I am happy to report that I believe that I have gotten a handle on my fuel problems. I listened to all the advice about filters (racors vs. spin ons) and fuel polishing, etc. I went with a dual filtration system (like recommended by Tony Athens) but kept my racor 900’s as primary filters (clear bowl to see water, etc.) I installed vacuum gages with drag pointers to monitor the filters. After a lot of discussion about what to do with the “problem†fuel in my tank (i.e., fuel polishing vs. disposal vs. letting the engines filter the fuel) I decided with the latter. I have run about 4 tankfulls since I installed the new filters. I have run 4 offshore trips to the canyon, two of them in pretty rough seas. The first trips I noticed that when I powered up after trolling all day, the engines stutterred for about 5 seconds or so. Nothing bad, but still not right. I suspect that debris was accumulating in the lines or at the pickup and cleared out quickly when I powered up. After 2 trips that problem went away. Engines are now running like normal. I believe the key to solving the problem was eliminating the screens on the pickups. Now the crud gets in my “crud†filter before it reaches my racors. I changed my filters after my first trip and I finally cut the filter open this weekend to take a look. I attached some photos of that filter. My vacuum gauges were about 8 in. when I changed that filter. I have now run 2 consecutive offshore trips without changing the filters and I am reading only 5 in on my vacuum gauge. I believe my fuel is getting cleaner!
Below are some pictures. The “crud†filter I added is a Napa 3418 filter ($12.95 online) and a Napa filter head ($27). Cheap insurance! The fittings for the squeeze bulb priming system are from McMaster Carr. I remember the discussion about changing spin on filters. I can say with the squeeze bulb priming system, it takes me 10 minutes to change all four filters.
My Dual Filtration Setup
First Filter Change
