Biodiesel

[tunaorlater]

Is anyone running biodiesel in there boat? I don't know much about it, is it a good thing or bad for a marine engine? I read that it has a bit of a "shelf life" and you don't want it sitting around for more then 30 days and in colder temps it will gel up faster the #2 but that's about all I find online. I know one guy that is making his own with good results but he is the only person I know of running it in a boat.

 

[F/V First Team]

We got a barrel of bio to use one time
Ended up giving it away

 

[Eslang]

Is anyone running biodiesel in there boat? I don't know much about it, is it a good thing or bad for a marine engine? I read that it has a bit of a "shelf life" and you don't want it sitting around for more then 30 days and in colder temps it will gel up faster the #2 but that's about all I find online. I know one guy that is making his own with good results but he is the only person I know of running it in a boat.

Mike, We ran it in the tow trucks during the summer months because there was a tax incentive. In the trucks we burn through a tank a day & it never sits around. It is completely impractical in the winter because it gells at a much higher temp then ulsd. The biggest negative is that it grows biologicals if it sits for any length of time. I would think it would be impractical in a boat. It also has less btus than petro fuel. Therefore less mpg.
The only reason we ran it was because there was no road tax on it. But I believe that program is gone now.
Trucks smelled like French fries when they were running. Lol

 

[Fishinengineer]

Tuna, I thought about trying it as well but have a few concerns. It acts as a solvent, any sludge that's built up anywhere in the fuel system is probably gonna start dissolving with possible filter clogging. I have molded fiberglass tanks, it's possible that the biodiesel could attack the glass, could load it only into my burn (day tank) which is aluminum to see how it goes. On the upside, the lubricating properties of the biodiesel is excellent, found a study that placed it ahead of most, if not all of the high priced fuel additives. I'll see if I can find that and post it up here. There is a $.01 per percent / per gallon tax rebate for heating oil in New York State. B5 biodiesel would be $.05 per gallon and B20 would get back $.20 per gallon. I may try it in my boiler first.

 

[jojobee]

The use of biodiesel for marine application is limited to 5%. The BTU rating is different depending on the source it was manufactured from (chicken, soy, etc). This could effect timing according to some but I have not seen such issues.

 

[Sailorgp]

There's a pleasure tug running on the Detroit River with the word BIODIESEL broadly painted on both sides of the hull. By chance I talked to the owner this past weekend. His experience hasn't been the best. Frequent fuel filter changes and only about 6 months (one season) shelf life. After 6 months the bottom 50% in the tank has to be discarded. His son runs a business promoting bio to truckers...therefore he gets his fuel for the tug dirt cheap