YES & NO!

      Friend Fred and I spent Saturday working on the fuel problem. It was a long day and only moderately successful.

     Firstly, we had to expose the fuel tank interior which meant removing the access panel. It was held in place with 20 machine 1/2 inch screws. Access to the access panel was difficult to say the least. We ahd to reach under part of the deck to get a wrench on the nuts and loosen them. Of course, two of the nuts were blocked by the fuel fill aperture. That meant that the hose and fitting had to be removed. Try wielding a Stilson wrench on a fitting you can see and loosening a 44 year-old nut a16th of a turn at a time while laying on your stomach.Well, it did get done. Then the access panel had to be  pried off. In addition to the 20 machine screws and the various fuel movement tubes, it was also held in place by 44 year-old gasket material which was aged to the consistency of cement.  It took about two hours to remove it in a contorted process. Then the real fun began.

     We had 8 jerry cans and three 5 gallon buckets which meant we could handle 50 gallons of fuel.   Friend Fred, whose career was in pumps, rigged a set up that allowed us to pump out the fuel into the cans. We pumped out all the fuel and it was a wonderful shade of pink. Not good. We were able to get out a lot of gunk and dirt and detritus from the tank. It filled a 30 micron filter. However it was clear that we didn't get all the water out of the fuel. So we pumped it all back into the tank through the filters and pumped it out again. It was better than the first time but there was still water in the fuel.  

     We decided to let the fuel sit in the cans overnight so that it would distill, the more dense water sinking to the bottom and the fuel sitting on top. That was we could pump out the fuel and leave the water behind. So we called it a day and headed home to come back on Sunday. 

     Sunday morning, back on the ABISHAG, we opened the three buckets and discovered that the fuel was still mixed with water.  It was better but really not usable. The water and the fuel had literally "homogenized," blended together. Talking with Eric the Shaman by phone, we dame to the conclusion that it would be days before it would separate again. As a result, it was decided to bite the bullet and dispose of the contaminated fuel. We pumped out what remained in the tank, sealed the cans and buckets and made arrangements to dispose of the fuel.

      I contacted a friend who owns a garage and asked him where I could dispose of the fuel. He said that he had a tank at his shop where we could bring it by and dump it in. And that is what we did, after having first replacing the access panel and the hoses and tubes.

     So ABISHAG is dry. There was no launch service Monday and a storm was coming in Tuesday. Winds would be a bit much on Wednesday, so Eric the Shaman said Thursday was the day. I'll bring in 10 gallons of clean fuel and hopefully, HOPESULLY she will start up clean.

AH! THE JOY OF BOAT OWNERSHIP!!!!