Don't buy BP petrol for your boat

[charleville]

The reason being that they won't sell it to you.

I tried to fill up my boat's tank at about 3.15am yesterday morning at the BP service station on Creek Road at Carina and the attendant came out and told me that he was no longer allowed to sell petrol to boats on trailers because of safety concerns.

He showed me the letter from BP management saying that no boats on trailers were allowed to be filled. He also made the comment that the previous BP service station that he worked at at Redland bay would go broke because of this.

I reckon that would be the case for one at Manly also.

I filled up at a Shell servo after that and the bloke there explained that because boats are not earthed, an electrical spark could occur and possible explosion. He was conscious that because of teh security cameras at all the servos, management could easily monitor the situation.

This sure seems a dumb tactic to me. I cannot see what the difference is between an aluminium boat with underfloor tank on a trainer with rubber tyres to a steel car with tank under the boot all on rubber tyres.

Similarly if it is just that the boat needs earthing, then they could save their business from financial ruin simply by providing earthing leads near the bowser to be clipped on to the boat when filling the tank.

And what are we boaties expected to do? Fill up our boats out of multiple jerry cans at home standing on a ladder? How safe will that be?

Dumb! Not only will it kill their petrol sales but also their bait and ice sales.

[Kerry]

Checked with a local BP station here and are totally unaware of this direction.

If it's correct then the Qld Gov would probably be looking for another contract and I doubt BP would jeopardize any Gov dealings especially considering the number of Gov boats on trailers there are and they all fuel at a BP servo somewhere.

Cheers, Kerry.

[charleville]

i phoned the BP Aust Customer Care 1300 helpline today and asked about it and they said that it was true. They have a couple of major claims being made against them from incidents that happened when people were refuelling their boats on trailers so this is a preventative reaction.

They said that some boat manufacturers had been asking if it was possible to certify some boats as being ok. One of the issues is whether the petrol tank is appropriately earthed.

However, the person on the 1300 number is obviously not a policy maker so she did not know if something like that could happen.

Of course the BP position is not sustainable. Their coastal dealers are sure to ignore the instruction.

If not, the bloke with the bait shop co-sited with the BP servo at Manly may as well avoid the end of year rush and close down now.

[skippa]

Come to think of it, I haven't seen many boats filling up at the BP at Reddie Bay for awhile........ maybe because the shell a K down the road is always cheaper.

Cheers,
skip 8)

[vertico]

I have been putting fuel in my boat at BP Wellington Point with no worries ?

[Daintreeboy]

No worries yet with the BP at Wonga on the way to the Daintree. It get heaps of boats as it's the only servo for a fair distance in any direction. I'll ask them next time I fuel mine up.

[charleville]

I don't know how the BP distribution is handled but I am guessing that some of the servos are owned by them and some may be franchises.

Perhaps the franchisees are either not affected by the order or alternatively are ignoring it because they have some serious skin in the game.

I did see a boat at the pumps at the Manly BP yesterday morning.

[BlitzBaga]

A slight change of subject here... I was filling my boat at a Caltex last Saturday when a woman came flying out screaming at me about filling the tanks while it's in the boat. She was in a state of panic and went off. I removed the 25 litre tank from my boat and continued to fill it. Does everybody else remove their tank to fill it or have I just had my head in the sand for years.

Cheers
Muz

[goat boy]

probably a fall out of that story on the news last week?
A woman in Sydney somewhere filling a mower can and it ignited as a result of static electricity on her body, the reason been given as it wasn't earthed.....
There was mention about the dangers of filling containers etc included as well so....

[Swindells]

Can't say i've had a problem filling up, seems a bit silly. thousand of boaties fill up every weekend and how many incidents have they actually had?

[PADDLES]

if they were serious about it being an issue they would simply install an earth strap and make you clamp it to the boat.

i honestly can't see the lack of an earth to an alloy boat tank being any different to the lack of an earth to a car tank, they both sit on a set of black rubber thingos that isolate it from earth. static however is, and always has been, an issue with refueling and i am surprised that nothing has been done about it sooner. that being said, swindells has raised a good point about not too many incidents popping up.

[Chamelion]

Way to resurrect an old thread

I don't know about other areas, but all of the BP's around here sell ethanol unleaded only, so I sure as hell won't fill up my boat there.

Matt.

[Mindi]

if they were serious about it being an issue they would simply install an earth strap and make you clamp it to the boat.

i honestly can't see the lack of an earth to an alloy boat tank being any different to the lack of an earth to a car tank, they both sit on a set of black rubber thingos that isolate it from earth. static however is, and always has been, an issue with refueling and i am surprised that nothing has been done about it sooner. that being said, swindells has raised a good point about not too many incidents popping up.

Plus the boat is connected to the car so enjoys the same degree of earthing. Maybe BP will also ban filling cars..?

[rowanda]

alot of sites sell E10 not only BP.
Use premium and get used to it as I think it's the start of 2011 normal ULP will not be able to be sold. Some marinas will be able to get exemptions to be able to sell normal ULP for boats only, but the gov't wants all normal ULP to be E10.
You'll find BP sell E10 which contains ethanol but the Premium and Ultimate do not.
Oh and I can tell you that there is no directive from BP that says you can't fill a boat. A portable tank may have to be removed (25L ones) and there is probably more focus on it at the moment as there have been 3 static fires in 3 weeks in NSW.

[lee8sec]

Car filler necks are earthed to the car & bowser via the hose & nozzle. Is your boats? Plastic boat filler neck, hose & tank all with no earth leads just waiting to go bang. Bad enough in a tinny, atleast it can be earthed, glass & polys could be a bit harder. Leigh