900 liters of diesel leaked out into the river

[sdowney717]

Fuel leaks into Trent-Severn Waterway after boat sinks | CTV Barrie News

Caused a strength stench too.

This video is from the thread about the broken stabilizer causing the hull sinking. I suppose an open to the air fuel tank vent is the culprit in why so much diesel went into the river water. River water flowed into tank and diesel flowed out.

I think we are way past technologically regarding open tank venting to the air.
A sealed fuel system would not have released all that 900 liters plus of diesel fuel. Just like today's cars and trucks have.

 

[sunchaser]

SD
Interesting thought. So how and when will you be converting your 47 year old boat's fuel vents?

 

[rwidman]

Fuel leaks into Trent-Severn Waterway after boat sinks | CTV Barrie News

Caused a strength stench too.

This video is from the thread about the broken stabilizer causing the hull sinking. I suppose an open to the air fuel tank vent is the culprit in why so much diesel went into the river water. River water flowed into tank and diesel flowed out.

I think we are way past technologically regarding open tank venting to the air.
A sealed fuel system would not have released all that 900 liters plus of diesel fuel. Just like today's cars and trucks have.

Cars and trucks seldom sink.

Are you proposing more government intrusion into our lives? Are you proposing the government requiring boaters to have their fuel systems retrofitted with sealed fuel systems? I'm not sure how that would be possible.

Or are you willing to wait the fifty years or so it will take to get all the current boats off the water and raise the price of new boats by a thousand or two dollars to include sealed fuel systems?

How bout the required annual inspection to insure owners don't bypass the sealed system?

I say clean up the spill and charge the person responsible for it.

 

[smitty477]

Of course they will be fined - hope they have enough insurance.

 

[sbu22]

Whatever insurance they have - it won't be enough. They'll have contractors out there washing rocks for the next year as they chase part per billion levels of petroleum. The boat owner will be paying to clean up his release and a century of others' prior releases.

 

[sdowney717]

SD
Interesting thought. So how and when will you be converting your 47 year old boat's fuel vents?

I did it this year!
I switched to Perko vented fuel VOPR (vapor pressure relief) fills, the vent runs back to the fill. The cap is normally sealed, like a truck or car, it is an emissions cap with a 2 way valve.
It opens on vacuum suction from the pump.
It opens other way at 1 PSI to exhale the tank.

My tank vent used to dump over the side, so if my boat sank before this work, all the fuel would desire to flow out the 5/8 vent line and water desire to flow into tank through the vent line.

My opinion is someday boat fuel systems will be sealed like this from factory.

Leave retrofitting up to current owners, but I did improve fuel reliability with it being sealed and potential legal obligations worst case if it sank.
Hey everything is great till it happens to you right?

 

[rwidman]

OK, if it's that simple, how about posting links to parts and instructions on how to do it?

 

[sunchaser]

Good job SD.

 

[Cigatoo]

Looks good on paper?

PERKO Inc. - Catalog - Fills & Tank Vents - Combination Gas Fill and Tank Vent for 2 Inch Hose [0577]

 

[Xsbank]

Good job Mr. Downey! It looks neat too and is a practical alternative to a fuel chest. I wonder if it helps with filling? A lot of systems are poorly designed for filling and spill out the vent. Probably an even better combination would be to mount that in a fuel chest anyway? My fuel vent goes to the cabin top but it is open on both sides, I will give some though how to mod mine.

 

[sdowney717]

OK, if it's that simple, how about posting links to parts and instructions on how to do it?

It really is very simple.
My boat uses gasoline tanks, so they can be totally sealed.

Example of a sealed VOPR valve cap and fill, my cap looks different, Perko sells many different looking caps for these vented and non vented fills.

PERKO Inc. - Catalog - Fuel System Components - Sealed Ratcheting Cap Fills with Pressure Relief for 1-1/2" Hose - Straight Neck [0791]

Mine looks like this
http://www.perko.com/catalog/fuel_s...pa_compliant_sealed_replacement_cap_with_vpr/

For a diesel right now Perko offers the combination vent to the fill and the hole in the cap is tiny, so would be impossible for lots of fuel to leak out.

Perko has online catalog showing these things.


I also installed Perko lift ring to raise the fill off the deck another 3/8 inch

https://www.westmarine.com/buy/perk...Hg7Ri7wat36rQL0hhP16mLnHlMv1xmNRoCTKQQAvD_BwE

These come split for easier installs on existing in place fills, or solid for new installs. It just raises the fill cap higher which I like. For the vented caps these are designed to keep rain splash from getting into the fuel cap. IMO, it is a good idea to have all deck fills above the deck a little bit, not flush fills.

