Fuel tank rotation or not?

[Eddieclemons]

When I bought my 87 52c the forward 300 gallon tank was dry. On the 1500 mile trip home I filled her up along with the aft tank. Now that I am home, I started running on the forward tank for the 1st time. My question is should I continue to use both tanks in some kind of rotation or empty the forward tank and just run off the aft. I wont need the range for the foreseeable future. I have had zero fuel quality issues so far and would like to try and keep it that way. I know there are varied opinions, but do you keep your tanks full? In a perfect world how old should your fuel get? Do you use additives? Thanks

 

[Captain Ralph]

I'm from a strange old school. Can you run each engine from different tanks?
Unless you are worried about trim angles, That is the way I run.
Each main engine on it's own tank.
Gen-sets run from the larger tank.

Old school; Anything wrong with that fuel source, the other tank may be better.

 

[JuiceClark]

My front one is full and I have no idea for how long without some action. So, I'm dreading turning two of the valves on "front." I'll have to do it on a short trip to lunch or something and monitor the filters carefully. There's going to be a turd or two in those punch bowls.

 

[madhatter1]

My front one is full and I have no idea for how long without some action. So, I'm dreading turning two of the valves on "front." I'll have to do it on a short trip to lunch or something and monitor the filters carefully. There's going to be a turd or two in those punch bowls.

Us to. Self inflicted. Topped off keel and have not used in 2 years. Now I'm afraid to use it. Probably fine but can ruin a day messing with filters. I don't usually fish the boat but my plan is to take my boys and a couple other guys fishing. Will use the tank and change filters i needed. That way the guys will understand and just down a couple beers during delay. Much better than the wife yelling "What's wrong? Why now??"

 

[SKYCHENEY]

Most bad fuel situations are caused before the fuel ever gets aboard. If you have old fuel in a tank on the boat, chances are its just fine. I'd double dose it with Power Service Diesel Kleen to get the cetane up and run it.

 

[racclarkson@gmail.com]

Aslan has good fuel onboard. It’s best for trim to run off aft tank (915G) and save forward (380G) as a reserve. About once a year, I’ll run off the forward tank. When doing so, I run it through its own racor to double check quality. Satisfied, I’ll return it to the aft tank and refuel the forward tank with fresh fuel. I always keep a five gallon fuel sample from last fueling onboard just in case. For me this is a good solution for maintaining reasonably fresh fuel.

 

[rsmith]

Anyone who had watched a Cold War movie has probably seen the NORAD underground command center. It does actually exist. It’s not on the size scale as the Hollywood version but there are buildings mounted on springs to survive shockwaves of a nuclear blast. Power is supplied by a series of diesel locomotive engines. The diesel fuel for these is stored in limestone caverns. It’s somewhere in the millions of gallons and most of the fuel is in excess of 50 years old. The generators were normally run on a weekly basis. I think of this when people are crying about their fuel being old. Just filter out the algae and it will be fine.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheyenne_Mountain_Complex

“There is more water produced by mountain springs than the base needs, and a 1.5 million US gallons (5,700 m3) reservoir ensures that even in event of fire, there is enough water to meet the facility's needs. A reservoir of 4.5 million US gallons (17,000 m3) of water is used as a heat sink.[13] There is a "massive" reservoir for diesel fuel and a "huge" battery bank with redundant power generators.[13]”

 

[Pascal]

Run each engine off a separate tank. This way you keep using both tanks. No surprises. If you don’t need all the fuel, don’t fill them up

 

[Eddieclemons]

Thanks for all the responses, I believe I will try and keep the forward 300 Gallon tank in the mix as long as I continue to run the boat quite a bit as we have been this year.