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What would you have if you was moored up in a marina and not using you narrow boat much ?

My narrow boat is getting delivered in week  and has half tank of fuel 

I was thinking to fill to top so no room for condensation to stop the bug ? 
what you think please 

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3 minutes ago, Feeby100 said:

What would you have if you was moored up in a marina and not using you narrow boat much ?

My narrow boat is getting delivered in week  and has half tank of fuel 

I was thinking to fill to top so no room for condensation to stop the bug ? 
what you think please 

 

The fuller the better, generally.

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10 hours ago, Feeby100 said:

What would you have if you was moored up in a marina and not using you narrow boat much ?

My narrow boat is getting delivered in week  and has half tank of fuel 

I was thinking to fill to top so no room for condensation to stop the bug ? 
what you think please 

 

I wouldn't be very concerned about diesel bug in May, but if you get it filled up you're on the way to keeping a record of how much fuel you use which is useful information imho.

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8 minutes ago, George and Dragon said:

 

I wouldn't be very concerned about diesel bug in May, but if you get it filled up you're on the way to keeping a record of how much fuel you use which is useful information imho.

Also, make up a simple dip stick. Record the diesel level now, then note how much fuel it takes to top it up and you can calibrate the stick for future use.

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17 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Also, make up a simple dip stick. Record the diesel level now, then note how much fuel it takes to top it up and you can calibrate the stick for future use.

Our onboard garden cane is dual-purpose: dip the clean-looking end to discover the water level, and the dirty-looking end for the diesel.

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11 hours ago, Feeby100 said:

What would you have if you was moored up in a marina and not using you narrow boat much ?

My narrow boat is getting delivered in week  and has half tank of fuel 

I was thinking to fill to top so no room for condensation to stop the bug ? 
what you think please 

 

It is almost certain that you will get a build up of water in the bottom of the fuel tank and its the water that encourages the bug to grow so my advice is to plane and get the kit needed to suck the bottom of the tank clear of water at least once a year. A pump or syphon will do. Keep going until you only get clear diesel. On narrowboats the easiest way is usually with a length of stiff pipe on the end of a hose pushed through the filler and then moved all over the bottom of the tank but especially at the tank's lowest point.

.

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2 hours ago, Athy said:

Our onboard garden cane is dual-purpose: dip the clean-looking end to discover the water level, and the dirty-looking end for the diesel.

And when your coffee starts to smell and taste of diesel,you know you have dipped the wrong end!?

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3 minutes ago, Mad Harold said:

And when your coffee starts to smell and taste of diesel,you know you have dipped the wrong end!?

Very good - except that we never drink water from the tank!

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4 minutes ago, Mad Harold said:

And when your coffee starts to smell and taste of diesel,you know you have dipped the wrong end!?

 

 

This all reminds me of a French 'Transport Cafe' I called into, out in the wilds & it was a little primitive.

 

Deciding I needed to use the facilities, I followed the sign and entered this huge fully tiled (walls and floor) room with a hole in the centre of the floor, thinking I'd entered the showers, I went out looking for the toilets, no toilets to be found so back into the shower room.

Noticing the Athletic rings hanging down from the ceiling and the foot marks on the floor, I deduced it was where the French Olypmic team practiced their gymnastics routines, but, yet again I was wrong.

 

I next noticed the small hole in the floor, each side of which were the 'footprints', then I noticed a big stick in the corner of the room.

 

It all clicked, ...................  you hung onto the rings, strained, did your business, then got the big stick and chased it down the hole - I asume that it where the saying "getting the shi&&y end of the stick comes from (you must stand it back up in the corner the 'right way up').

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7 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

 

 

It all clicked, ...................  you hung onto the rings, strained, did your business, then got the big stick and chased it down the hole - I asume that it where the saying "getting the shi&&y end of the stick comes from (you must stand it back up in the corner the 'right way up').

This reminds me of my first encounter with a "two footprints and a hole" French loo whilst camping with my penfriend's family during my schooldays.

   The room was smaller than the one you describe, so I was able to brace my elbow against the back wall, no problem. But that was the day I discovered that you must remove your change from the back pocket of your jeans before commencing. In my mind's ear I can still hear the "jingle, jingle, plop", whose dreadful finality still makes me wince.

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25 minutes ago, nb Innisfree said:

Don't fill tank to the brim, it will expand and overflow in warm weather, keep a bit of headroom. 

 

Indeed. We hired from Teddesely once back in the late 80's. Stopped at Coven for lunch the next day and when we got back to the boat, the stern deck was covered in oil and the canal around the boat was multi-coloured.

