About two months ago, in preparation for a cruise north to Puget Sound, I asked Bob Sherman of Diesel Fuel Filtering to clean our tanks and filter our fuel. Due to the amount of particulate removed, Bob offered to polish the fuel again after I had filled the tanks and prior to my departure for the north. I had never intended or wanted to take him up on this offer, but after sailing the boat in the bay, I found, as he predicted, additional contamination in the fuel. At this time my wife and I were two days from our intended departure date and it was a weekend. I called Bob and explained the situation. He cheerfully agreed to come out to the boat on the next day, a Sunday, and re-filter the fuel. That Sunday turned out to be overcast and rainy but, nonetheless, Bob turned up promptly on schedule. Apparently neither rain nor holidays can deter a good fuel scrubber! True to his promise, he filtered my fuel again. The only charge was a cup of coffee. This seemed a truly extraordinary act of kindness.

To Bob, you have my sincere gratitude; to the readers of Latitude 38, you are well served by a good man and a fine service: Bob Sherman of Diesel Fuel Filtering.

Fortunately, though, we enjoyed beautiful sailing and the diesel was relegated to third mate.

Thank you, again, for your kind work aboard “7 Won Ton.”

I have also sent a letter of commendation to John Arndt at Latitude 38.

Best wishes to Mrs. Sherman.

Boston better be great, 'cause I miss the Bay already!

On Sunday I was finished with all my week-end duties so I started filling the water tanks. I heard a “boom” (the water tanks flexing) in a few minutes — hmmm, unusual it would happen that quickly. Then I smelled diesel. Raw diesel. Hmmm. Then I heard a dripping noise. Hmmm. Oh no ...

For 10 years I have checked the filler cap every time I fill the water tanks. The “Diesel” label on the fuel filler cap and the “Water” label on the water filler cap are very clear. But they are only inches apart. I didn't read the labels today.

I had the water on for about five minutes. Something must be done, but what? I called friends — no one was home. So I went to the Harbor Office. Marta knew what to do immediately. Call Bob Sherman!

Bob Sherman cleans diesel fuel tanks. He had a few questions about the hoses, and we talked about today, or tomorrow. He suggested he could be at the boat in an hour and a half.

Bob has an 18 foot Boston Whaler; he tied up to the stern of our boat. He has many filters and hoses — all remarkably clean. He spent a couple of hours very carefully pumping the water out of the bottom of the tank into jerry cans for safe disposal. Then he spent a few hours setting up the filtering system and filtering all the remaining fuel.

The whole process took six hours (because of the water), but it was remarkably clean and Bob was very careful of our boat.

Even if you don’t dump water in your fuel tank, you may have water or residue from your fuel sitting in your tanks for more than six months. It’s a good idea to have your fuel and tank cleaned every few years; keep your tank topped off and use Diesel Guard every time you add fuel. Bob prefers you leave the tank about half full when you get this job done. Call him!

I have a story I’d like to share with you. It’s not a plug for a service, but a plug for the kind of people who are in the service part of the marine industry.

I live aboard in Redwood City, and when I bought my boat she had a 42-gallon tank full of diesel. Since she hadn't been moved in a few years, I really needed to get the fuel 'polished' and the tank flushed. I had run the boat for almost a year, siphoning the fuel from the top of the tank through two fuel filters, and had about half a tank of fuel left.

As luck would have it, I was then invited up to the Encinal YC Commodore’s Cup, and took the opportunity to make arrangements with Bob Sherman, who runs Diesel Fuel Filtering Service in the Estuary, to have my fuel polished. He came to my boat, filtered the fuel, flushed the tank, and recommended I top off the tank with fresh fuel and add a fuel treatment. So when time came to head up to the Encinal YC, I stopped at the nearest fuel dock and “filld’er up.”

I didn’t get 40 minutes away from the dock when the engine sputtered to a stop. I was drifting towards the Alameda ferry dock at the time, and managed to get a line around one of the pilings. The security people, of course, were all over me in an instant. I explained that I probably had air in my fuel line and that if I could have 30 minutes, I’d be gone. They were reluctant, but let me have 30 minutes, after which I’d have to call Vessel Assist.

Well, I couldn’t get the fuel through the injectors. So I decided to put up some sail and single hand my way out the Estuary. Since it was Sunday afternoon, this turned out not to be such a good idea. First I had three tugs pass me going outbound, then a whole world of small boats and a container ship passed me coming inbound. Turning my boat around, I used my cell phone to call Encinal YC to see if I could get a hand sailing up to their guest dock. They said they’d stand by.

I managed to tie up at the guest dock without incident, and within ten minutes Sherman arrived in his boat. He'd got my message and had been out looking for me! He'd have seen me if the container ship hadn't come between us at the entrance to the Estuary.

When he came aboard, I was frankly still pretty shaken by the incident. He noticed this and began to calm me down. Then he dipped a stick with some kind of water-sensing chemical into my fuel tank. Turning to me he asked, “Where’d ya buy the water?”

“What???!!” I said.

“Yep,” he said pointing to the red on the end of the stick, “there's at least a half inch of it in there.”

I told him where I bought the fuel, and he just shook his head. He told me he’d be back the next day and once again asked if I was going to be all right. I told him I was, and that I’d be spending the night at the guest dock.

Sherman came back the next day and re-polished my fuel. In the process, he extracted two gallons of water from the 15 gallons of ‘fuel’' that I'd just purchased at the fuel dock! Sherman didn't charge me.

After cleaning out my injectors, replacing my filters, and missing a day of work, my boat ran great. When I got ready to leave the following day, Sherman showed up to make sure everything was all right and I was going to be able to make it home. Thanks, Bob, for going above and beyond the call of duty.