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I was reading through the v-drive thread and saw the post where Serious Issues boat caught on fire while disconnecting the gas lines in the garage. Apparently, if not properly ground, you can get a static spark that will ignite spilled gasoline.
I run 100+ octane which requires me to use a gas caddy. Usually I will fill up the caddy, bring it home and fill up the boat.
My question is, what do I gound, and how? Do I ground the motor and the fuel tank? What about the trailer? What do I ground it to? The floors in my garage are concrete?
Thanks for any advice...........I didn't want to ask about an O/B over in the V-drive thread. :rolleyes:
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HD, I can't tell you how important the grounding thing is. When my boat was on the way to the river fresh out of the mold and hours of buffing and a wind and sand storm later. I pulled up to a gas station opened the filler and grabed the pump nozzle put it up to the fill and had a spark8 inches long arch ...I must say I was lucky no fumes I guess but it scared the shit out of me never the less. so make sure the tanks are grounded and your not sliding plastic tanks around on bed liners and maybe a rubber mat to set your gas dolly on , my 02
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Thanks for the tip. I have a 3/4" thick rubber mat in the bed of my truck, so I should be fine there. I talked to Burbanite here on the boards and think I am going to drive a stake into the lawn just outside of the service door to my garage and then ground the tank and the motor to that prior to filling up.
Thanks again. :cool:
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It's the same as aircraft. The tank is grounded (some are rubber blatters), the aircraft is grounded to the earth (rubber tires are great insulators), the fuel truck is grounded to the earth, and the truck and or fuel nozzle is grounded to the aircraft before the fuel nozzle is inserted into the cell or tank. The less the humidity, the greater chance that a spark from static electricity can occur. If you are worried about it, ground the boat to the same earth ground as your portable tank is.
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Pete, that sandstorm probably didn't help? At least it seems that aluminum and fiberglass rotors generate a hell of a lot more static through dust and sand than in the clear.
What's really stange is that gas stations are just starting to acknowledge the problem with "Touch Here First" grounding points. Now why is that?
jer
