Keep the fuel in and the air out

The Boat Galley blog has been publishing a lot of good info lately, and in particular their post about outboard fuel line problems caught my eye. While I haven’t experienced what they describe quite to the same extent, I have noticed the situation that the post talks about (sorry, you need to click on the link to see what I’m referring to).

One related issue that we have experienced though, on more than one occasion (this was the first time), relates to the fittings on the end of the hoses that connect to the engine and the fuel tank. I can’t speak for other brands but the Yamaha fittings are tight. Very tight, in fact! If you’re not careful when connecting them, it is easy to damage the little o-rings that are there to seal the connection. With the o-ring damaged, the fitting can leak fuel, or allow air in, causing problems, especially when idling.

Although you can’t see it in the photo, the o-ring on this one is damaged.
I replaced the fitting with a new one yesterday.

I have read about people replacing these o-rings but I have yet to try it myself. Each time I’ve been in this situation, I have taken the easier but much more expensive route, and simply changed the entire fitting. In fact, I just did that yesterday (we had a spare fitting on board). Now that I’ve got a damaged one to mess around with though, perhaps I’ll see what I can do to fix it.