 

[Cigatoo]

"I also installed Perko lift ring to raise the fill off the deck another 3/8 inch"

Do you remember if these lift rings were somewhat pliable? I.e. Will they conform to a less than flat / level surface?

 

[sdowney717]

"I also installed Perko lift ring to raise the fill off the deck another 3/8 inch"

Do you remember if these lift rings were somewhat pliable? I.e. Will they conform to a less than flat / level surface?

These are made from a hard but not brittle plastic, You can bend them enough to slip them around an installed fuel fill. If you have a gap just use a caulk under them. My deck is flat and I caulked to keep the water from seeping under them. I used DAP Dynaflex in black, cleans up super easy, sets to hard rubber, 100% waterproof.

If you ever do use a totally sealed tank with a VOPR type valve in the cap, it will pressurize the tank to 1 PSI. So I also installed an Attwood fuel demand valve in the fuel line at the tank, It will only open if a suction exists, otherwise it is completely shut. this will prevent fuel pressure of 1 PSI forming in the fuel lines, which if your gasoline carbed, could be bad. the Attwood valve is not expensive, I paid around 10$ on ebay for new ones. and the USCG does not allow pressurized fuel lines from tank to engine, AFAIK.

Example here, so far valve has worked fine. Feeds a 250 HP engine.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Attwood-Fuel-Demand-Valve-/322574797328?_trksid=p2349526.m2548.l4275

I have seen Peko ones, but they want a lot for them and they mount into the tanks.

 

[Ski in NC]

Subject boat must have had a tank leak other than the vent path. If system was tight and boat sank, only a trace of fuel would come out of the vent. Need a path for water to get in AND for fuel to get out (vent). If only one path, water won't go one way and fuel the other in the same hose.

Maybe tank was breached by the stabilizer incident.

 

[Greg S]

Subject boat must have had a tank leak other than the vent path. If system was tight and boat sank, only a trace of fuel would come out of the vent. Need a path for water to get in AND for fuel to get out (vent). If only one path, water won't go one way and fuel the other in the same hose.

Maybe tank was breached by the stabilizer incident.

+1 What he says!

I had a boat go down. The only leakage was what was in the bilge. No water into the tanks so no fuel could escape out the vent. Even keeled over none would escape . Mind you, my vent was up under the overhang of the house not low on the hull but I don't think the difference would be great. Entire engine was underwater and even with a wire wool crankcase breather no water got into the crankcase.

 

[psneeld]

Boats normally dont ooze much fuel/oil from a normal sinking.

Even extrordinary sinkings...

5 Facts About Pearl Harbor and USS Arizona - History in the Headlines

Nearly 70 years after its demise, Arizona continues to spill up to 9 quarts of oil into the harbor each day. In the mid-1990s, environmental concerns led the National Park Service to commission a series of site studies to determine the long-term effects of the oil leakage.

 

[SlowGypsy]

Officials say 900 litres of fuel were on board when the boat sank, though officials have been unable to confirm how much has leaked into the Trent-Severn.

 

[sunchaser]

Subject boat must have had a tank leak other than the vent path. If system was tight and boat sank, only a trace of fuel would come out of the vent. Need a path for water to get in AND for fuel to get out (vent). If only one path, water won't go one way and fuel the other in the same hose.

Maybe tank was breached by the stabilizer incident.

+1

Also, what can happen to some fuel tanks in a sinking is a partially filled fuel tank wants to float. By floating a few inches it can pull away from tabbing and rupture fuel fill hose connection or break fuel lines.

 

[2geer]

Was there ever an official accident report posted on this incident? How did it happen? ATON issues? Operator error?

Having a similar vessel and the Trent being on my bucket list, I would really like to know what actually happened.

 

[Rebel112r]

Interesting article on diesel spills.

https://response.restoration.noaa.g...oil-spills/resources/small-diesel-spills.html

 

[Capt Kangeroo]

One of the peripheral issues with a spill on the Trent is that most of the cottages here draw their water from the river. Some have systems to render it potable, most do not. In any case a small fuel spill here would have nearly zero long term impact on anything as the current on this section of the river would have dispersed it almost instantly. A so called cleanup would be little more than a dog and pony show to appease the natives and a make money project for someone. That said, I don't blame the cottagers for being irritated. If the authorities had put half the effort and money toward getting the boat out of there in the first place it never likely would have even made the news. Most don't as boats piling into the rocks between here and the bay. is almost a weekly event and has become a form of entertainment for the cottagers. Nearly all are on the wrong side of the markers or outside the channel.