I wrote the following letter to SeaChoice but never heard a thing from them. I did hear from the US Coast Guard who basically said they don't track after-market equipment. Return to my home page.
D. Joseph Buys
1016 High Street
Marquette, MI 49855-3609
Sunday, November 03, 2002
SeaChoice Corporate Office
3131 N. Andrews Avenue
Pompano Beach, Florida 33064
Dear Sir or Madam:
I wish to report to you an extremely hazardous situation that occurred to me because of a defective SeaChoice fuel/water separator canister, Model 20911. Last week I smelled gasoline on board and immediately opened the engine compartment, only to see gasoline leaking from the water separator. I removed the separator and found a hole had apparently rusted through the bottom, causing raw gasoline to enter the bilge compartment. As you can see, there also was evidence of rust on the opposite side. A picture of the canister bottom is presented below.
I purchased this SeaChoice bracket and canister from CarQuest and installed it in 5 May 2000. It is installed on a 130 h.p. Mercruiser I/O, in a clean engine compartment with nothing rubbing against it and installed per specifications. I inspected this canister for water and leaks a couple of times since its installation and noted nothing wrong until now. In my humble opinion, this canister is either made of inferior metal and/or from too thin metal, causing it to rust through prematurely. I saw no particular lot number on this canister but did see “Made In Taiwan” written on the side. This canister should be designed for a marine environment and be particularly rust resistant.
After seeing the considerable amount of gasoline in my bilge, I consider myself very lucky the boat didn’t blow up along with my passengers and me. I am informing the U.S. Coast Guard and CarQuest of this incident. What you do with this information is your decision but I hope boating safety concerns and compliance are placed at the top of your priorities. I feel you should provide me with a replacement canister of adequate quality.
If you have any questions or I can be of assistance, please contact me at the above address, by phone at (906) 226-2624, or email at (email address here omitted to prevent bot scanning)..
Sincerely yours,
CC:
Office of Boating Safety Product Assurance
(G-OPB-3)
United States Coast Guard
2100 Second Street SW
Washington, DC 20593-0001
CARQUEST Auto Parts
211 South 5th St.
Marquette, MI 49855