I'm 99.9% sure it is not the vent because when it happens and I blow the fuel line back into the tank I can feel the obstruction and can feel it blow back into the tank.

I pumped the tank but did not do the swabbing with a rag on a stick. I did find some sand sized black specs presumably old fuel line particles but don't see how those would not make their way to the h2o sep and or inline filter?

I did remove the pickup and elbow - it is not anti-siphon. There is no screen on the end of the pickup. Pickup is like a piece of fuel line that lays on the bottom of the tank. Notice the pickup is on the front of the tank - it has to lay on the bottom of the tank to reach the back. When I took it out the pickup had a coiled up spring inside of it. I figured the spring was to 1) serve as a screen to block large debris and 2) keep the pickup from collapsing. I took it out but could not get it back in. The pickup seems rigid enough not to collapse and surely could not have collapsed with the spring inside....unless it was collapsing above the spring near the elbow.

I've been a whole season without this happening before. I have had it happen 3 times in a season. I've had it happen when the tank is full or near empty. I change my fuel water separator once per year and it seems to want to happen more when the fuel water separator is near needing replacement. However it was just replaced so there goes that theory.

We rode all the way out on Saturday 65 miles and it did not happen. Trolled all day and did not happen, then it happened on the way back to the hill and the weather had unexpectedly turned to sh!t - bad timing.

Thanks fellas. I really don't know what to do!

Well, you can feel the obstruction move and stop blocking the air or fuel flow. But truthfully you cannot feel it blow back into the tank, you can just feel it move enough to clear the flow. If it's in your vent line and right near the top the vent cover could hold it in place enough so it wouldn't blow out and over time it could get sucked back in again. I realize we're grasping at straws here, but I'd make 100% sure it wasn't the vent line before I started pulling and cutting stuff apart. :head:

I'm not familiar with that setup. Mine has a pickup in the stern end of tank. It is a hard plastic tube reaching just short of the bottom of tank.

Your tube lays on the bottom of tank reaching all the way to the back? There are no baffles in the tank? Could the tube be sucking up against a wall randomly?

I know you can't test it because it is intermittent but if it were happening, opening the fuel filler cap would rule out the vent...with a big sucking sound...

you said the primer ball sucks in... like a deflated football? Brady-Belichek syndrome...move to New England, it will be fine....

IF it were the vent then just disconnecting the fuel line from the h2o sep would clear it up, no? Blowing the line out back into the tank "fixes" it. If it were the vent that should not fix it.......

Yea Skunk not your typical pickup tube for sure. It isn't sucking up against the side. I think that would be fairly obvious when I blow back through the fuel line. I have to blow pretty hard to clear it. Either it is collapsing or full of crud or both. This really blows....pun intended.

If I cut around the outline I think I'd need to add a lip around the edge to support the "hatch cover" when I put it back, right?

I can cut the deck, get the tank out and clean this piss out of it. I'm just not that up to speed on the glassing/epoxy aspect of putting it back. And I don't want to paint the deck. I like my original deck. :sigh:

I've been living with this for years. My biggest fear is it happening heading out a rough inlet or in between the rock jetties. Not a good situation. I check the ball before heading into those situations and keep a flat head screwdriver handy to disconnect the line for the blowing procedure JIC.

What I need is one of those cameras with a light that the doc runs down your throat to get inside that tank and look around!!!!!!!

p.s. could Tom Brady be hiding in my tank?

Agreed, opening the fuel filler hatch should clear the vacuum if it was in the vent line.

Yes, if you cut the deck you'll have to put some kind of support shelf or brackets along the underside of the deck so that when you lay the hatch back in it will have someplace to sit. I used scrap plywood roughly 4" wide. Used Liquid Nails type construction adhesive to glue it in place, then used several stainless screws to hold it for additional strength. Be sure to seal the wood before you put it in place so it doesn't rot.

Here you go for the camera. http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from...o+USB&_sacat=0 They aren't really expensive. The one that I bought took less than 2 weeks to arrive from China. Just make sure that your phone will support it. (Must be an Android 4.0 or higher, capable of taking pictures with an detached camera). Will not work with an i-phone. My phone didn't support it, but it also works on a computer display so I just hooked it up to my notebook. Focal length from about 1 inch to infinity. adjustable light sourse built in. I used it to look inside some cylinders of an engine to make sure they weren't melted. Or, if you want to spend some extra bucks, you can get one from Harbor Freight that has it's own built in display. http://www.harborfreight.com/digital...era-61839.html

Lastly, keep a portable tank (3 or 6 gal size) filled with premix onboard with some sta-bil in it. Should last the whole year without spoiling, and if you ever get into one of those dangerous situations where you need to move in a hurry with the ball collapsed, just switch to the portable tank to get you moving quickly.

Can you buy something like one of those trash pump suction hose strainers that screens out large debris? Something like this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-1-2-Steel-...YAAOSwll1Wz0AB Seems to me that even if one side gets blocked with whatever, the rest will still let gas flow. Kinda like the small filters they put on the ends of fuel lines lying inside the tanks in 2 cycle chain saws, weed eaters etc.

sounds like the little spring is important.

I thought the same thing Phat which is why I tried and tried to get the spring back in there. However, the issue was happening well before I ever removed the spring. Also, like I said the pickup is rigid enough I do not see how it could collapse.

I'd buy a new pickup with a spring in it...........if I knew where the heck to find this type of pickup tube. Land of Misfit Pickup Tube Store?

Destroyer, good thoughts, appreciate the feedback. Appreciate everyone's feedback so far!

I'd be scared sending an electrical item into your fuel tank.

Could you just disconnect your pick up and put a new one in somehow? Seems like that would be the KISS way to do it.

Make one out of a piece of fuel line, put a nipple on the end to give it some weight, hose clamp some type of screen to the nipple. If you even want a screen.