D
uring a recent trip, I presented what is new with the
ABYC standards to a group of surveyors, using pictures
taken at a recent boat show. When I asked them the
question ‘what is it?’, I got a number of confused and blank looks.
The standard I was talking about was
H-24 Gasoline Fuel Systems.
Image 1-A an engine compartment on a gasoline
inboard boat. What is the red arrow pointing to?
Hint:
In 2003, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) began
looking at evaporative emissions for marine gasoline fuel systems.
Long story short, major collaborative work was undertaken by
ABYC, NMMA and EPA which resulted in a major rewrite of
H-24 Gasoline Fuel Systems that was published in July 2010 to
reflect the requirements of the 40 Code of Federal Regulations
(CFR) 1060. Within the new regulations, the EPA provided
a waiver for small and low volume boat builders (500 or less
employees and less than 1,200 boats). The waiver expired in July
2013 and as a result, all boat builders need to be installing EPA
compliant gasoline fuel systems.
Still stumped on what the red arrow is pointing to? Hopefully you
have narrowed it down to a gasoline fuel systems’ component as it’s
a carbon canister. The carbon canister is installed in the vent line
to capture diurnal emission. The one in the picture certainly does
not look like any of the pictures from catalogs and displays that I
have seen before. The reason is that this component is contained in
a metal shield to pass the 2 ½ minute fire test. (See H-24 Excerpt)
Image 1-B was taken on an inboard gasoline boat.
What is this red arrow pointing to?
Here we are looking
at an Inline Check Valve (ICV) installed in 1 ½ inch A2 fuel
fill hose in an engine compartment. The metallic heat shield
around the ICV provides compliance with the fire test. The
ICV is installed in the fuel fill line to prevent any wellback after
activation of the automatic shut off (also a requirement of H-24).
As this component is installed in fuel fill, it should be secured
By Brian Goodwin, ABYC Technical Director
ARE YOU STUMPED BY THE
STANDARD?
12
American Boat & Yacht Council •
the
Reference Point
• Winter 2014
