the car. I am also going to spray a whole bottle of the Sta-Bil marine formula into the tank with a garden sprayer to try to get as much of it on the walls of the tank.

I wonder how much, if anything has to do with climate? I have stored boats 15+ months with no stabalizer in it in CA, with no ill effects. Not sure if freezing temps affect it? Since being in TX the past 10 years I try and fill the tanks with fuel and add Stabil at the end of the season, so far so good. Hopefully I'm not on borrowed time....

Has more to do with moisture In the air, drier climates I would imagine don't have as much a problem. The ethanol fuel literally pulls the moisture right out of the air and converts it to water. Winter climates you have a lot of sweating from the swings in temperature from day to night!