Are we paying more for poorer quality gas ?

[dmccarty]

I heard on the radio today that the new blended fuel is creating major issues in vented marine engines and fuel tanks.

There was an article in the WSJ this week or last regarding ethanol causing mucho engine failures in old boats. The older boats used fiberglass for the fuel tanks. This was ok with "old" gas but the ethanol is reacting with the fiberglass and mucking up the engines. They had a picture of a valve that looked liked it was covered in thick tar.

Apparently the only good solution was to pull the tanks out of the boats which is a big problem since they have to cut open the decks to get to them. There was some talk about trying to put bladders in the tanks or coating the inisded of the tanks. One guy was running off of plastic tanks on deck.

I forgot the brand of boats but apparently the owners are very fanatical about the boats and this problem is really killing them.

Later,
Dan