[firemanharry]

I know these are old posts I'm digging through here but this may (or may not) be informative to some.

I bought a boat last summer and have been working on it and found a few things out about the Ethanol blend we're burning now-a-days. I had to replace ALL of my fuel lines (with alcohol resistant hoses) and rebuild my carbs. I've read and that the gasoline begins to chemically break down in about 6 weeks and has an affinity for water. Boaters around here have found that they have to use a stabilizer in their tanks ALL the time to keep from having problems.

The gasoline/ethanol blend apparently eats regular rubber and plastic parts. My carbs looked like somebody melted all the plastic stuff in them. I would imagine you'd have the same problems with ANYTHING that sits a while with fuel in the system.