Fuel fill hose replacement

[SmokyMtnGrady]

Greetings,
When fueling my boat the past few times I would get a hint of gas smell. I had several discussions with KY Grady about it and when I was in Florida I pulled all the inspection ports for the gas tank and bilge . The gas tank is pristine. Zero corrosion , no signs of fuel leaking and such.

Today I was at the fuel dock and while the dock hand fueled the boat I peaked under there and sure enough, fuel was weeping through the cracks in the fill hose.

Here are some questions for the experts.

One, is their a particular brand of fill hose I should buy?

Two, I am going to replace the fill hose and vent hose at the same time. I am thinking I can unhook both those from the tank and use duct tape and tape each end to end and then have my son pull from the fill fixture while I gently push from the tank side. Another Idea is to tape some nylon rope and pull it through then attach the new house to rope tank side and pull the rope with fuel line attached to fill side. Does this sound logical?

This task seems easy but even easy things get complicated quickly. My desire is not to pull the entire floor panel over the tank if at all possible.

I have an 08 228 with single 125 gallon tank. Just by chance does anyone know the length of hose used? At West Marine it's $21.95 a foot. If I buy to little it's a waste and buy too much and it's perhaps $25-$30 wasted there. I plan to call Grady and see if they know. My ball park look at it is 9 feet.

 

[Ky Grady]

Hate to tell you, you'll probably have to pull the floor panel to facilitate pulling the hoses in. I'd pull my original hose out and get a measurement before ordering. Order 6" to a foot longer than what you measure. My originals had drawn up some from age.

 

[SmokyMtnGrady]

Hate to tell you, you'll probably have to pull the floor panel to facilitate pulling the hoses in. I'd pull my original hose out and get a measurement before ordering. Order 6" to a foot longer than what you measure. My originals had drawn up some from age.

Man, this kind of stinks. Boat is in the water on the lake. I was hoping for a turn around in the same day. I was also hoping not to pull the gas tank panel ...one can hope.

 

[leeccoll]

I just replaced my original 228 fill and vent hoses and replaced tank. I'm surprised your fill line failed so quickly. Bummer.

You want to get 8' of fill line, 9' of vent because of the vent loop at West Marine.
Shields brand made in Italy.
Likely you will cut off maybe foot or so on the fill line, but you don't want to be tight on a project like this. You want the extra length pulling through the new hoses. Vent line is a breeze, just duct tape old to new. Fill line you want to screw in a 3/4" coupler between the old and new hoses and duct tape over that.

I have pictures on this site, just look up :

1987 28 Seafarer Aluminum tank and Fuel lines replacement

Your boat is much newer than mine. Maybe you won't go through the trouble getting out the fill line because of the age of it. My fill line took 1.5 days and 2-3 people helping. It can be done is the good news.

Expect it to be more of a PIA than you think. Holler if you need to.

As Ky said, you HAVE to remove the floor to do this project.

Hope this helps.

Lee

PS- I do have metal couplers to join both hoses the tank fabricator sent to me that I never used, you are welcome to them if u care free of charge.

 

[Ky Grady]

He won't need a vent loop, our tanks vent through the fuel fill cap. The older ones have the vent on the outside of the boat which does need the vent loop.

 

[GW VOYAGER]

Wow ! 3 or 4 years ago I had to replace the vent hose auxiliary and main on my Voyager. The replacement hose inside diameter was same but od was larger . Grady drilled holes in stringer exactly for od on original hose so I had to cut inspection plate front of helm and file larger hole. Well long story short I nicked fill hose and had to replace it also. It is doable but royal PIA. Main tank not so bad to replace . Count on it taking longer than expected. Good luck.

 

[leeccoll]

He won't need a vent loop, our tanks vent through the fuel fill cap. The older ones have the vent on the outside of the boat which does need the vent loop.

Ah, now I know. Good Catch.

Thx Ky!

 

[seasick]

In theory you don't need a loop but you don't want a sag either. With a sag ( down loop) gas can splash up or fill down as the nozzle is activated. That gas will sit in the vent line and cause issues especially when gassing up.

 

[PNW_Drifter]

"Grady drilled holes in stringer exactly for od on original hose". - WTF

I just found this out. I thought I could pull through and I think I could of but the 2020 version of 1 1/2" hose is at least a 1/4". After 3 wasted hours I pulled the hatch after my flashlight rolled down there. Hatch took 10 mins to pull.

I guess I'll have to enlarge the hole somehow. Not sure how now. Full sawsall surgeon or do the hole saw oversize holesaw trick. (not sure there is room).

 

[Sparkdog118]

can you get a dremel in there?

 

[Sparkdog118]

When I pulled mine through, I drilled 2 pin holes in each hose 180 deg from each other on each the new hose and the old hose. I then sewed them together with stainless airplane wire and twisted them together like bread ties. That kept my diameter to a minimum. I was able to get it thru without having to enlarge the hole. Maybe apply a little Vaseline if it is tight. Harbor freight has airplane wire. In a blue tub real cheap. It is very useful and strong.

0.041 in. Stainless Steel Lock Wire, 1.00 lb. Coil

Amazing deals on this 0.041In Stainless Lock Wire at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

 

[SmokyMtnGrady]

"Grady drilled holes in stringer exactly for od on original hose". - WTF

I just found this out. I thought I could pull through and I think I could of but the 2020 version of 1 1/2" hose is at least a 1/4". After 3 wasted hours I pulled the hatch after my flashlight rolled down there. Hatch took 10 mins to pull.

I guess I'll have to enlarge the hole somehow. Not sure how now. Full sawsall surgeon or do the hole saw oversize holesaw trick. (not sure there is room).

I actually did my repair in April. That fuel fill hose is either 1 inch, 1.5 or 2 inches as I recall from ordering. I don't recall a 1.25 Hose? Maybe the new hose has a bigger OD but the same ID? I bought 1.5 inch MPI hose with the red stripe.

Maybe the stringer has swelled some? Is there a way to put some Vaseline or dish soap on the opening or the first part of the hose? Fortunately for me my house just kind ran diagonally from the filler cap to the tank with no obstruction. You know of your hose replacement was like mine when I ordered it and it got here , the end was flared ..I cut it clean and took wire cutter and cut the wire reinforcement clean. It made snaking it easier and putting on the flange easier. Maybe examine that ?

 

[Sparkdog118]

Standard fuel fill is 1.5 in.

 

[PNW_Drifter]

My new 2020 hose had a 1/4” bigger OD than the one from 2000. The hole drilled in plywood was just too small. Tried to brute force pulling and pushing lubbed hose from both directions for several hours. Lost cause even after hatch was removed.

I remembered I had a harbor Freight power file and that gave me the clearance I needed for a very easy pull with zip tie through hose and weed wacker line.

Used fiberglass resin to seal area of wood I sanded. Then I attached filler cap hoses with a bending screwdriver extension. No access plate needed. But cut up hands and swearing was mandatory.

Thanks to everyone on the forum for the confidence to take on this job.

 

[leeccoll]

Boom!!

Nice job~

 

[PNW_Drifter]

Thanks Lee, very helpful as always. Now to put down a lot of Almond caulk tomorrow.

I confirmed my old hose leaked like a siv!