Battery & Gas Tank Compartment

[William H. (Bill) Barham]

When I installed the on-board charger on my PT-17, in the Battery & Gas Tank Compartment, I noticed a pretty severe gas vapor smell. It was absolutely dry though. The only vent I could find was a hole drilled in the splash well with a screw type cap. All of my other boats had "Ear" type vents on them. One would face forward and the one on the other side faced backwards and I never remember smelling gas in those boats.

Has anyone else with a tin boat noticed this or am I missing something?



Bill

 

[Greg J.]

I sometimes notice a slight fuel smell in the compt of my 175 when I open the lid, but nothing (liquid) in the bilge or anywhere. The fuel-filler cap is supposed to be self-venting, so not sure where the smell comes from. :wacko:

 

[Bruce Freeman]

I noticed that also (vents) my Champion does not have these either. Yes when I open the lid I get a fuel smell. Must not be fatal because more than once (like yesterday) I have checked the fuel level with a lighter. Knowing how ACCURATE marine fuel gauges are, I marked the tank at 10, 20, 30, 40 gallons so I can open the lid and check. (not that I advise the lighter part) mine vents throught the cap also but the fumes are still there. In my defense stupid is as stupid does. There was a flashlight handy it's just the lighter was quicker, one way or the other.

BF

 

[Greg J.]

Lol, that reminds me of an incident quite a few years ago while I was active duty Navy. We were at sea working in the shop late one night. We kept the acetylene bottles outside the shop in a rack, and we had installed a fitting through the bulkhead so that we could run the torches after dark without breaking "darken ship" controls. Anyway, a guy in the shop said he smelled acetylene, so we went out on deck to investigate. Like I said, it was real dark...so... he whips out his Zippo to use for light! I didn't realize I could run that fast until that night. :blink: