The Port Orchard Marina started selling diesel again last week, and apparently it was just in time.

Because the day before, on Sept. 11, Director Steve Slaton said the Brownsville Marina, which was the next closest place to get diesel since his marina’s tank sprung a leak last summer, had to stop selling fuel the day before.

“The harbormaster there called me Thursday to say that he had a leak in one of his pipes,” Slaton said, explaining that if Port Orchard hadn’t been up and selling the next day, “it would have been tough on Kitsap Transit.”

But by Sept. 12, Slaton said his tanks were up and running and selling fuel.

“The word started getting out,” he said, explaining that business was slowly picking up and he expected to have a busy weekend as boaters who might have been holding off on buying fuel would start filling up their tanks.

“It’s much better to have a full tank in the wintertime,” Slaton said.

The marina’s diesel tank sprung a leak in its inner layer last summer, but Slaton said there has been no indication that any of the fuel leaked into the ground or water near the tank.

“There’s been no indication of any leaking,” Slaton said. “There was standing water at the bottom of the (tank’s) pit, and there was no sheen on it.”

At the port’s Aug. 26 meeting, Slaton told the commissioners that the likely cause of the breach had also been discovered.

“It looks like construction debris from when the tank was first put in had gotten inside the vent piping,” he said, adding that he believed that the rocks and dirt had contaminated the tank during its installation 13 years ago.

When Commissioner Larry Stokes asked if steps had been made to insure that problem wouldn’t occur again, Slaton said yes, and that the tank’s pipes were sealed.

Slaton said the port paid the contractors $214,00 to replace the tank, which includes $24,000 for a new tank.

Originally, Slaton said, the port thought it might be able to save money by purchasing a new tank itself, but later determined it was best to have the contractors supply a replacement.

As far as the revenue the port lost, Slaton estimated that during “a typical year” the port sells about $50,000 worth of both diesel and gasoline, and that diesel sales make up less than half of that.

He estimated that during the past year while the tank was broken, the port might have sold about $20,000 worth of diesel, which he confirmed was net sales.