premier fuelling issue - air lock

[jediger]

Hey all, wondering if any of you can help with a simple solution to my problem or if we need to take it in. We have a 2014 Premier 36" PTX Castaway which we love and bought very lightly used about 7 hours from home at the end of last season. It has a huge fuel tank in the center toon that holds 47 gallons. Tank was fairly full when we go the boat last fall so we ran it till it came time to refuel. Started noticing fuel backing up on us after only the first 5 gallon jerry can. After spilling too much fuel, being eaten alive by mosquitoes and having dark come in very quickly, we abandoned our efforts for the night and came at it again the next day.

Through trial, error and experimentation, we have figured out how to gently coax fuel into the tank. The problem appears to be that the fuel line is too long and prone to sliding down beside the fuel tank thus creating and air lock. There may also seems to be some venting issues since air is prone to back up into the jerry can even when we are trickling it into the system.

Our current solution is to reach in under the back deck and keep checking the fuel line keep it taut and occasionally giving it a jiggle to keep the fuel moving. Even this occasionally contributes to burps of fuel coming back up the line. It's time consuming, labour intensive and frustrating. It also makes us prone to fill the tank fuller than we would normally since that lets us run it longer between fills. IT SHOULDN'T BE THIS MUCH WORK!

Any advice on how to fix this? Can I do it myself? Would this still be covered under warranty? Since we bought the boat used and it didn't come from a local dealer any thoughts on how to get it seen if it comes from a local dealer? I know they aren't likely to make it a priority since we didn't purchase from them. My initial thought is to keep finessing it till the end of the season and ask a local dealer to take a look at it in September.

[royal4]

I've read about some problems with the vent hose causing this problem. The vent hose had a " P-trap" kind of like under your sink and gas would get trapped in the vent hose and you'd get backup. The fix was to straighten that hose so there was no "trap" and gas couldn't get stuck in the vent hose.

[NonHyphenAmerican]

Ya'll need the "Redneck" fuel pump.

Buy an inexpensive electric fuel pump.

$30-$45




Use a piece of steel tubing on the siphon end.

Use a piece of flexible tubing on the filler end.

Put siphon end in tank/can.

Put filler tube in gas filler opening.

connect to 12 volt batter, well away from gasoline tanks.

[zoom650]

Sierra Tools makes a battery operated Liquid Transfer Pump that I got from Summit Racing. About $16. I use it for my mowers and UTVs. Run it a moment, turn it off and it can siphon fuel if everything is positioned properly.
http://www.amazon.com/Sierra-Tools-Batt ... B000HEBR3I
My old fishing boat had a similar issue. I could take on fuel from either port or starboard. Changing sides helped the blowback. My Harris only has one fuel port and sucks it's 50 gallons like a thirsty camel.

[jediger]

Thanks for all the replies. Looking down the current hose there is a stainless steel barrier that would prevent putting a long hose through the airlock into the tank. I'll look and see if I can find a p trap in the vent hose along with the existing p trap in the fuel hose.

Push comes to shove I may see dal with the frustration for what's left of the season than see if the local dealer will help us under warranty later this fall.

[Bryden24shp]

Mine was the same way, it took gas good, but the hose was rubbing on the sharp sheet metal and was wearing a hole into the hose. I pulled the fuel fill and cut about 16" off the fuel fill hose and reattached it. Maybe that would get the angle you need to get the fuel into the tank, too.
It was an easy job on mine, took maybe an hour. Does your Premier have the fuel fill mounted in the plastic square mounting panel?

[BillieS]

This one is cheaper, requires no electric, easy to use and store:
http://www.amazon.com/Hopkins-10801-Flo ... 1JDFWFM2WM

It is called: Hopkins 10801 FloTool Shaker Siphon with 6' Anti-Static Tubing

[old jim]

Some people call tat a jiggle siphon, Billie. I shure like the one I have. old jim

[jediger]

For the sake of completeness I figured I'd update this thread with the final solution. Turns out as mentionedin at least one other thread, the new epa compliant fuel vents don't like to be filled by Jerry cans. We could find no mention of this in the manual and the dealer was clueless. A thirty second conversation with one of the guys at premier had it cleared up though. He was very helpful!

if you want to fuel your boat with a jerry can you need a special funnel that blocks the air vents! Premier charges $25 for the funnel on their website but they are shipping us one for free.

Because we wanted to use the boat that weekend we did an experiment and determined there is another option too.
seems Ford uses a similar system and the oem funnel works great. http://www.amazon.com/Ford-Mercury-Linc ... B001H1PZ6U

Used to take us 25 minutes to empty a jerry can. With the funnel and a jiggle siphon it's now closer to 5.

[RobZ71LM7]

My 2013 Premier fills nicely with a jiggle/shake siphon.

[rancherlee]

nice to know, I hope I don't have to build an "EPA Compliant" fuel system when I build a new chassis. Every time I see an "old style" gas can at a rummage sale I grab it right away, I can't stand the new "can't have ANY vapors venting to the atmosphere" cans at all and usually end up spilling gas which kinda defeats the purpose.