GL: Ethanol in fuel.

[LRZeitlin at aol.com]

Class action suit. Might as well try to hold back the tide.

Besides, who would you sue? The Federal government, the oil companies, the 
marinas dispensing the fuel, the boatbuilders. All are responsible for the 
problem. Realistically speaking, a suit against those entities would cost millions 
to recover what? - A few hundred thousand dollars worth of damages to boats 
and engines. Were lives lost, people permanently injured, babies maimed? We are 
rich boaters. We couldn't even get a sympathetic hearing on Fox news. 

Seasonal ethanol addition to gasoline is mandated by the Federal government 
as a way of reducing pollution. It has been used in some locations since the 
1980s. Boats produced recently have little problem with ethanol in gasoline. It 
is mainly a problem for older boats and engines. The most likely target for a 
suit would be the makers of boats which were introduced after ethanol use 
became common in automobles but who did not make ethanol resistant fuel systems. 
They should have anticipated that oil companies would supply the same product 
to automobile gas stations and to marinas. Gasoline for marine use is a tiny 
fraction of that used on the highways and it hardly pays for gasoline refineries 
to make two lines of products. 

By the way, aviation gas does not contain ethanol. If you want to use that in 
your boat, buy your supplies at the local airport. But be prepared to pay 
dearly for it.

Now let's get back to complaining about high fuel prices on the Great Loop.

Larry Z



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