 

My initial thoughts were that someone had stepped onto the boat to pour waste oil into the cut, but then I noticed diesel leaking from the vent/flame trap.

 

It was a hot July day and the diesel had expanded and leaked out.

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25 minutes ago, cuthound said:

 

Indeed. We hired from Teddesely once back in the late 80's. Stopped at Coven for lunch the next day and when we got back to the boat, the stern deck was covered in oil and the canal around the boat was multi-coloured.

 

My initial thoughts were that someone had stepped onto the boat to pour waste oil into the cut, but then I noticed diesel leaking from the vent/flame trap.

 

It was a hot July day and the diesel had expanded and leaked out.

 

That must have been a really full tank! After 5 hours cruising you'd have surely used at least 5 litres. According to https://www.fueltek.co.uk/equations-of-diesel-you-must-know/ the volume of diesel increases by about 1% for every 10˚C rise in temperature. A good proportion of the tank is below the waterline...

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Seeing this thread is about engines and marinas. We had a problem this morning and needed help from RCR (what a really helpful guy who came to our rescue was!)

 

A couple of services ago Wyns oil additive was added. We've been sitting in a marina for a month, and this morning we attempted to leave but the engine wouldn't turn over. After changing a couple of filters, the engine still wouldn't 'behave'. Skipping to the diagnosis.. the engine valves had became sticky with a loss of compression. It's been cold and damp, and we never bothered to kick over the engine during the month. 

 

All's well that ends well and lessons have been learnt.

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6 minutes ago, George and Dragon said:

 

That must have been a really full tank! After 5 hours cruising you'd have surely used at least 5 litres. According to https://www.fueltek.co.uk/equations-of-diesel-you-must-know/ the volume of diesel increases by about 1% for every 10˚C rise in temperature. A good proportion of the tank is below the waterline...

 

According to this website a litre of diesel can contaminate 1 million litres of water.

 

http://oilcare.org.uk/what-we-do/impacts-of-oil/#:~:text=Environmental impact of oil&text=Just 1 litre of oil,that live in the wate

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1 hour ago, George and Dragon said:

 

  A good proportion of the tank is below the waterline...

On a hire boat I doubt that, maybe 5%

2 hours ago, cuthound said:

 

Indeed. We hired from Teddesely once back in the late 80's. Stopped at Coven for lunch the next day and when we got back to the boat, the stern deck was covered in oil and the canal around the boat was multi-coloured.

 

My initial thoughts were that someone had stepped onto the boat to pour waste oil into the cut, but then I noticed diesel leaking from the vent/flame trap.

 

It was a hot July day and the diesel had expanded and leaked out.

I have seen that in marinas where people have topped right up at the end of their season and then you get a good warm spring day

 

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On 18/05/2021 at 09:26, Tony Brooks said:

 

It is almost certain that you will get a build up of water in the bottom of the fuel tank and its the water that encourages the bug to grow so my advice is to plane and get the kit needed to suck the bottom of the tank clear of water at least once a year. A pump or syphon will do. Keep going until you only get clear diesel. On narrowboats the easiest way is usually with a length of stiff pipe on the end of a hose pushed through the filler and then moved all over the bottom of the tank but especially at the tank's lowest point.

.

Following yours and Alan's advice previously I did this with 10mm copper tube connected to some clear tubing and siphoned out about 2.5L of water from the bottom of our tank. Diesel tastes nasty doesn't it.. :)

Edited by robtheplod
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50 minutes ago, robtheplod said:

Following yours and Alan's advice previously I did this with 10mm copper tube connected to some clear tubing and siphoned out about 2.5L of water from the bottom of our tank. Diesel tastes nasty doesn't it.. :)

 

I no longer think so! It would do if you don't use a cheap syphon pump such as the one Brian usually links to in this sort of topic.

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4 hours ago, David Mack said:

But how much does the tank expand by?

Linear expansion: worst case (T1 tool steel) +9.7 x 10^-6 per ˚C, best case (grade 316 stainless, annealed) +15.9 x 10^-6 per ˚C 

That's best and worst case for this overflow scenario. Either way the answer is barely at all.

 

https://amesweb.info/Materials/Linear_Thermal_Expansion_Coefficient_of_Steel.aspx

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On 18/05/2021 at 19:30, Richard T said:

Also if it is one of those fillers flush with the deck renew the rubber seal annually. Rainwater gets past them and into the tank.

I change mine at every fill. Bag of 100 from eBay. £7.00

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