New Owner Fuel and Storage Question

[Palico]

Hello, Just became a new boat and new cajun owner yesterday. Got a Cajun 170 F&S with a Johnson 120 outboard. I have a question as to the best way to set the Fuel switch and Vent when the boat is stored and not in use.

I set the Fuel system switch to off and closed the Vent off this morning. Know that this would be cool day here. What is the best way to set this when the boat is stored. For now it is sitting outside. I am going to get a cover for it tommorow and plan on building a covered shed to store the boat in later.

I'll post some pics later. Gained a lot of information already reading post here for the last month. Which partially lead me to purchasing a Cajun to begin with.

[kf4pfw]

First of all, WELCOME! As a fellow Cajun Owner (1978 Cajun MkIV w/150HP Johnson), I am positive you will LOVE your Cajun. They are a fantastic boat, take rough water very easily, handle well......guess I could go on all day. I am very much a Cajun Fan and if I had the $$, I'd resurrect the line

I am assuming you have one of the 6 gal portable tanks? If so, treat it the way you would any other can of gas.....fumes are the problem and if you can smell fumes then the gas can evaporate.....post some pics! We all love seeing new members and their toys!

[Palico]

Thanks!

Internal 22 gal Tank. It has a rear swtich for on/off/reserve. With a Pull knob behind the drivers seat for the vent system. Since I live in a hot climate I figure that the gas tank should alwas be vented, but kind of curious why the pull knob would be there if that was the case. Figure it I must be overlooking something.

Pic:

[kf4pfw]

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Palico &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Thanks!

Internal 22 gal Tank. It has a rear swtich for on/off/reserve. With a Pull knob behind the drivers seat for the vent system. Since I live in a hot climate I figure that the gas tank should alwas be vented, but kind of curious why the pull knob would be there if that was the case. Figure it I must be overlooking something.

Pic:


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Hadn't heard of that before. My boat has a continuous venting system for the bilge area as well as a direct vent for the gas tank. I don't have the reserve feature. I would think you would want to leave the vent on always and the switch for main/reserve is up to you. I'd leave it in the ON position as I'd forget to turn it on and wonder why it wouldn't start anymore!

That's a sharp looking boat you have there Palico! How does she run?

[CajunBass]

Nice boat.

I always just left mine turned on. Actually I had to, because there was no "off" position. Won't hurt a thing.

[Palico]

Thanks for the info.

Sadly I have not had the time to take it out yet.

I had to work over the weekend, hopefully I'll get it out this weekend.

[wbutts]

I have a similar boat. (1992 Cajun Esprit 1650 Fish and Ski) See pics post. The fuel swith on my boat only controls the power to the fuel gauge.

Both the bilge and permanent gas tank are continuously vented. I would not want it any other way. Too much danger of pressure build up.

While in use, a closed vent would cause your outboard to have performance problems because your fuel pump will be eventually fighting a vacume in your tank.

The only gas tank with vents you can close should be portable ones. The vent should be closed only for short times while in transport to prevent the greater dager of spillage Treat gas very carefully.

Being an owner of the 1992 Johnson 120 V-4 I know it is very sensitive and uses enough fuel to be a member of OPEC. If my gas is a month old, I drain it and use it in my car. I only use very fresh fuel.

In addition to fuel filter inside motor housing I have installed a seperate after market fuel filter in hose, the glass/plastic inline visible kind, to prevent carburetor problems. This will save you a lot in clogged jet, fuel problems, time and money at the mechanic. The fuel filter is a lot easy to clean and change than a carburetor jet.

Congratulations and have a good time.

[Palico]

"In addition to fuel filter inside motor housing I have installed a seperate after market fuel filter in hose, the glass/plastic inline visible kind, to prevent carburetor problems. This will save you a lot in clogged jet, fuel problems, time and money at the mechanic. The fuel filter is a lot easy to clean and change than a carburetor jet. "

Thanks for the Tip. The motor is a Johnson 120 V-4. I got a fresh filter inside the back of the motor now. I think I might make the modification to put one inline as well so I can see how dirty it is without taking the motor cover off. I have a switch on the control panel to turn on/off the fuel guage. There is also a switch on the stern that has off/on/reserve. I need to drain the fuel as I know it pretty old. Previous owner let me know the fuel is about a month old and does have fuel stabilier in it. Motor ran ok on it when we tested it using a water hose a coupler.

