Empty Tank or not for winter storage?

[Capw]

My Merc Tech says empty so that’s how I do it.

[Ranger Rod]

I was hoping for a definitive answer here. lol
My old boats always had premium ethanol free fuel.
The Opti calls for regular, which had ethanol.
I'll put fuel stabil in and fill the tank.

[LikeToFish]

Well, I'll throw my 2 cents in here. I have owned a 2 different boats over the past 25 years with large gas tanks. Most of my fishing is in the Green Bay area or the UP of Michigan it's pretty easy to find ethanol free premium gas in those areas. So I have always filled my tanks full with ethanol free premium at the end of the season with stabilizer and have never had a problem in the spring. So it works for me and will continue the practice of a full tank at the end of the season.

On a side note I have a number of Stihl outdoor power tools. After mixing gas for a number of years I occasionally still ran across running into trouble with my carburetors. So a few years ago I started using TruFuel that you can buy at the big box stores. The gas is ethanol free and I believe it claims on the side of the can that the gas is good for up to 2 years once the can is open. So if ethanol free gas can last 2 years in an open can I would think ethanol free gas can last 5 or 6 months in my boat gas tank.

[mmusky]

https://www.pure-gas.org/

[Rick H]

https://www.pure-gas.org/

Wish it was just that easy! There are 2 near me. They want twice the cost per gallon for it. They can keep it I'll work around it. Now up the road from the big o place they get .15 a gallon premium for it. I don't have a problem with it.

[twitch]

Well I have been storing my boats outside since 1980 under a cover and never winterized one of my outboards, on my 1st boat it had portable tanks so it was easy to keep them full or empty no problem and that was before ethanol gas. On the newer boats I keep them at whatever level there at and I use Startron ,I also use my boats as long as I can until the water turns hard if it doesn't I keep going just trim it down when I get home and use a T on the water pressure line to prevent damage to the guage. Come spring I will fill with fresh fuel and run her hard a few times then change out the plugs and have never had a problem with the gas.I saw on line a few places not close that have non-ethanol gas but at $15.00 a gallon a little rich for me lol

[Rick H]

I had a semi recent conversation with a gentleman running the local Stihl dealer. I had bought a new saw and wanted to talk about long term storage. He showed me a can of Stihl per mix for $8 a pint. I said I've got a Homelite straight shaft trimmer thats at least 25 years old if not older. I have used for my yard it since I got it. I have never done anything to it than dump the fuel in the spring and replace and clean the air filter. I'm pretty sure its got the same spark plug.

He stated that due to the EPA getting their grubby hands on them the passages are smaller and prone to clog in the newer stuff. Makes sense and probably correct. Guess on these newer items we're going to have to be more careful.

Boat I'm pretty sure that no fuel is better. I'm going to do something this year a little different. Everything will be the same as before. But this spring I'll unseal the emptied tank and re pump out the tank to see how much water it made.

I'm thinking 0.00 because I've never seen any evidence of water. The correct water separator filter is on its fourth season with no evidence of water in four seasons.

I'll gladly report back then.

[Z-91]

When a gas tank is stored with less than a full tank it can allow condensation to form inside of the tank From constant temps changes thus contaminating the fuel with water. Best bet is fuel stabilizer and a full tank.

This

[bman5150]

I store it with a full tank with fuel stabilizer. I also run fuel stabilizer all year because my boat sits during my son’s baseball season. My last fishing of the season with the boat usually is in late Nov/early Dec and then my first boat fishing trip of the new year is around the last part of March.

never had an issue. Fuel stabilizer allows the gas to retain octane and freshness for up to 12 months. Can’t imagine it being “old” or bad in just 4-5 months. You reduce the chances of having moisture condense inside the tank when you store it full. My boat runs great first start of the season each year.

[Tromanoski]

Interesting but might be a little misleading. If you listen to his comment when he is taking the the carburetor apart around the 7:58 minute mark, he shows it is highly corroded from the effects of ethanol fuel. He goes on to say that modern automobile fuel injected engines are made with components that are ethanol resistant and are not impacted. Thats the same for outboard motors. The manufactures have designed them to run on ethanol fuel. Since the last year or so, I have only now been able to obtain ethanol free gasoline. I could not get it when i lived in Ohio. I dont buy it but I can at least get it. I have been running ethanol fuel exclusively since 1989 with no issues. I do not intentionally keep my tanks full. Since 2002 I lived in Houston which a lot of days a year you can "cut the humidity in the air with a knife". I change the engine fuel/water separator filter out every year when i change the engine/lower unit oil and never have found any water in it. I specifically empty the filter to look for water. So as long as the environmentalists don't get their way and screw with the current E-10 standard, I dont think it makes any difference in keeping the tank full or not. At least that has been my experience since 1989 to date.