Northwest Fishing Reports

17' Lund has gas fumes throughout the hull. Pulled the floor, checked all hoses, vent lines and fittings. Nothing cracked, everything tight. New o-ring on gas cap. Any other ideas? 27 gallon plastic tank, all fittings are tight.

Not to be a smart aleck, but you didn't happen to gas up the same day you smelled the fumes? All it takes is just a drop on your hand(s) or clothes and you can be smelling gas all day.

Agreed with G man and also to add, gas has to vent. Is this an open V or where are you getting the fumes? Biggest concern would be IO motors and cuddies. Dont think Lund makes that?

bassand? wrote:17' Lund has gas fumes throughout the hull. Pulled the floor, checked all hoses, vent lines and fittings. Nothing cracked, everything tight. New o-ring on gas cap. Any other ideas? 27 gallon plastic tank, all fittings are tight.

Double check your tank vent lines to make sure they are not blocked internally. A visual inspection is important, but if there's an internal blockage (water, critter nest, etc.) the tank will vent somewhere other than where it's supposed to.

System has two vent and a fill line. Removed all three. No blockages or cracks. Replaced fuel lines from tank to water separator and from separator to bulkhead fitting. Lines hold air pressure. I'm not sure if I can pressurize the tank without causing damage. No, have not filled the tank recently. This problem had worsened as the season went on last year.

One problem I had a couple years ago is when I got home from the lake there was a couple small pools of gas on top of the fuel filter bracket when I plugged in the battery charger. Happened a few times. So I started checking when I pulled the boat out of the water - no gas pooled. When I got home here was gas. So one day I ran the motor at home. Then shut the motor off and laid on the back of the boat watching the filter bracket, and hoses, and fittings. After about 10 minutes one of the fittings started to spray gas out of the threads. Took that fitting out and resealed it, and all is fine now. You might have to do something like that, just lay there and watch everything.

This may or may not help. Or maybe looking already. But, now that lines and fittings have been tested for leaks. Have you located any puddling of gas? Usually, the smell of fumes is not as strong as puddling gas. You said "the smell got worse as the season progressed". That say's there should be some dripping somewhere. Could be the tank, how old is your boat?

Makes sense that gas tanks need to vent. But, do the "older" metal 6 gallon external tanks vent? I have a couple of plastic 6 gallon tanks that are vented via the fill cap. But the metal ones do not have that vent cap, are they designed to with stand the pressure of expanding gas fumes, without venting?

Another thought would be the separator gasket? Or loose separator filter.

Boats 15 years this August. 27 gallon plastic tank. No puddling evidence, never any in the bilge. Gets serviced this Saturday so separator gets changed.

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions

I was getting the same thing last year and knew i had new lines , fitting , etc.. Found out the brand new pump bulb that I put on did have a leak.... It would dry almost instantly so i wouldnt see evidence of the leak, but it was getting on the floor in the carpet.... I finally found it and replaced it.....

Uhhh, bulb was new last year, but it sits in the splash well. It's at the dealer now, i'll see what they come up with and thanks for the idea.