Dirty diesel tanks are no fun. Before you read this post, I want to say that we were extremely careful about filtering every drop of fuel going into our fuel tank, and treating the fuel with biocides and stabilizers. We closely monitored our fuel filtering systems. In spite of our best efforts and good intentions, we still were shut down because of tank sludge. We’re hopeful that the experiences we share in this blog will help other sailors to avoid the messy, stinky, problem that a dirty fuel tank presents. If you’ve dealt with fuel tank sludge in your boat, feel free to share your own ‘dirty fuel tank’ experiences with us.
Brunswick Landing Marina, Brunswick, GA
When we arrived in Brunswick, GA in middle April, we expected a six-week stop before continuing north to somewhere in New England, leaving Georgia the week prior to the Memorial Day holiday. We were both looking forward to being out of the blistering southern heat, and in an area where tropical storms and hurricanes are much less frequent. Of course, we should be accustomed to this by now, but things did not go as planned…
In fairness, that’s not a 100% accurate statement; a good number of things did go as planned. For instance, we were able to secure an appointment for our COVID-19 vaccinations within a week of arriving, and were finished with both rounds by mid-May. We also completed our physicians’ check-ups and dental hygienist appointments as scheduled and were able to get some of JO BETH’s important safety equipment inspected, tested, and serviced. I acquired new glasses and completed my annual eye exam. We also were able to sell our car at the last minute to another cruising sailor we met in Brunswick. Beyond those things however, there were a few ‘bumps’ in the road.
One of Lisa’s doctor’s appointments required certain tests to be done, which could not be scheduled until the first week of June. And a few days after our dental cleanings, I broke a tooth. This required a trip back to the dentist for repairs to the damaged tooth, which would end with the fitting of a crown. The initial work was done very quickly, with the crown promised to be ready for ‘installation’ the week prior to Memorial Day. However, the crown didn’t arrive until the week after Memorial Day and wasn’t fitted until the second week of June. While waiting for the crown, I was afflicted with a condition called ‘Bell’s Palsy.’ Bell’s Palsy is caused when a nerve in the facial area is attacked by a virus, apparently one of the very common virus types which cause the common cold. It sometimes occurs after a dental procedure, usually on the side of face where the dental work was done. The result is a partial facial paralysis. I looked as if I was having or had had a stroke as the right side of my face drooped noticeably. It isn’t serious nor is it contagious, but it is incredibly annoying. Fortunately it resolves fairly quickly on its own over the course of a few weeks, but I went back to the doctor anyway. After a week-long round of steroid and antiviral meds, I was more or less back to normal.
And then, Lisa and I both became sick with sinus infections. Let’s not forget Tropical Storm Elsa, which passed just west of Brunswick on July 7, bringing blustery conditions for a few hours. Finally, after the passage of Elsa, things appeared to be settling down. The weather was good for us to start planning our departure north, and we planned to leave on Monday, July 12, bound for Block Island, Rhode Island, a passage of approximately 850 miles. In fact, we’ve never had such a stable and expansive window for sailing, and we were confident we would be well into the southern New England area before the window would begin to close.
Another section of the GOLDEN RAY in the Port of Brunswick
At 11:30am on Monday July 12, we backed out of our slip and turned into the marina channel with the outgoing tide. Our friends Bill and Margaret from MARGARETA and Jesus and Mia from LOLOTA assisted us with line handling. I commented to Lisa that I couldn’t recall ever having so many help us to get out of a slip! Soon we were motoring down channel and past the port of Brunswick, passing the latest towering section of the shipwrecked GOLDEN RAY being readied for disposal. I commented to Lisa I had forgotten to raise the Ensign in all the excitement of departure, and went below to get it from the chart table. As I came back onto deck and started to attach the ensign to the aft flag halyard, I noticed the engine sounding odd. A quick glance at the tachometer confirmed the RPM was dropping. I asked Lisa to increase throttle as I watched the RPM continue to decline. Then, the motor shuddered to a stop.
On Tuesday of the prior week, we had performed a complete motor service with the help of a friend, Marty, a retired commercial fisherman and diesel mechanic. (Honestly, Marty did pretty much all of the work!) We had an issue that appeared to be air in the fuel lines, although we thought we had resolved the problem during that service. Naturally, air in the fuel line was my first thought for the reason the engine had stalled.
With the engine stopped, we were now drifting down the channel with the tide, but being pushed back slightly toward the marina by a light breeze. I removed the cabin engine compartment hatch and loosened the fuel bleed screw on top of the engine fuel filter housing. I then reached around the side of the motor to find the fuel lift pump lever and began pumping. I thought it odd, but didn’t consider the cause, that there was zero pressure or resistance on the lift pump lever. There should be a small bit of pressure in the pump, even with the lines full of air.
Lisa remained in the cockpit and on the helm while I was crouched below in front of the engine. From my perspective, it seemed we were getting closer to the barge on which the massive section of the GOLDEN RAY wreckage was secured. Lisa, from her perspective, could see we still had plenty of room around us. By this time, several minutes had passed and I was getting no fuel to move with the lift pump. I quickly passed my cellphone to Lisa and asked her to call Jesus and get him to come out in his dinghy to tow us in. I was also considering dropping the anchor, but we were transiting a commercial harbor, and that’s a big no-no unless we were in serious trouble. We had a problem for certain, but were not yet in ‘trouble.’
