Monty

Are stainless steel braided hoses and AN fittings Coast Guard "legal" or "approved"?

Obviously they don't have the CG approval on them, but if my boat were ever involved in an accident or fire, would the CG find fault with s.s. braided fuel lines, oil lines, tranny lines, etc? Could my insurance company use them as a justification to deny a claim?

Gary Anderson

Forget about looks and dont take chances. USCG approved line (printed on it) from the tank to the pump. Hard line from the pump to the carb.
Never can tell what the insurance Co would do if you had a fuel line related fire!

Cord

iTrader: (2)

To answer your first question....proably not. There are several different standards that the line could have been tested under. Non of which are a mil spec. Either way, the hose wouldn't be properly labled. The fittings are definetly not one of the approved methods. Second question...yes.

Are braded lines and AN fitting superior to what the coast guard requires...with out a doubt. Are braded lines and AN fitting less likely to fail than the coast guard required products? Again with out a doubt.

Realize the coast guard doesn't even want you to use a stainless hard line! They prefer a copper or copper alloy line. The exception is on the engine, where there is no specification.

Monty

Well, I pose this question after the fact. I plumbed the boat with Aeroquip AQP hose and swivel fittings on all fuel, motor oil, and tranny fluid lines already. Obviously no small expense. the reason I ask is because I was reading an artical in BOATUS magazine about avoiding pollution fines and they mentionedCG approved fuel lines. As anyone would, I'd prfer to avoid $100k+ fines, as well as any potential problem with insurance coverage if something bad were to happen.

I've been plumbing my muscle cars/hot rods with Aeroquip AQP for years and have never had a problem, and prefer them for more reasons than just looks. It just sucks that a superior product compared to rubber lines would be a potential denial reason if a problem would ever to occur just because they weren't CG tested.

Cord

iTrader: (2)

The only criterion that I can see as a problem would be permability. Ie fuel molecules escaping through the hose. The coasties have a justifiable concern about this. All the other pull and fire test are proably exceeded just by the product being a mil spec.

Ed

The complete AeroQuip Hi-Performance hose line(which includes all the steel-braid) is not Coast Guard approved hose and fittings. Never have been. The hose has to be alcohol approved hose and MUST have it printed on the outside of the hose to be legal. The approvel code is: J1527...These numbers/letters must also be printed on the outside of the hose. The Coast Guard also wants you to use hose clamps, which the AeroQuip steel-braid line does not use. They also do not want you to use the "push-lok" series of hose or fittings either. The push-lok fittings have sharper machined barbs on the fittings, which can cut the hose if you add a hose clamp to them as well. All this from many years of inspections & discussions at the oem level. In other words, the blue fuel line that boat builders such as Cigarette, has been using for years, is not approved by the Coast Guard. Ed