Authority: IC 14-10-2-4; IC 14-15-7-3; IC 14-15-7-5

Affected: IC 14

Sec. 7. (a) A fixed fuel tank on a boat must be installed as follows:

1. (1) To permit examination with a minimum disturbance to the hull structure.
2. (2) With adequate support and bracing to prevent movement. The support and braces shall be insulated from contact with the tank surfaces with a nonabrasive and nonabsorbent material.
3. (3) With openings for fill and vent pipes and for fuel level gauges, where used, on the topmost surfaces of the tank.

Fuel supply lines shall have suitable support, a readily accessible manually operated, in-line shutoff valve installed as close to the fuel tank as practicable, and suitable protection from mechanical injury at supports and where passing through bulkheads and structural members.

(b) Each metallic fuel line connecting the fuel tank with the fuel inlet connection on the engine must be as follows:

1. (1) Be made of seamless annealed copper, nickel copper, or copper-nickel.
2. (2) Except for corrugated flexible fuel line, have a wall thickness of at least twenty-nine thousandths (0.029) inch.

(c) A filling pipe must be fitted to the highest point of the fuel tank.

(d) A fuel tank must be fitted with a marine-type fuel gauge or a sounding pipe if sounding cannot be accomplished through the filling pipe. A filling or sounding pipe must not permit overflow of liquid or vapor to escape to the inside of a boat.

(e) A vent pipe must be connected to the top of the fuel tank as follows:

1. (1) Installed to prevent accidental water contamination of the fuel with a flame arrester that can be cleaned unless the vent is itself a flame arrester.
2. (2) Have an inside diameter of at least seven-sixteenths (7/16) inch.
3. (3) Terminate on the hull exterior as far as practicable from hull openings and below the deck spaces.

(f) A device must not allow fuel to be drawn below the decks.

(g) Accessories in a fuel line must be properly supported.

(h) A boat equipped with a fixed fuel system must not be used to transport fuel onboard the boat outside the fixed fuel system unless the fuel is transported in conjunction with an auxiliary outboard engine. Fuel may be transported only in portable fuel tanks provided by a manufacturer of outboard engines and shall be safely secured outside the engine or living compartment.

(i) During a fueling operation, a person must not smoke onboard and no passenger may be allowed onboard.

(j) A fixed fuel system must be grounded by an electrical connection to a common ground, by welding or bolting to a metal bulkhead of a metal hull vessel or by electrical connection to the rudder, struts, or metal grounding plate. If flexible vibration hose is installed, metal grounding straps or wires must maintain ground continuity.

(Natural Resources Commission; 312 IAC 5-14-7; filed Mar 23, 2001, 2:50 p.m.: 24 IR 2391, eff Jan 1, 2002; filed Jan 5, 2005, 11:05 a.m.: 28 IR 1463; readopted filed May 29, 2008, 1:53 p.m.: 20080625- IR-312080057RFA; errata filed Jun 2, 2009, 10:29 a.m.: 20090624-IR-312090386ACA; readopted filed Jul 17, 2014, 3:46 p.m.: 20140813-IR-312140067RFA; readopted filed Sep 16, 2020, 8:15 a.m.: 20201014-IR-312200355RFA)