“Jesus and Mia are on their way out,” Lisa said as she handed the phone back to me. We had met Jesus and Mia, (everyone knows Jesus by his nickname, ‘Hey-Hey.’) when they volunteered to send Mia up our mast to weave some fishing line around an opening in our RADAR mount in which Mockingbirds were aggressively trying to nest. We’ve become good friends with them during our stay here.
I tossed the phone onto a seat cushion and continued my scan of the engine; searching for a broken fuel line, leaks around the big, external fuel filter housings, but finding nothing. In what seemed to be a too short time-span, I heard an outboard motor close alongside and Hey-Hey’s voice calling out to Lisa. Soon, Hey-Hey was aboard and down in the cabin with me. Mia stayed in their dinghy, now tied alongside and towing JO BETH. Hey-Hey tried actuating the lift pump lever as well, and was also surprised to find zero resistance.
JO BETH Uses These Racor Series 500 Diesel Fuel Filters for Fuel Filtration and Water Separation
Jo Beth is fitted with dual Racor Turbine diesel fuel filters. The engine typically only uses one filter at a time when running, though it can use be used to draw fuel through both. In this instance we were pulling from the rear filter. Hey-Hey asked if I switched to the ‘not in use’ filter to see if that changed anything. I told him I hadn’t, as it required me to remove a deck hatch in the cockpit where Lisa was standing and steering because I didn’t have the arm length to reach over the top of the engine to the filter selector lever. Hey-Hey thought he could reach it, and he did - just barely. Once the lever was on the other filter, I resumed working the lift pump lever. There was pressure, and in short order, fuel spurted out of the bleed screw port, completely devoid of bubbles. I asked Lisa to start the motor, and it roared to life. She put the motor in gear and increased throttle. We began to move.
However, the RPM began to precipitously drop once again. In a matter of seconds, the engine shuddered to a stop. Hey-Hey looked at me.
“What do you want to do?,” he asked.
“Let me call the marina and ask if we can return to our slip. If we can, can you guys tow us in?” He nodded and called out to Mia.
“We’re gonna tow them in.”
The Filthy, Dirty, Fuel Pick-up Tube in Our Diesel Tank - the Ball of Diesel Sludge on the End of the 1/8” Diameter Tube (lower center) Brought us to a Full Stop in Short order
Once secured back in the slip we had just left, the investigation into the problem began. I called Marty to ask if he had any ideas about what was causing the stalling. He said he was close by and wanted to stop and take a look. When he arrived we began another round of diagnostics. All indications pointed to an obstruction of fuel; the engine simply wasn’t getting enough fuel to run properly. Either enough fuel wasn’t moving through the system or being pulled from the tank. The dual Racor filters are fitted with a vacuum gauge. This shows the amount of ‘vacuum’ in the fuel system, or the amount of ‘pull’ the fuel pump is doing to lift fuel from the tank and get it to the engine; the higher the vacuum, the harder the engine is working to get enough fuel. This is typically used to indicate when the fuel filters are ready to be replaced, but in this instance, the fuel filters had been replaced during the recent engine service and when checked, we found them to be pristine. The problem, whatever it was, lay elsewhere in the system.
One of the ‘Nuggets’ of Sludge Removed From the Tank
JO BETH had been prepared for multiple days at sea, and now all of that had to be undone. Lisa spent much of the afternoon getting access to the fuel tank and re-stowing the cabin while Hey-Hey and I began to track down the problem. While Marty was aboard, he and I had discussed the possibility that the fuel tank vent line – the line which allows air to enter or leave the tank as fuel is pulled from the tank or added to it – was blocked. A quick check on the suction line to the Racor filter housing revealed a tremendous amount of vacuum in the system and confirmed the vent and vent line to be clear. The most likely problem was inside the fuel tank with the fuel pick-up tube, or in the line between the fuel tank and the Racor filter unit. After an hour or so of working to free the seized inspection plate cap, the tank was open and we began the process of removing the fuel. Hey-Hey had designed and built a ‘portable’ fuel transfer and cleaning system for his boat after having a similar problem, and we used the transfer pump to remove the fuel from our tank and put it into portable jugs on the dock. As this was being done, the cause and scope of the problem became obvious.
The tank was filled with diesel sludge. Diesel sludge is actually the decaying remains of an algae that lives and grows in water trapped in diesel fuel systems. Water in fuel is a fact of life in diesel systems, but there are ways to combat it. There were a couple of causes for our contamination, which I’ll discuss in a bit. But for now, we had layers and clumps of the stuff to remove from the tank bottom, sides, and baffles. The fuel pick up tube, which is a small, 1/8” copper tube, had a large ball of the stuff blocking the suction end. It looked like a ‘Tootsie Pop’ lollipop from Hell. Problem found.
