Bad fuel

I bought a Tiny Tug out of Brewerton NY, headed to Oswego, crossed Lake Ontario, crossed west to Trenton.
During the voyage I had to change my Racor 3 times.
Question, could I install a second primary Racor plumbed to the original,
then when the engine began to stumble, switch the valve, (valves?), and continue my journey?? I could replace the clogged filter after the engine cooled?? How about a 20 gallon "day tank"??

Many thanks to one and all

Yes, they have filter setups like tbat off the shelf.

Go to the Parker website.

CaptFun said:

I bought a Tiny Tug out of Brewerton NY, headed to Oswego, crossed Lake Ontario, crossed west to Trenton.
During the voyage I had to change my Racor 3 times.
Question, could I install a second primary Racor plumbed to the original,
then when the engine began to stumble, switch the valve, (valves?), and continue my journey?? I could replace the clogged filter after the engine cooled?? How about a 20 gallon "day tank"??

Many thanks to one and all

Click to expand...

As psneed said, that is done all the time. You can either add another filter, or take out what you have and put in a dual filter setup. A dual system, although more expensive, is really convenient.

A number of folks here have day tanks. I think that sounds like a great setup, but a dual Racor is a lot easier and ultimately less expensive to install.

In the meantime, figure out what the problem really is. I wouldn't expect bad fuel in your area this late in the season. I am often surprised and more often wrong.

Dual racors sound like the best approach. Check out a 75900 as an example.

I'm a fan of day tanks, but they take up space and require a transfer pump, so more complicated and more space. How tiny is your Tiny Tug?

Could be you are agitating the dead bugs in the tanks by the hull moving. You can get people to come to a marina and polish the fuel in your tanks.

What do you mean by transfer pump? Before or after filters?

Mach_cat said:

What do you mean by transfer pump? Before or after filters?

Click to expand...

A typical day tank arrangement would be as follows:

1) One or more storage tanks. There are where purchased fuel goes.

2) A transfer pump and filter to move fuel from the storage tanks to the day tank. As fuel is transferred, it is filtered so only clean fuel ever gets into the day tank. This gives you segregation between purchased fuel and consumable fuel.

3) Your engines draw from the day tank through normal filtration. This would typically include an off-engine filter like a Racor, or perhaps a dual Racor as mentioned already. Then followed by the on-engine filter(s).

4) Return fuel from the engines goes back to the day tank.

It's a very effective arrangement, but as mentioned earlier, take up space, requires a transfer pump and additional filter, and requires that you monitor the day tank level and keep it filled via periodic transfers. More than one boat has stalled because the day tank was allowed to run dry.

no one to "polish Fuel"

My tiny tug is at Trenton Marina for August. I've been to many marinas, but this marina is the greatest.
Craig, the manager is beyond helpful. I talked with Craig and a local mechanic but neither had anyone in mild who could polish my fuel. I imagine I have around 250 gallons on board.

What do the filters look like when you change them? Got pics?
What micron are they? What engine?
I ask because I went thru a similar scenario on my current boat and I ended up installing a multi-stage system.
I also replaced a flexible fuel line which may have ben delaminated internally.

If you mean trenton, nj...

https://www.google.com/search?q=marine+fuel+polishing+near+trenton+nj&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

You can buy a dual unit like the one shown below, switches with yellow handle to change "on the run". I have seen some folks add a second filter with home made plumbing, tubing or hoses, and valves to do the same thing.
The picture below is on my single engine Monk 36 there is a vacuum gauge between the filters it reads from the filter in service.

I have not been able to locate someone to polish my fuel in Trenton, Ontario.
Perhaps I could get 2 empty 5'ers with lids, a 12 volt pump, soft copper, and rubber hose. It is a straight shot from the fill to the bottom of the tank. I could suck crap and water from the bottom of the tanks. I would think, filling up a 5 gal. bucket would remove a lot to my problem??

CaptFun, even a manual pump connected to a plastic tube ziptied to a wooden dowel will get you to the bottom of the tank. Pump and see what comes up. Pump until what comes up is clean diesel. I`ve done it.
For prevention, you need to work out how the foreign matter got there. One bad fill,defective tank filler seals, whatever.
I`m assuming you have no inspection ports on the side of your tanks, and no drains at the bottom.

I have inspection plates, about 8"x12" on each tank. Not sure about the bottom drain. I have not cut the filters open yet. It looked black from what I could see.

Bottom drains are good if they have valves, though mechanics seem to be able to drain from plug types without getting diesel everywhere.
To open the plates you need fuel below the plates, do you have 2 tanks to facilitate that,or can you use extra tankage?
Why not find out what is lurking down there using my simple method. One step at a time. If you get back to clean fuel the filters may sort the problem over time without too many filter changes. You might want to add some biocide/fuel conditioner/snake oil, plenty of old discussions about that to search on TF.