Ben,
Sorry to hear of your starboard tank leakage. I had pressure test for 14 hours and it held perfectly. No drop in pressure at all. I found about a quart, maybe a quart and a half in the bilge, seemingly coming from backside of tank. Used rolled up absorbent pads to clean it and then monitor for new leakage. No new leakage. At winterization the year before I had about a gallon of fuel in a Gerry jug I used to top off all the engine filters (plus generator) and when that work was done I used a funnel and poured the remaining fuel into starboard tank. The long funnel could possibly put the fuel into Vetus device vice into tank. I’ll never know. I’m convinced that the leakage I found was from that small amount of fuel I put into the tank. Not sure “how” it leaked. Your point on the Vetus device is a good one and could explain it all. When the pressure test was run, it was from deck fill so included Vetus device. At the time it happened I crawled into area under galley sink to access fill pipe and tightened every hose clamp I could access. One was backwards on a double clamp and not accessible. While this happened two years ago and Encore was in storage last year (not a boat problem), we have added fuel to about 3/4 level and are happily cruising with no sign of leakage. I will be interested in your further investigation.
Lee
Sent from my iPhone
On Jul 16, 2025, at 4:43 PM, Ben McCafferty via Sentoa sentoa@lists.sentoa.org wrote:
Very sorry for the multiple posts. I found the Vetus device, it’s a “splash stop” and is a small (.6 gal) reservoir. When filling diesel, if you would have overflowed, the reservoir catches it instead, and then it drains from there back to the main tank. The Vetus is also vented to the outside, which explains why I’ve not had diesel flow out of the external vent—goes into the Vetus instead.
In my case, both ends of the fill pipe hose and the drain from the Vetus to the main tank are dry, so it doesn’t seem to be the culprit. However, I wonder if there might be a crack on the back side of the Vetus reservoir that I can’t see—it would track that it’s only filled when the tank is full, and once it leaks its volume out (about the amount that all three affected boats have reported), it would be empty and stay empty until the next fill. I’ll get the bore scope in there next and report back.
Best,
Ben
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Ben,
Sorry to hear of your starboard tank leakage. I had pressure test for 14 hours and it held perfectly. No drop in pressure at all. I found about a quart, maybe a quart and a half in the bilge, seemingly coming from backside of tank. Used rolled up absorbent pads to clean it and then monitor for new leakage. No new leakage. At winterization the year before I had about a gallon of fuel in a Gerry jug I used to top off all the engine filters (plus generator) and when that work was done I used a funnel and poured the remaining fuel into starboard tank. The long funnel could possibly put the fuel into Vetus device vice into tank. I’ll never know. I’m convinced that the leakage I found was from that small amount of fuel I put into the tank. Not sure “how” it leaked. Your point on the Vetus device is a good one and could explain it all. When the pressure test was run, it was from deck fill so included Vetus device. At the time it happened I crawled into area under galley sink to access fill pipe and tightened every hose clamp I could access. One was backwards on a double clamp and not accessible. While this happened two years ago and Encore was in storage last year (not a boat problem), we have added fuel to about 3/4 level and are happily cruising with no sign of leakage. I will be interested in your further investigation.
Lee
Sent from my iPhone
> On Jul 16, 2025, at 4:43 PM, Ben McCafferty via Sentoa <sentoa@lists.sentoa.org> wrote:
>
>
> Very sorry for the multiple posts. I found the Vetus device, it’s a “splash stop” and is a small (.6 gal) reservoir. When filling diesel, if you would have overflowed, the reservoir catches it instead, and then it drains from there back to the main tank. The Vetus is also vented to the outside, which explains why I’ve not had diesel flow out of the external vent—goes into the Vetus instead.
>
> In my case, both ends of the fill pipe hose and the drain from the Vetus to the main tank are dry, so it doesn’t seem to be the culprit. However, I wonder if there might be a crack on the back side of the Vetus reservoir that I can’t see—it would track that it’s only filled when the tank is full, and once it leaks its volume out (about the amount that all three affected boats have reported), it would be empty and stay empty until the next fill. I’ll get the bore scope in there next and report back.
>
> Best,
>
> Ben
>
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> Sentoa mailing list -- sentoa@lists.sentoa.org
> To unsubscribe send an email to sentoa-leave@lists.sentoa.org
