Empty Gas Tank Winterization Question

[SoldTheBayliner]

Hi all. I visit this forum annually in October. Haha.

I've always winterized the boat with 3/4 to a full tank of gas. I put Stabilizer in there and I've never had a problem. I understand that the "almost full tank" thing is to prevent condensation from forming in the tank (less air space, less room for condensation to form).

Well I'm winterizing, and I've got hose clamps and drain plugs sitting here and there, stuff is all over the place and the last thing I want to do is put everything back together just to drive to town to get gas. I forgot to check before I started, and it turns out the gas tank is completely empty. Remembering the last run of the summer we were stressing about making it to the dock. The gauge is not even registering. I didn't think to fill it before winterizing, and now I'm looking for the easy way out. Am I gonna be OK leaving it empty over winter? Is condensation a "for sure" thing, or is it based on climate? Relative humidity around here is in the single digits.

Can I get away with it? Or do I need to suck it up, tidy up, and drag the thing to down for gas?

[Quinner]

Ideally you want to treat the gas and run the motor for a bit so the entire fuel system is treated. I would not be as concerned about the condensation as the poor quality of fuel these days and that even treated the 3/4 tank will be not so good come spring. If you can still run the motor without too much trouble just pour in 5 gallons of treated fuel and idle for a few minutes.

[jhersey29]

Borrow all your neighbors 5 gallon gas cans if the trailering isn't a good option at the moment.
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[H2O]

In Cali it won't matter. Leave it empty and don't stress about it.

[scottb7]

I got lost there...They don't have condensation in CA? You will have to educate me on that one.

I personally would borrow gas can's and fill tank over next few days, store full with stabilizer. But that being said, what I do toward last week or two of season is - in addition to stabilizing fuel - I switch to ethanol free gas. http://pure-gas.org/

[SoldTheBayliner]

I got lost there...They don't have condensation in CA? You will have to educate me on that one.

CA is pretty big... I think there is condensation somewhere. haha. Where I'm at though, it's pretty darn dry. I'm at 4500 feet of elevation on the east side of the Sierras... relative humidity is somewhere around 7%. I've never seen condensation form in an almost empty 5 gallon gas can... never winterized a lawnmower, chainsaw, etc, etc... never had a problem.

[scottb7]

Sounds super nice... Jealous.

[tommer12]

CA is pretty big... I think there is condensation somewhere. haha. Where I'm at though, it's pretty darn dry. I'm at 4500 feet of elevation on the east side of the Sierras... relative humidity is somewhere around 7%. I've never seen condensation form in an almost empty 5 gallon gas can... never winterized a lawnmower, chainsaw, etc, etc... never had a problem.

The problem is CA and other areas is ethanol will create its own water in the gas. So you are doing two things.. treating the gas and also eliminating any problems created by ethanol. I forgot the brand that I used in my 92' Nautique, but once I started treating it in the fall, in the spring, my fuel system was perfect.. no issues. Before then, I had Holley issues, idle issues, etc. Sta-bil by itself will not do it. You need something to take out the ethanol otherwise it turns into water in your gas tank.

Before that, metal tanks would create condensation on the walls. Im not sure if the plastic tanks, but probably less of an issue now. Also, if you fill it to the rim and have a metal tank, the heat/cold will expand/contract the the tank and fluid and you will have gas coming out the vent in your garage. (had this happen).

I usually keep about quarter tank of gas in. Treat it with some ethanol treatment, run through the fuel system and done. Since I have moved to an ethanol free state, I dont worry about that anymore. I will run my Stab-il through the system and fill up in the spring with fresh gas.