Gas Tank Fill Problem

gmerseal

Have a 2001 hurricane 237 I/O with
Volvo Penta drive. When filling gas tank, I can only get the tank half full before gas comes back out the fill opening. I fill it on the boat lift with 5 gal gas cans. I then take a small hose and blow air into the tank until it belches air and gas back out the fill opening. I can now fill the tank all the way full. I have taken a small tube and ran it through the air vent which seems clear. Any ideas on the problem ???

Capt_Steve

@gmerseal ... I suggest having your dealer troubleshoot this one. It may have to do with clogged hoses where the fittings meet the tank. Need to make sure there's not a small leak, which could allow fumes to build up. 

gmerseal

It sounds like a venting problem to me due to the air belching back out of the fill hole. Once the air is out of the tank, everything works fine.

rdcastle

Have you tried fueling when boat is sitting in the water? I had a similar problem with my Rinker 190 Captiva. If I stood on the swim platform where the fuel fill/vent was located, I could only put 5 gals. in If I walked to the bow, the tank would burp a slug of fuel out and create a spill. The fill hose and the vent hose were both located on the top rear of the aluminum tank. Poor design IMHO. My Hurricane fill/vent lines are located toward the front of the tank and on the starboard side of it. No such problem.

gmerseal

I'm thinking it is a design problem, but so far no one else has had this with a Hurricane. I've tried filling it in the water, on the lift, with the lift on an angle with the bow up, no luck yet. After it belches gas and air, everything is fine. Sounds like there is trapped air in the tank that can't get out, but what do I know!! Thanks for the input.

nquirk

@gmerseal, I believe you have a blockage in your vent line.

In my opinion, these lines are undersized (but I guess for good reason).  All boats have a vent to allow air to escape on filling, however the blend is to maximize the size of the line to vent the air, and minimize the line to reduce the intrusion of water/moisture. 

If you can burp it with a line in the fill opening, that tells me you have a vent line problem that its not doing it as designed. 

One suggestion is if you have access to compressed air is to try to blow compressed air through the vent line (I'd do this when the tank is near empty and I would not exceed 20-30psi).  Other option is to use a fish line to try to pas through the vent line to look for blockage.