2002 sante - Water in Gas - Problem when surfing

[wakehead]

Hi Guys,

So here is the issue and I need some help here. We have been surfing a lot and I noticed a large amount of water in the fuel to the point that it was stalling the boat. I had to get towed this afternoon. This has been happening a lot and I keep draining the fuel tank and emptying the FCC as well. Once I get the fuel clean it runs great, well until I surf again. I usually have the boat loaded a lot with fatsacs and the bumper of the boat is almost level with the water. The question I am asking here is that is it possible that water come down through the breather hole, and into the fuel tank ? Water is literally splashing over it. Sometimes we tape it to prevent that from happening, but this afternoon so much water was rushing beside that I think it was passing under the tape. Has anyone else had this issue ? Literally I think I pumped out about 1 - 2 liters of water from the bottom of the fuel tank. Does anyone else know of if there could be other places I am taking in water, or do you feel it is for from the breather ?

Curious to see what others say here.

[Lakejackson]

Is ur breather above the rub rail? On my 04 216 the breather was below the rub rail and I had the same problem. Newer boats have the breather up higher . You may need to relocate urs.


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[wakehead]

My breather is actually above the rub rail. right beside where I fill the gas tank.

[t.franscioni]

LakeJackson is right in my opinion. Definitely water coming in from breather especially because you say it happens after surfing. I'll need to take note of this, I have the same boat and fuel vent location and plan on using it for surfing when I get it back on the water.

[wakehead]

Hi t.franscioni,

I noticed you are doing a big resto project. Congrats. Since you have everything apart, do you notice a check valve in the breather tube? or is it literally direct to the fuel tank ?

[t.franscioni]

There are several fittings on the tank itself one does have a check valve but I'm almost positive it's the fuel feed line to the pump. I'm headed out to my boat today to look at it and twiddle my thumbs, I'll take some pics of fuel tank and the vent fitting and check it for a check valve. Again almost 100% sure it doesn't have one on the vent though.

[t.franscioni]

What is you surf ballast setup as far as weight?

[wakejunky]

Why don't you make a suckgate plate and then you don't have to list the boat in order to get a decent wake and avoid water coming into the vent.
On a side note: Has anybody thought about how much damage, if any, is incurred on the motors by running listing the boat? I would think that one side of the motor could potentially get damaged because there is a certain amount of oil that travels through the engine just by natural flow or splashing.

[markj]

Why don't you make a suckgate plate and then you don't have to list the boat in order to get a decent wake and avoid water coming into the vent.
On a side note: Has anybody thought about how much damage, if any, is incurred on the motors by running listing the boat? I would think that one side of the motor could potentially get damaged because there is a certain amount of oil that travels through the engine just by natural flow or splashing.

I used to wonder about potential damage from listing it too. I ran my 2005 SAN for 11 years listed when surfing with no issues at all. 560 hours on the clock when I traded it in.

[markj]

...And we surfed A LOT in the last 4 years....

[t.franscioni]

No engine damage will result from listing. The rate at which the crank splashes oil and the pressure at which the oil pump delivers oil is way more than enough to overcome the forces imposed on the engine from listing which is almost none I would think. Unless your really really low on oil the engine won't even know this difference between listing and straight.

No check valve in vent hose or vent fitting on tank

[Tom_H]

You're almost surely bringing the water in through your tank vent/breather. Others have had it happen. The long term fix is to cap off that vent inside the hull, and put a new vent in closer to the bow (just make sure you don't install it in front of/near your blower or air intakes).

[wakehead]

thanks guys,

I have a 750 lb on the seat and also another 450 lb sac on top of the wedge tank in the back of the boat when i surf. Of course the belly ballast is full too. Is there any damage if i tape the vent hole without bypassing on the short term. This would mean no air can get in.

[t.franscioni]

By taking it off and not allowing the tank to breathe you run the risk of cavitation of your tank. As the engine draws fuel out of the tank air needs to come into the tank to replace the volume of fuel lost to the engine. If you block off the vent your tank will theoretically collapse as a vacuum builds up in it, this is one of the main reasons for a fuel tank being vented. With that said I think realistically your plan should work so long as you lift the tape up after every set or two and let the tank suck some air in to replace the fuel taken from it by the engine while you were riding.

[jbgregory]

arent there breather valved designed to prevent water entry?

how about just putting gore tex over it?