Why Convert to Fuel Injection ?
Petrol (gasoline) is wonderful stuff!It is easily converted into a formidable explosive whose power increases significantly when detonated in a confined space - such as inside an engine, which is great. However, should petrol unintentionally find its way into other places, such as the bilges of a boat, which are similarly confined, it creates the potential for a life threatening disaster.
Naturally, most insurance companies have seized on this opportunity to avoid their responsibilities and it is now very difficult, if not impossible, to insure a boat that has an inboard petrol engine still using a carburettor. Furthermore, and perhaps rightly, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) has recently amended the survey requirements for new commercial vessels to ban the use of inboard carburetted petrol engines. That ban doesn't apply to private vessels, of course, since they are not surveyed by AMSA, but the message is clear.
Importantly, notice that AMSA hasn't banned petrol engines per se, only carburettors as a means of fuelling them. As a result, the decision was made to convert Rhapsody's fuel delivery system from the existing carburettor to fuel injection, to significantly improve its potential for safe operation. It may also be possible to insure the boat in the future, too, which would be nice.
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