How full do you keep your fuel tank

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Bmoore

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Location
Wilmington, NC
I’m still on the fence with this one. We don’t really winterize our boats in San Diego. I add stabilizer at every fill up and Use my boat year round, but less in the winter. I’d prefer to not always leave it full in case I don’t use the boat for a while and be able to add fresh gas, but concerned about condensation. What’s the thought on this subject these days ? The two Yamaha dealers out here both tell me the exact opposite. One says keep full and the other says empty as possible ? Geez... you think we would have a consensus by now. For the folks that just leave their tanks on the emptier side... have you noticed any water in your fuel water seperator ? We only use E-10.
Thanks for the feedback [emoji106]


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B, I’m in the school of thought to keep less fuel in my tank. I just left mine and the tank was down to 1 to 2 bars. I normally shoot for 1 if I can but close enough. I treat the tank heavily with Seafoam and some Stabil. It only sits about 3 months but I typically always keep minimum amounts of fuel in mine year round for 2 reasons. First, the 2120 doesn’t need all the extra stern weight with 100 gallons of fuel. I like to finish my weekend trips with about 2 bars of reserve fuel, which is probably 25ish gallons. Then the next time I’m going out I will put in what I think I’m going to use leaving myself my usual reserve. Secondly, because it keeps fresh fuel in the tank and I don’t carry around all the extra weight. The only time I fill mine up is if I’m going to run offshore to the Gulf Stream which is about 35 miles out or maybe if I’m going to the AR’s and know I’ll be out offshore all day burning at least half of it off. Where I Boat, I have several marinas right where I put in so getting fuel isn’t a issue so that helps. Also, I only run marina fuel and I’m fortunate that our fuel is ethanol free and 89 octaine. I still treat it and I still like to keep it fresh. If I was running fuel with ethanol, I would definately not keep my tank full and I would use my system and perhaps be even more aggressive about keeping it fresh and as close to empty in the off season as possible(and heavily treat it). I’ve never had a problem doing this method. I will wait until after I’ve run the old fuel out in the spring (after adding some fresh to it first as well) before changing out the fuel filter so the old filter can catch any of the potential moisture in the fuel and then start the new season out with a good new filter. Your climate in SCal is even more moderate than mine so I think that works in our favor for this strategy? I’ve always thought the full fuel strategy may be more necessary/viable, in the northern cold climates with the longer winters and storage and massive tempature changes? JMO on all this as it’s like opinions on Ford and Chevy, lol.
 
Bmoore, I'm also in CA but farther north in Bodega Bay. I've been in the habit of buying 50-100 gallons of fuel at a time and always treat it with Stabil 360 at fill up. I've never had an issue with water in the fuel or fuel going bad in any way. I did once notice a little cutting out when I'd gun the engine but that was solved by replacing the F filter. The main reason I don't keep a full tank is more for performance than anything else.


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