Fueling Question

[LetsRock]

The first time I fueled the boat up this season was on land on the way to the marina. It was on dead E at that time. I have a 58 gallon tank. I was pumping away and at the 40 gallon mark fuel came spilling out the vent. When I started her up the gauge was barely at 3/4 full.

Two weeks ago I filled her up at the marina. The gauge read 1/4 full. After 23 gallons fuel came out the vent. I tried to pump a little more slowly and it came flying out the fill spout. I started her up and it barely read 1/2 full.

Is it possible that either my gauge is messed up or I am having some type of vapor lock not allowing the tank to fill?

 

[PMC]

The first time I fueled the boat up this season was on land on the way to the marina. It was on dead E at that time. I have a 58 gallon tank. I was pumping away and at the 40 gallon mark fuel came spilling out the vent. When I started her up the gauge was barely at 3/4 full.

Two weeks ago I filled her up at the marina. The gauge read 1/4 full. After 23 gallons fuel came out the vent. I tried to pump a little more slowly and it came flying out the fill spout. I started her up and it barely read 1/2 full.

Is it possible that either my gauge is messed up or I am having some type of vapor lock not allowing the tank to fill?

Do you think you burnt 23 gallons of fuel between the first fuel up (on land) leading up to two weeks ago? I think your tank is full and you have either a bad sender or connection leading to to the gauge.

 

[shore]

The gauge doesn't always read what is in the tank....by that I mean when the gauge says empty.It is not.

Lets say your tank is 58 gals.That gauge might read 45 gals top to bottom on it's range.Kinda like a built-in reserve.

Now, the fact it doesn't read full when it is means you have an issue.Sender might be bad or its wiring.....goooo boats.

 

[H2ONUT]

My 220 does the same thing, you need to pump VERY slow.

The only 2 places I can fill up on the water have really fast gas pumps. They have a hell of a time trying to put gas in.

 

[LetsRock]

Do you think you burnt 23 gallons of fuel between the first fuel up (on land) leading up to two weeks ago? I think your tank is full and you have either a bad sender or connection leading to to the gauge.

Yeah, I most likely did burn that much fuel. Can I assume that if it spills out of the fuel spout its full at that point and not some type of vapor lock that wont allow anymore in?

 

[LetsRock]

My 220 does the same thing, you need to pump VERY slow.

The only 2 places I can fill up on the water have really fast gas pumps. They have a hell of a time trying to put gas in.

Really??? Thats good to know. I do pump very slow but I truly have no way of avoiding gas coming through the vent since apparently my gauge isnt accurate. Does that happen to you as well?

 

[LetsRock]

The gauge doesn't always read what is in the tank....by that I mean when the gauge says empty.It is not.

Lets say your tank is 58 gals.That gauge might read 45 gals top to bottom on it's range.Kinda like a built-in reserve.

Now, the fact it doesn't read full when it is means you have an issue.Sender might be bad or its wiring.....goooo boats.

I have never gotten it all the way to full. Like I said last time when gas was spewing everywhere it only made it around 1/2

 

[H2ONUT]

Yes, still happens. I have found that pumping slow and listening, I can usually catch it before it pukes out all over the place. If you let it sit for a minute, you can squeeze more in.

My gauge will read full also.

 

[thirtydaZe]

can you calibrate your fuel gauge?

 

[H2ONUT]

Oh, forgot to mention...

When I fuel in the water, and I have guests aboard, I ask them to stand mid and stbd, this usually helps with the venting and puking gas.

 

[LetsRock]

can you calibrate your fuel gauge?

How does one go about that?

 

[LetsRock]

Oh, forgot to mention...

When I fuel in the water, and I have guests aboard, I ask them to stand mid and stbd, this usually helps with the venting and puking gas.

Really....I guess the more level or leaning starbd helps?

 

[sbw1]

can you calibrate your fuel gauge?

Boat gauges are not very accurate. I've had a few and the only one that was dead nuts on was a 1967 30' Chris Craft. It came with a stick that you dropped down into the tank and you read the gallons in the tank by where the wet line was. The current boat never shows full on the gauge (has just one big tank) but is fairly accurate in the sense it has red zone on the indicator and I fill up when it gets down in that range. Even then I have a good 40 gallons left. When cruising, I look at the navigation log to see how many miles I've gone and have a caculator at the helm. Using .9 MPG, I can pretty much judge how much fuel I have left. You have to know your boat's quirks. And you have to know how much fuel in your tank is actually usable. This knowlege is more usful than trying to get a gauge calibrated.

 

[black pearl]

Had that happen last year if I remember right the vent had a small blockage to it(dirt?). Like a bee's nest. Only happened when I was about full. Used a clothes hanger to unblock it and all's been fine.

 

[JVM225]

I've never had much luck with fuel gauges on boats being accurate. I suppose you could keep changing senders, gauges, and trying all kinds of things to get a different reading.
I have a good idea of how much fuel I burn an hour, and keep track of the hours. I also keep an ear to the vent when filling up. You'll be able to hear when it gets to the top.
Before I spent time and money on trying to get the gauges accurate, I'd invest in a fuel flow meter. You can use them to keep track of how many hours you ran and how many gallons you burned.
We have a FloScan on the 22' Eastern I share with my Uncle. The thing is pretty accurate.
I've been thinking of putting them on my Sea Ray.

 

[OldSkool]

I installed a new sending unit in the tank last fall. I gives me an accurate reading of full and empty. For 2 years I ran the thing with the faulty guage. I just kept track of how far and fast I ran the boat. I never ran out the whole time.

If you can't manualy stick the tank to see how fuel it is then take 10 gals of fuel in 2 gas cans on the boat. Stay near the marina and run it until it begins to run out. Shut it down before it completely dies. Watch the fuel guage to see how it reacts to the fuel being used.

Refill it with the cans knowing you put 10 gals in it. The fuel pump should pick up the fuel to get it started. Then take it to the pump and fill it making note of where the fuel guage is when you have taken on your tanks advertised capacity.

All this would be unnecessary if you have a tank drain. Then just drain out the remaining fuel once the tank guage reads empty to see how much is left.

 

[shore]

I do have to say,That I also fill with what I am going to need.There is always some leftover for whatever could happen.