Keep yourself, your passengers, and your boat safe during fueling with these tips:
- Secure boat to the dock
- Switch off engine
- Extinguish all open flames
- Do not use electrical switches
- No smoking
- Ports, hatches, and doors closed
- Make certain all passengers are ashore
- Determine quantity of fuel required and make sure it is the proper type of fuel
- Hold hose nozzle firmly against fill pipe opening
- Do not overfill
- Wipe up all spillage
- Open ports, hatches, and doors to ventilate
- Turn blower on for four minutes minimum
- Do the sniff test
- Start engine
- Re-board passengers
- Untie from dock and cast off
Never fill a portable fuel tank while it is on the boat! Remove and fill it at the fueling station. Once full, store the tank in a well-ventilated area that is away from all electrical equipment and the engine.
Under federal law (the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 and the Clean Water Act) it is illegal to discharge any petroleum product into the water. By law, any oil or fuel spill that leaves a sheen on the water must be reported to the U.S. Coast Guard at 1-800-424-8802.