I built a new fuel delivery panel for my pontoon. It has a very good water separator and duel feeds to the separator for engine prime. It has the traditional bulb that comes from the fuel demand valve and also a heavy duty electric fuel pump that gets its feed ahead of the fuel demand valve. The output of the electric fuel pump has a check valve so that bulb pressure can not feed back to it and fuel can not feed back to it. One way feed only. The electric fuel pump is controlled by a momentary push button on the dash. The output is 3-6 psi close to the 5 psi produced by the bulb. Let me know your thoughts. Would like to know if there are problems that I overlooked. I did this because it is just too dangerous for me at 68 to hang off the back to pump the bulb to get a prime after the boat sets a while.

That’s awesome. Looks sound to me. I would buy a setup like that if you marketed it.

Thanks, but I think that doing this one was enough for me I do like it though and it works perfectly. The next project I did was to build a trolling motor bracket that is actuated so that I can make it slide out from the console and then deploy my Ulterra without leaving the drivers seat. I will post some pictures as to how I did it.

One of the single biggest challenges for ob engine manufacturers is to build these engines fuel system without a fuel return line. The coastguard has a dim view of a fuel system for these ob engines that we could just put a nice electric fuel pump that runs with the engine, positive purged fuel system that returns back to the fuel cell.

So the only thing I see you can have trouble with might be an on board coastguard inspection, even though you have the pump only momentary, they would give you a hard time about this. Most likely you will never see any one board you with any idea what they are seeing other than your water separator lol.

Doing this yourself, makes a big difference also, if you had paid someone to do this and got called out on it would be an area they can really mess with you. I completely understand why you have rigged this all up. I flat out hate the old fuel bulbs anyway. Electric fuel pump and a healthy fuel return system back to the fuel cell is a great thing for the engine in so many different ways, the big problem can be when a fire happens and your pump just keeps pumping fuel, and that is the stand point the coastguard takes.

That all makes perfect sense and I really didn't know that about the coast guard. If the coast guard wants to come all the way up to Lavon (where it is docked), I will welcome them aboard and offer a cool drink. As far as fuel return, I did know about that and that is why I did not change the fuel path used by the fuel bulb. It comes from the fuel demand valve and goes straight to the fuel separator and straight to the engine. When I prime with the electric pump, I am depending on the check valve in the bulb to force the fuel through the separator and then to the engine. The check valve in the electric fuel pump line is so that bulb will always work as it should. Thank you for your input.

Don't misunderstand me here please. I think what you did is well done with the check valves in place as well as a low pressure pump. The coastguard most likely want be in your area, until they could be contacted by an inspection from a game warden. That is how it would most likely come about, but even at that, you doing this yourself, would settle the whole thing I figure. Certainly after they visit with you any time at all and realize you know this inside, out...


Edit: I had a boat 20 years ago that I could not keep enough gas to the fuel rails on it that I ended up take the oil injection off and went to premixed oil and fuel myself, so I could build the fuel system with a 5/16" fuel return line. I had solenoid that shut the fuel pump off once the key switch was turned off. The boat got lots of attention including, you guessed it the local game warden and lake patrol.

The boat had nothing left on the engine that was coastguard approved components, once I removed all of it, just to make it run. They had lots of questions and wanted to see and understood everything once I explained and showed them. They were not happy with all that had been done, but me doing everything myself and understood everything, they couldn't keep me off the lake. So just keep this all in mind...

Thanks Rowdy, I really appreciated all your comments. I kinda figured you must of had an experience with this.

Yes, I use to work for one of the ob engine manufacturers and they sent me all over the country to dealers that had problems, worked many of the FLW bass tournaments and the Everstart tournaments and I also did special projects for our military, so I have rubbed shoulders with our coastguard lol...They are a good bunch of fellows really.

Totally agree.