Just fired up my car after sitting for a few months. I noticed a strong fuel smell coming from somewhere. I looked in the engine bay and noticed fuel leaking from the Russsell braided fuel line. Strange thing is that is was not leaking from the hose clamps, but from the middle of the line, almost like the line somehow got a hole in it.

Is it possible having the fuel in the lines so long caused it to eat away the rubber fuel line, causing the leak? I noticed the rubber was sort of pushing through the braided part of the line, almost like it was swelling.

Seems wierd being this stuff costs so damn much that regular rubber lines seem to be fine sitting that long.

Bad hose. remove and send back to see if its defective

Yup, that happens. It happens so often that I can't figure out how that braided rubber fuel hose got certified for fuel use. My buddy had a car fire because of braided/rubber fuel hose leakage. In his case, I think it was Aeroquip hose.

Yet another in a long line of reasons to use seamless steel tubing.

There was a thread on the same subject quite a few months ago, and guys were complaining of having leakage or seepage on these type of hoses which really surprised me. Was not just Russell, but other brands too. And the leakage was same area you mentioned, along the hose itself and not necessarily at connections. Maybe you can look in the SEARCH area to find.