The Fuel Tank After the First Wipe-Down…
…and After the Second Wiape-Down
We wiped down as much of the tank interior as we could with the fuel/oil absorbent pads, also known as diapers, already on board JO BETH. Both Hey-Hey and I could get one arm into the tank, (not at the same time!) but his reach is longer than mine, and he was stuck with wiping out the far corners of the tank as well as the front and back walls.
The next morning, in a borrowed truck, Hey-Hey and I went to the local West Marine to purchase additional fuel filters with a smaller pore size, a lot of fuel/oil absorbent pads, and other things needed for the stinking, dirty task ahead. We also went to the local Dollar Store and purchased a few cheap toilet brushes from which we fashioned cleaning tools.
The inspection port on the tank is 4” in diameter and fitted in the center of the tank. To do the most thorough job we could, we had to get creative, and taped two of the toilet brushes together by the handles, making a ‘two headed tank scrubber.’ By early afternoon, we had the tank wiped as best we could, with probably close to 95% of the sludge and other contaminants removed. It would not be possible to get all of it.
We treated 5 gallons of the removed fuel with a diesel biocide at a ‘severe shock’ dosage and reintroduced it to the wiped tank. We then used Hey-Hey’s fuel transfer pump to ‘wash’ the complete tank interior, touching as much of the tank’s surfaces as was possible with the shock treated fuel. The tank was capped and allowed to soak for several hours. When we pumped the fuel from the tank in the early evening, it was nearly black – the type of diesel we use is dyed a bright red color! The tank was wiped clean once again, and this time, 15 gallons of fresh fuel was added and treated with a new type of diesel biocide, also at a ‘shock’ level.
Diesel biocides come from a variety of manufacturers and essentially all do the same thing: they prevent the growth of algae in fuel tanks. They are exceptionally harsh chemicals and can damage the delicate inner mechanical workings of fuel injection pumps and injectors if overused. I had been lectured on this many times by multiple diesel mechanics and as a result, I wasn’t using enough to properly ‘dose’ the fuel. We always try to by our diesel from busy facilities which sell a lot of fuel. Diesel fuel should be treated on most every fill-up unless it is consumed from the tank on a very consistent basis. In our case, we often go for long periods without ever running the engine, whether we’re in a marina or sailing. Even though we filtered every drop of fuel going into the tank, and kept the tank full to ward off condensation inside the tank, which is a common source of contaminating water, we simply didn’t consume the fuel quickly enough. Now that we’re out and sailing, and minimizing long marina stays, we hope it will bring about a healthier fuel system.
Hey-Hey Getting Ready tro Introduce the First Dose of Shock Treated Fuel
As mentioned above, I wasn’t using enough diesel biocide to keep the fuel in the tank toxic to the algae over the long term. The dosing directions for diesel biocides can be difficult to follow, as they are usually super concentrated. In the case of the product I had been using, a 16oz bottle would treat nearly 1,600 gallons of fuel! We carry 30 gallons, and often ‘top up’ the tank with only 12 or 15 gallons. In these instances, getting the correct dose can be a challenge. It’s primarily for this reason that I’ve changed the diesel biocide we use to a product called Fuel Right. This came from the recommendation of a professional mariner friend, also a harbor pilot for the Port of Brunswick. It’s mostly used in commercial/industrial applications, such as in railroad locomotives and tugboats. Purportedly, it breaks down algae/sludge, water, and other contaminants to such small levels – two microns or smaller, so that it can be burned through the engine and not build up as waste in the tank and lines. Other biocides and fuel additives on the market, including the one we were using, kill the algae but don’t remove it from the system. If the Fuel Right additive performs half as well as claimed, and as we’ve been told by those using it, we’ll be thrilled.
(If you’re interested in checking out the line of Fuel Right products, and learning more about them and how they work, their website link is: www.fuelright.com)
Of course, the fuel system issues brought about a change in our trip departure plans. We lost the weather window we had to make it far enough north to get to the southern portion of New England as quickly as we had hoped, even though the long range forecasts indicated all along we might have to stop at the Chesapeake Bay area to wait for favorable conditions. Being in Brunswick as long as we have has put a real dent in our goal to cruise New England this summer. We’re still planning on going north, but simply may not have enough time to make it as far as we had hoped. At the moment, we’re placing our efforts on getting to the Chesapeake and then seeing what the remainder of the season looks like before it’s time to start heading south once again.
Clean, Fresh, and Biocide ‘Shocked’ Diesel Fuel in the Tank
And now, we need to burn through the bulk of fuel in the tank, then refill with new fuel and treat it at a maintenance level.
Accordingly, we’ve decided to take much of the upcoming week and motor through the Georgia Intracoastal Waterway, spending a few nights at anchor along the way. This will give us some time to calm down from all of the trip preparation and fuel system episode stresses. It’ll give us time to relax and get back into our shipboard routines. Yes, we live aboard, but living aboard being secured to a dock and living aboard while underway are two very different worlds.
With this in mind, we anticipate making the first leg of the trip from Brunswick to Sapelo Island, some 30 miles north. After a night or two there, we’ll continue north to another quiet anchorage, and then to another. Once at Savannah, we’ll replace the fuel consumed with clean, fresh, and properly treated fuel, and start planning for the next weather window to open for an offshore jump to the Chesapeake.