Gas over flowed and ruined my stripes!

[zimm]

I filled up my boat two weeks ago. When I uncovered it today, there was yellow gook all over the side from the fuel fill back to the transom. My blue stripe is all eaten, the glue running down. My GRADY-WHITE letters took a hit, but are still sticking for now. What happened? It looks like my tank expanded and seeped fuel down my rub rail and ate all the glue. I noticed this boat doesn't have a fuel overflow like my older boats. Where is the vent? Maybe it's clogged? Finally, how do I get my gelcoat looking good again- I used 409, the WD-40 get the glue off- but I still have shadows of the drips all in that area. I'm thinking a cleaner wax might work?

 

[bayrat]

Vent is most likely built into your fill cap assembly and vents thru there.(under the cap you will see a little hole). Im guessing that its plugged and the expansion pushed the gas back up and out under the cap. You have to look to see whether its plugged at the vent/ filler assembly itself or somewhere else in the vent hose. Probably a Perko assembly. Go onto their website and look for a diagram of the setup like yours. Did you ever have problems pumping gas into the tank? Did you overfill it last time?

 

[wspitler]

What you experienced is normal with a full tank and an increase in the temperature. The vent obviously worked since that's where the fuel came from. The vent is in the area of the cap, if you can get to the underside you'll see a small hose coming from the tank and attaching near the filler, that's the vent hose. I had it happen and learned not to fill it up completely if I was going to let it sit without burning fuel. Most gas is cooler when first pumped. Give it a hot day and that's what happens. I wouldn't worry about a bad vent it worked as advertised. Just buy new stripes and be careful about topping it off and letting it sit in the future.

 

[SmokyMtnGrady]

That yellow stain will come off with a hull cleaner and it will come off. Then apply a good wax like Collinites or Maguires Fleet Wax. Get some good water proof contact adhesive for the Grady logo, do not use 5200 or 4200 though. We bumped into a dock and it pushed our Grady logo a little and we used a 3M spray adhesive on it and it tacked back on without a problem since. The vent worked, but what I find odd is my boat has overflowed and the stripes were never affected. I guess your cover kept the fuel against them. The yellow stain does come off.