One of my fishing buddies called me tonight asking if I knew anything about having Ethanol in our boat's gasoline?

He read an article in the Virginia Wildlife Magazine (back page) that says that Ethanol eats the plastic and rubber gasoline tanks and absorbs water.  The article said that Ethanol causes problems with 4-stroke engines and damages 2-stroke engines from lack of in-fuel lubrication.

The article says we need to change our fuel filter to a "water resistant" filter.

The article goes on to state that Ethanol acts as a detergent that losens the rust and other gunk in the fuel line.  It can clog your filtetr or gas lines so your engine will stop.

So, do any of you guys know about this and should we try to find gasoline without Ethanol?

Has anyone had any problems with the Ethanol mixtures?

Yes, your best bet is buy gas without any of the alcohols but good luck on that.  It's not that hard in most of the south east but more and more states are going to them.

Yes, ethanol does create all kinds of problems because alcohol does mix with water, yes it does desolve the old buildups from the entire fuel system and yes, you must keep fresh filters on the motor.   If you have a boat a few years old, the problem is going to be real bad for a while until the ethanol has desolved and cleaned all that crud from the fuel tank.

What is really going to suck is when that go to 10% or more formula, that's going to reak havoc on motors not designed for the junk.

>:(This is very discouraging.

I had problems with my weed eaters and turns out the alcohol in the gasoline was destroying the gaskets.

So Now I am wondering, is this new 50 2S that I am breaking in desinged for these new gasolines?

I want to think that being a brand new motor it would be but tis less then a perfect world, especially when it comes to Technology versus Environment.

Hey guys this might help. It's a bunch of info that Mercury put out about ethanol in general and ethanol being used in their engines. I came across it last summer when doing a presentation. Hope it helps.

http://northamerica.mercurymarine.com/serviceandwarranty/mercruiserfaqs/ethanol.php#6

bassdocktor