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I recently bought a nice low hour (139) 2006 220S. I only have one irritating problem - the damn fuel cap is a fidgety thing. I put the two pin key in, turn it counter clockwise until it releases tension and "should" pop up to unscrew it to remove it, but.... it won't release. It rattles a little, I can get it to turn a tiny bit left or right but it just won't pop up. Aggravating. I was headed to the lake this morning but when I got to the gas station to fill up the tow rig and boat, I couldn't get the fuel cap off. I spent 30 mins futzing with it before giving up. Two guys came over who said they have boats with similar fill caps. They couldn't get it to release either. Ugh.

I thought about just removing the whole thing thinking it might be easier to figure out what is wrong with it. I got on the boat and looked up through the access opening just behind the skipper's seat and learned the three stainless steel Philips screws on the outside are in fact bolts which have nylock nuts on the back. There are two hose clamps that are at near impossible angles to access. Oh, and I found a green wire with loop connector on it just dangling near the filler neck. It looks like a ground of some sort. Should this be on one of the bolts which hold the filler neck to the hull?

So my big question is this, will it make it easier to figure out why the filler cap wont pop up and come off if I remove the whole assembly from the boat? Or should I just order up a replacement assembly? If this is a common thing, is there a simple trick to get it to consistently open?

Thanks for any help you can provide.

I fill (feel) for you. sorry long day at work. That bad boy is a bitch. That's putting it lightly. You will need two people to put a new filler in. So if you can replace just the cap just do that. The cap as you know it's a push down and rotate to the left then unscrew it. If you can't get it off yes you will have to buy a new one. The three screws are not easy to reach long skinny arms are needed with anti fiberglass material wrapping your body from the itching that is about to occur. Yes the green wire should be attached to one of the bolts. It is a ground I case a spark happens when the gas filler goes in it. I used wing nuts and locktight when reinstalling mine. You can get the filler hose off that's not too bad. It might be double hose clamped just a fyi. I went up through the speaker hole. If you could get that side panel off it would be much easier but that's alot of work. Sorry but good luck.