Fuelling at the marina takes ten minutes, and those ten minutes are the most dangerous part of the day. Petrol does not explode because it is liquid. It explodes because the vapour collects somewhere enclosed and finds a spark. The gap between a good trip and an incident is one minute of attention.
Fill slowly. A fast flow generates static and produces foam, and foam makes a half-empty tank look full. Keep the nozzle in contact with the filler neck while you fill โ that contact drains the static charge instead of letting it build up in the metal.
Do not leave the nozzle running while you walk away. Tanks fill faster than most people expect, and a new boat's first fill usually ends up on the deck. With two tanks, finish and cap one before starting the other.
Stop short of full. Leave room for expansion, especially in a Kuwaiti summer where fuel in the tank warms up and expands through the day.
Watch the filler neck the whole time. At the first sign of a burp or foam, stop. Extra fuel does not buy extra range โ it goes over the side or into the bilge as vapour.
Use only metal fuel cans, and never fill one while it sits on the deck.
Any drip on the pontoon or the deck means stop filling. Soak it up with an absorbent rag and put the rag in a sealed metal container. Do not throw it in the water and do not leave it on the dock.
Ventilate before you start anything. Open every hatch and locker and let the vapour clear. If the boat has a blower, run it before cranking.
Report spills to marina staff, even a small one. That is how a dock fire gets prevented while it is still a smell.
Cap the filler properly and check hoses and connections for cracks. Then smell the air around the tank and the bilge. A strong petrol smell means a leak: do not start, find it, fix it.
On an outboard, check the quick-connect is fully seated. A small leak from a loose fitting builds vapour exactly where the engine will spark.
Run the blower, then start, and watch the first minute. If you smell fuel, shut down until it is sorted.
Before you head out, check the sea state rather than assuming it. The B7R app gives wind, wave and sea conditions, so you can decide on the water instead of at the breakwater.
Keep the SOS button in the B7R app ready too. Fire and mechanical failure move fast, and a minute saved on the call can matter more than a minute saved on the throttle.
Heading out this weekend? Download it free on Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.q8dm.b7r