fuel vapors with mods?

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rsmit13

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I have a friend that has a 16 ft jon, he put flooring, front deck, and rear deck in it, and the other day he was checked by the game warden and was given a citation and then told that he couldnt have it that way due to proper ventilation requirements. Just wondering if anyone else has had a problem with it? His reasoning was that fuel could leak and get trapped under the flooring .
 
I always run a vent from the fitting in the fill cap of all portable tanks under any deck. The vent screw is almost always National Pipe Thread, so a small nylon NPT-Barb fitting and clear plastic hose solves the issue. I believe one is also supposed to have the forward and rearward facing vents to circulate air through, to remove leaking fumes, but I can't say I've always included those.
 
Download this and read up on the sections for ventilation. I'm zoned out from being awake all night...

https://files.dnr.state.mn.us/education_safety/safety/boatwater/backyardboatbuilders.pdf

Jamie
 
rsmit13 said:
I have a friend that has a 16 ft jon, he put flooring, front deck, and rear deck in it, and the other day he was checked by the game warden and was given a citation and then told that he couldnt have it that way due to proper ventilation requirements. Just wondering if anyone else has had a problem with it? His reasoning was that fuel could leak and get trapped under the flooring .

I was just doing a little more research on the topic (my statement above on venting the tank was what I do to keep my boat from blowing up, not to follow any 'laws'), and I believe he should fight that ticket. From what I've read, unless your state has some weird law, the regulations in question are only applicable to boats built for sale to the public, not personal use, and are not enforceable on privately built boats for personal use.

I quote from the Boatbuilder Newsletter #36 on the Glen-L website.

"Safety Standards for Backyard Boat Builders"

From the "Letters" section of Boatbuilder magazine, May/June 2002.

Coast Guard Standards

On the subject of powering a homebuilt boat, the present Safe Powering Regulations (effective date: 1 November 1972) in Subpart D of Part 183 were adopted from industry standards published by the American Boat & Yacht Council (ABYC) and the Boating Industry Associations (the former BIA is now the National Marine Manufacturers Association). These standards were originally developed by a team of boating experts. They tested a variety of boats (approximately 150) and rated each boat according to the horsepower they felt was safe or unsafe. The ABYC plotted these test results against boat dimensions (length and transom width) and derived an average safe horsepower recommendation.

The boats tested by these experts were off-the-shelf models which were available during the period 1954 through 1967. All of the boats tested were of conventional design (semi-V, round chines, cathedral hull). All of the boats had a length-to-beam ratio ranging from 2.2:1 to 3:1, and the smallest boat tested was 14 feet in length.

Later amendments to the Safe Powering Standard (effective August 1, 1987) allowed manufacturers of small outboard-powered runabouts with remote wheel steering to use the ABYC safe maneuvering speed and quick turn tests for computing horsepower, provided they met certain qualifying criteria: (i) 13 feet or less in length; (ii) remote wheel steering; (iii) transom height (A) minimum 19-inch transom height; or, (B) for boats with at least a 19-inch motorwell height, a minimum 15-inch transom height; and (iv) maximum persons capacity not over two persons. Manufacturers of small outboard runabouts meeting the special criteria who used the performance tests for determining maximum horsepower were limited to a maximum of 40 horsepower.

Now I want to touch briefly on the subject of the "Safety Standards for Backyard Boat Builders" pamphlet. First of all, it is just that-a pamphlet that provides a simplified explanation of the Coast Guard safety standards and regulations to individuals building their own boats (people who are building a boat for their own use and not for sale). The pamphlet is not a regulation and has no force of law. If there are readers of Boatbuilder who are manufacturers in the business of building boats for the purposes of sale to the public, they should not be using the "Safe Standards for Backyard Boat Builders" pamphlet, but, should instead be following the pertinent regulations in the Coast Guard regulations 33 CFR Parts 179, 181, and 183.

Second, while the Coast Guard encourages individuals building boats for their own use and not for the purposes of sale to build them in compliance with Coast Guard safety standards, there is no regulatory requirement for them to do so. If you are a manufacturer of boats for the purposes of sale to the public, you can expect: (1) a visit by a Compliance Associate (trained inspectors under contract to the Coast Guard) for inspection of your production for compliance with Coast Guard regulations; (2) your boats might be spot checked for compliance by Coast Guard boating standards personnel at a boat show; or (3) one of your boats might be purchased on the open market and tested for compliance with the regulations.

There is no similar enforcement mechanism for individuals building boats for their own use and not for the purpose of sale.

Alston Colihan
[email protected]
 
In Michigan the law states (All gasoline powered vessels,constructed in a way that would entrap fumes,must have at least 2 ventilation ducts fitted with cowls to remove fumes.)
 
rsmit13 said:
...His reasoning was that fuel could leak and get trapped under the flooring .

Sounds reasonable to me considering the safety issues (life and property) involved. State laws or not, I'd vent it. I've never considered riding around on top of a poptential disaster as fun. :shock:
 
Thanks for the info, When we put the decking in we left the area over the fuel tank open for easy access , (so its not completely inclosed). The flooring has foam underneath it, so any ideas on how should he go about venting it?
 
First I would look up the code he was charged with. Then I would decide if I would fight it.
I have a topside tank under a small deck on my jon it's no where close to air tight.
 
Sounds like the Game Warden was gonna find a reason to write a ticket. With the open deck area most of our boats have around the motor so we can open the fuel/batt storage hatch, how can explosive gas build up? Shesh. Don't those fore and aft pointing vents only work when your under way? Won't gas build up just as bad when you're trolling around, which is what we spend the majority of time doing anyway?
 
Agreed, it was probably a lose, lose day. Safe boating operation has you run the bilge blower for five minute before starting the engine on an engine with a internally mounted starter, as in an IO engine. The USCG boatbuilders guide recommends 15 square inches of opening for every cubic foot of covered volume for natural ventilation, something none of the commercial glass boats have...

Oddly enough, when the DNR wardens see the air horns on my console they start acting pretty cool about the boat.

Jamie
 
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