How far would you tow your boat for ethanol free fuel?
 

I've had my boat for 1 season now and have been using fuel that "Contains up to 10% ethanol" because I wasn't aware of any stations that had gas without it. I just found out that 2 stations right next to each other that are about 8.5 miles (round trip) out of the way have ethanol free gas.

The price per gallon is generally about the same as the rest of the stations in the area.

Is it worth the extra mileage when the "Up to 10% ethanol" is available on the way to the launch?

Also, considering that my round trip to the launch is 8 miles working one of these stations into a boat outing doubles the amount of miles I'm towing.

Since you didn't have the 30+ miles option I voted for 11+. I own a gas station that does NOT sell fuel with any sort of ethanol blend or other additives. I have seen time and again what even 10% can do to vehicles, tanks, fuel lines, etc. and it is not good. Especially with boats! Ethanol attracts and isolates moisture, and boats sit for long periods of time (comparatively) in a high humidity environment. NOT a good combo. Others will argue all day long, but I avoid that stuff like the plague.
Additionally, be careful when shopping price when it comes to buying fuel, as the law allows up to 12% blend with all kinds of "additives" that are not good for your vehicle. The most common of these is the 'drippings' that are created when processing natural gas. Yes, the stuff burns, but just barely. Why do people add it? Because it's dirt cheap (as it should be) and it lowers their price per gallon of fuel so unsuspecting customers will buy their cheap, junk fuel. If you have ever wondered why you get less mileage when you buy fuel that is 5 cents cheaper than everywhere else, there ya go.

OH, and the beauty of all this is that the federal government does not require that the retailor divulge the blend of fuel whatsoever unless it exceeds 12%.

OK, sorry rant over.

How does a gas station get non-ethanol fuel in areas where E10 is supposedly mandated by the EPA? I live in a place where it's supposedly mandated due to the air quality but somehow some stations here and there get gas without it.

Fortunately Louisiana supposedly requires gas stations to notify the customer via a sign if there's more than 1% ethanol.

I live in the midwest and CANNOT find gas without ethanol. I just bite the extra cost and run Sea Foam in every tank. Since I started I have not had any problems, and now I put it in everything, snowblower, lawn mower, motorcycle, boat, etc. My buddy's 21V was also having problems and since he started with the additive, gone. We'll have to live with the problems as long as the government keeps deciding what is best for us, despite all of the facts to the contrary.

If you guys have Conoco stations, check them out. I know around here they don't use any ethanol.

Watch out because the government is going to be upping the ethanol content in fuel soon.
There are some addatives you can buy to help combat the affects of ethanol.

Ethanol just does not make sense unless your growing corn.

there is only one place withing about 60 miles of me and it happens to be on the way to where i put my boat in. sucks they only have 89, but it's the only place i get boat fuel.

I drive my boat about 150 yards - they sell it on the water at our marina :)

0 miles!

Worrying about ethanol takes up more time and money then dealing with it. $.02

How do you even find pure gas? I wouldn't even know where to look without driving station to station.

Is there a web site for this?

Here's the EPA map of counties where RFG (ethanol) is required in all gasoline:

http://www.epa.gov/oms/rfg/whereyoulive.htm

I'd drive a good distance to avoid ethanol. I plan on keeping my boat for a long time and I don't want to deal with rotting gaskets or fuel lines.

our 96 302 ford has been on eth. for its entire life. No issues. I think 15 years is pretty good. If I had a fiberglass fuel tank, I would be worried.

Ethanol is not mandated in our area, but the maximin amount you can belnd before notifying the consumer is. That is what they are trying to change to 14% from 12.
All of the gas we load from the pipeline/distribution center is pure (no additives). If you choose to add something, that is added on the delivery trucks. Each brand of fuel has it's own additive tank right at the pipeline and there is an ethanol distribution point right across the road from the pipeline. I'm sure every distribution place varies a little, but that is how ours works.

I truly have no idea where they get the natural gas drippings crap and I really don't care.

My problem is not with ethanol or ethanol blends (as long as it is not corn based, but that's a whole different subject), but the fact that the consumer HAS NO CHOICE TO NOT BUY ETHANOL if it is not marked on the pumps as such. I think the consumer should have the choice of what they are putting into their vehicles, but I'm probably old fashioned that way.

^^^ How sad that we refer to the free market as "old fashioned." I guess I'm "old fashioned" too. I like to choose the stuff I buy.

in alabama they have to tell you at the pump(may contain up to 10%) now ethanol free gas is called marine fuel mostly. definitely makes me mad. ethanol isn't even a good alternative. it's like a drug dealer cutting his coke with vitamins. i guess gas is a drug b/c we are all hooked.

Rusty Butz and Ronald Reagan screwing us again! IMO one of Reagan's biggest screw ups!

Why we have ethanol and high fructose corn syrup

That was an interesting article. I like the part about 8 units of energy made from sugar based ethanol and 1 1/2 units made with corn based ethanol. And, we are taking an essential food item out of production to make ethanol by the millions of gallons and then we send it....get ready for this.....to Brazil. Brilliant.

Well, good news for me: I stopped at the closest gas station (Connoco) to my house where I rarely buy fuel accept for the lawnmower and stuff because it's generally 5-10 cents higher than usual. I didn't see any of the required (in Louisiana) stickers on the pumps about the ethanol content. I went in and asked the cashier expecting her to look at me funny like "WTF is ethanol" but she quickly replied that their gas contains no ethanol. So, that will be my new boat gas stop. It's still not "on the way" to the launch but it's less than a mile out of the way.

Thanks for the links, confirms that here in NJ I'm screwed so far as getting straight gas. I hate being forced to subsidize ethanol production and then being forced to buy it. We used to have good old fashioned MTBE in our fuel here but the tree huggers outlawed it so ethanol was substituted to raise the octane instead.

MTBE is a carcinogen. I don't believe it was outlawed, but as soon as it was linked to cancer, the oil companies stopped using it and switched to ethanol.

MTBE is not outlawed....I was just at one of our plants, we are making it again...

John, those "drippings " your talking about come from the gas stream, every seller is trying ot maximize profits, your allowed to blend lighter ( less expensive) liquids with your heavier liquids. We had issues with guys stealing barrels of liquid condensate to use as fuel in their trucks....they got caught b/c we records showed they wer all havign fuel injector problems in theor personal trucks, lol.

I don't worry about it unless I'm not going to use the boat for a while. As I understand it, phase separation takes a month or more time to be a significant concern.

I'm lucky that the closest station to our dock is ethanol free. I probably wouldnt drive alot farther to get ethanol free if they didnt have it, (next closest gas station would add 15- 20 miles to a gas run trip) but I would definately add some type of ethanol treatment to the gas. Something loke Stabil - i use that already in my lawnmower gas.

Don't forget that no ethanol equals better mileage. Now whether or not you'd ever notice the difference in a boat is hard to say.

Oh, yeah. Another reason why I'd go pretty far to get ethanol free gas is this handy reminder next to my gas cap...

In ~25 states it is outlawed.