Switching gasoline at marina stalls boaters

A Concerned Boater named Malon is having a problem with gas, or a lack of it.

“I want to make you aware of a situation at the Green Island city marina on Lake Oliver. They have been converting their gas from ethanol to non-ethanol. The problem is that during this transition, they have had no gas to sell for boaters in the last month.

“I live on the lake and it is a big inconvenience to have to take my boat out of the lake in order to fill it up. I don’t know any private gas stations that decide not to sell gas for one month and still can’t tell you when they will have gas. Only a city government facility can run with this efficiency!

“Please see if you can make sense of this madness.”

I’m not sure I can make sense of it, but I can find out when you’ll be able to gas up again at the marina.

I contacted Holli Browder, the director of Parks and Recreation. The department oversees the Lake Oliver Marina. She confirmed that they are switching over from ethanol to non-ethanol gasoline and that they expect to have the new gas in the tanks and ready for sale this week or next week at the latest.

The reason for the changeover was that a lot of boaters have requested non-ethanol gas. Apparently ethanol has a tendency to gum up small engines, especially two-cycle outboard engines.

For those unfamiliar, most gasoline contains about 10 percent ethanol, which is grain alcohol. It’s supposed to reduce the amount of pollution put out by car (and boat, I guess) engines, but it does have its drawbacks. It can lead to water building up in your fuel system, which can cause havoc in the internal combustion process. And, as we said before, it can gum up some small engines.

It also gives grain farmers another market for their crop, truth be told.

Anyway, Lake Oliver boaters can rest assured the gasoline is on the way. Until then, paddling is good exercise.

Update

In spite of the small headline above, this isn’t a traditional Inquirer Update.

I got a tip that the old Bibb Elementary School, which we’ve written about before, had gotten a little holiday cheer applied.

Mike Edmondson, the retired science teacher who is raising money to restore the old school and put it back in use, said he and a friend decided to put tie bows on the trees and handrails in the front of the building.

‘Tis the season! Happy Advent, y’all!

This story was originally published November 27, 2016 at 7:13 PM with the headline "Switching gasoline at marina stalls boaters."