It was just a matter of time before ethanol became a big problem with our boats.  When we launched my boat this spring, we found that the ethanol in our gas had absorbed some moisture and we had to go through a few water separators before we worked through the problem.  My buddy Gump's boat had even worse problems and it literally ruined his fishing in the month of April because his boat was running so poorly.  The ethanol broke down some of the old deposits in his fuel tanks and turned his fuel into a gooey mess.   We've both worked through our ethanol problems and our boats are now running better than ever, but we've taken a few precautions to make sure that we don't have any more ethanol problems this year.  Those included filling up with a quality marine fuel from ValvTect, putting in a good ethanol fuel treatment like ValvTect Ethanol Gasoline Treatment, and using a Racor fuel filter funnel to pull any water out of the gas before it ever gets into your tank.  You gotta check out this video to see how well these filters work:

I was surfing around on the ValvTect website last night and found the following information to be really helpful in explaining why regular automotive fuel isn't a good idea in our boats:

Your boat's marine gasoline engine is forced to operate at higher RPMs and loads than your car or truck engine and can consume up to 10 times more fuel per hour of operation. It is also more susceptible to phase separation, corrosion and fuel stability problems caused by ethanol blended gasoline.

ValvTect Marine Gasoline is "specially formulated" for marine engines and is designed to prevent the problems of ethanol gasoline, such as phase separation, moisture, poor stability and the formation of power-robbing carbon deposits.

ValvTect Marine Gasoline is "specially formulated" for your marine gasoline engine. It requires no additional fuel additives to protect your engine, eliminating any risk of improper additive use and saves time and money.

ValvTect Marine Gasoline protects your marine engine with these additional features and benefits.

As luck would have it,  the two marinas that we use both sell ValvTect Marine Gasoline - Krenzer Marine in Sodus, and Wilson Boatyard Marina in Wilson.  If I have to use other fuel in a pinch, you can be sure that I'll be filtering it first then adding an ethanol treatment.  What is it that they say about an ounce of prevention being worth a pound of cure?  I won't be putting anything but ValvTect in my boat from here on out.

Until Next Time,
Fish On!!

~Capt. Bill