Owner was the second ower and was not sure on the motor's year but sounds as if it's very similar to yours. I was working on the assumption that the switch was a vent as this is what the former owner told me it was; it's not labeled. Directly behind the drivers seat in the side of the boat just in front of the rear passenger seats. Try to post a pic of it later. Not really a switch but a knob that you can pull out or push in. Pervious owner keept it pulled out which is what he said was vented. Think I might keep it that was as he owned it since 97 and had no problems with the boat in that time frame.

[Palico]

Forgot. The boat is a 1994.

[wbutts]

I know that you are correct, but.....

In my experience marginally bad gas will run ok on the "flush kit". You should never run above idle on a "flush kit". However, my experience is that to run best with peak performance and minimal maintenance time and expense; Run only fresh gas.

I don't mind what the mechanic charges, I just hate to be without my boat for so long.

[wbutts]

Two more tips.

(1) Never let your motor sit idle for more than a month, unless your mechanic has done the tear down type of "offseason setup" that is done in the frozen north where they have a lots of ice. On the gulf goast, it never gets quite that cold, but offseason attention is important. At least once a month (we have many days in winter that is T-shirt mild during day) I run my motor for at least 15 minutes on the "flush kit" with fresh gas. Only run at slow and idle unless you want a new powerhead. The motor gets better cooling in the moving water and the prop resistence moving in the water keeps RPM lower.

(2) I have a small "trickle charge" solar panel attached to my starting battery 12 months a year. This "trickle charge" of only about an amp will not overcharge your battery. Furthermore, unattach the "leads" at the battery to the boat so anything in your boat won't "slow drain discharge" your battery.

[Palico]

Finally got the boat out this weekend. Drives like a dream, very stable and easy to drive, I'm throughly happy with my purchase. Got to work on setting my trim correctly, I had it porpusing for a bit. Just trim back down a bit an it stopped.

I did do one really stupid thing. I forgot to take the trolling motor up upon leaving on of our fishing stops and broke part of the mount. Gotta check with the local marine shops to see if I can get another.

[CajunBass]

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The only gas tank with vents you can close should be portable ones. The vent should be closed only for short times while in transport to prevent the greater dager of spillage Treat gas very carefully.

Being an owner of the 1992 Johnson 120 V-4 I know it is very sensitive and uses enough fuel to be a member of OPEC. If my gas is a month old, I drain it and use it in my car. I only use very fresh fuel.</TD></TR></TABLE>


The first boat I ever had was a Grand Prix runabout. It had a built in 12 gal tank, and a 6 gal portable tank. I knew NOTHING about boats you understand.

The first time out, I figured I'd run on the portable tank to get an idea how far I could run, and still have the big tank to get back on. Boat ran good for a while, then shut down. Brrrrrrrrrr... nothing.

I checked the gas tank. Plenty of gas. Tried it again. Started right up. Ran a while, did it again. Did it a couple more times. I switched to the big tank and didn't have any more trouble. Water in the tank?

Monday morning I took it back to the dealer and explained what happened. That's when they told me the portable tank had a vent that screwed down and had to be opened up when running. I was pulling a vacuum on the tank and the fuel wouldn't feed. When I looked into the tank, of course it would vent to the atmosphere and run awhile longer.

Duhhhhhhhhhh

[Palico]

Solved!

I took out the bildge pump today because it doesn't work as well as I would like. Going to get a better replacement. In the same are as the pump I saw a cable to a device with a hose. Move the pull switch sure enough it moves the cable. Turns out this is the drain for the live well. Previous owner didn't use the livewell ( catch and relase only ) so was eventenly not aware of what the switch did. Livewell pump was dead as well so I going today to pickup a new bilge pump and livewell pump.