Attwood Corp.
displayed its
carbon canister
and EPA/CARB-compliant fuel
system at
last year’s
International
BoatBuilders’
Exhibition &
Conference.
New EPA mandates
force new approaches
Some manufacturers are developing entirely
new fuel systems to meet emissions regulations
By Melanie Winters / Associate Editor
m.winters@tradeonlytoday.com
Marine fuel tank manufacturers are
using different strategies to help boatbuilders meet the Environmental Pro-
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tection Agency’s new evaporative emissions regulations.
Attwood Corp., for example, is developing an entirely new fuel system it
says will be relatively easy to install.
Inca Molded Products is letting boatbuilders decide if they want to continue purchasing individual components
on their own. And Florida Marine
Tanks falls somewhere in between.
“They’re all thinking about fuel systems,” says John McKnight, director of
environmental and safety compliance
for the National Marine Manufacturers
Association.
In October, the EPA approved new
evaporative emissions rules for gasoline
marine engines and boat fuel systems.
The regulations address three boat fuel
line issues that have never been dealt
with: fuel permeation through rubber
hoses, fuel permeation through plastic
fuel tanks, and diurnal emissions released from the expansion of fuel
vapor in the tank.
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Cook Engine, Inc. 6 WI, IA, MN, ND, SD, NE: Marysville Marine North
Portland, OR Marysville Marine West Marysville, MI
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Trans Pacific Distributors 7 TX, AR, MO, OK, KS, Marysville Marine South
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800-343-0480
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Carbon canisters
Hose and tank manufacturers already
have new products on the market that
address the permeation standards.
McKnight says the biggest challenge
for boatbuilders is controlling diurnal
emission – evaporative emissions that
are released through the boat’s fuel
tank vent due to the daily cycle of liquid fuel becoming fuel vapor during
the daylight hours and condensing during the night.
This will require a carbon canister between the vent line and the fuel tank to
capture gasoline fumes and cut down
on pollution. In the open fuel lines
now used in boats, the fuel turns to
vapor as it heats up during the day and
emits into the air. The carbon canister
captures those vapors. As fuel cools at
night, it returns to liquid form. The
cooling temperature creates a small
vacuum effect and sucks the recondensed liquid back into the tank, according to McKnight.
The EPA regulations will require 50
percent of boats to have canisters by
model year 2012, and 100 percent by
model year 2013. “We’re in the developmental stage,” says Robert Porter,
owner of Inca Molded Products. “We’re
looking at the tank and the components
and how it all fits together.”
Inca is working with canister manufacturers to help boatbuilders develop
their own fuel systems tailored to the
needs of each boat model. Porter says
his company will let boatbuilders decide if they want to purchase the canisters through Inca or directly from the
