Boat Fuel Level

dawson29

dawson29

Well-Known Member
Hey All. I have an AlumaCraft Yukon 180 with a built in centre gas reservoir. This model comes with an electric fuel gauge however I'm skeptical in relying on this for the life of it to determine the available gas in the boat obviously for safety reasons. Just wondering if any of you have came up with a method for a quick visual. Thanks😎
 
How modern is your motor/gauges?

I use the fuel used reading on my Suzuki as well. I trust it to be accurate so I can know how much I used since i last filled up.

The fuel gauge seems to only read the bottom half of the tank. Once it starts to move I know it's time to fill up.
 
I had a princecraft 2012 and the fuel gauge was a little off. The top half lasted longer than the bottom. Took a couple years to figure it out. The lower half if the needle stopped moving under way it was low! My new Lund guage is out to lunch. Fill it up and one trip to the Niagara bar and troll for six hours and it drops past 5/8 tank. Take it up north and ran around and towed the kids for 7 days and the last three it was just under 1/8 tank. I figured it was getting close to empty. The tank holds 155L... filled it up when I got home and there was still 65 liters of fuel. The guage is never accurate. Fill up as suggested or pay attention to how much fuel you pump at different readings on the guage.
 
In my boat a fuel tank is approximately like a cell phone shape in horizontal position. tough gauging lol
 
jaymag said:
I had a princecraft 2012 and the fuel gauge was a little off. The top half lasted longer than the bottom. Took a couple years to figure it out. The lower half if the needle stopped moving under way it was low! My new Lund guage is out to lunch. Fill it up and one trip to the Niagara bar and troll for six hours and it drops past 5/8 tank. Take it up north and ran around and towed the kids for 7 days and the last three it was just under 1/8 tank. I figured it was getting close to empty. The tank holds 155L... filled it up when I got home and there was still 65 liters of fuel. The guage is never accurate. Fill up as suggested or pay attention to how much fuel you pump at different readings on the guage.
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Always consider half as empty and you’ll be good
 
The CCG takes a dim view of people that run out of gas and can and will charge you for the tow in. Is there a mechanical gauge that could be retrofitted to your tank ? Or maybe a dipstick ?
 
Years ago I got lazy and didnt refill before a second day of salmon fishing on Lake O. I knew I had half a tank for sure but of course we got sidetracked out to the blue zone and as the gauge dropped below a quarter I was increasingly nervous about the long run back to the launch. It ruined my day. We made it fine but when I filled up the boat it took 47 gallons to fill a 49 gallon tank. That was my never again moment. The new ElmerFudd holds 95 gallons. I keep her filled before EVERY trip. I do watch and record the fuel used reading on the Yamaha digital gauges. Then when I fill I have an idea how much it should take and have been quite surprised how close the numbers work out. Like within a half gallon. Good data to have but I still fill it up. Blows my mind that a 250hp four stroke burns half the gas my old V4 115 Intruder used.
 
year ago with my old boat went out with less then a full tank figured we were good plenty of fuel.. well the boat ride back to Bruce had me nervous as can be
Must of been running on fumes as the gauge said empty for a while
Also a never again moment
Is when I started filling after each outing
 
Learn
rcfire77 said:
Me as well. It gets filled before it gets put back
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Learned that lesson early on with our brand new pontoon. Gas gauge was at half, then immediately dropped to empty and we stalled. Guage hasn't left empty since that day.
 
I switched boats mid season last year and kept the tank topped up the rest of the summer until I could prove the fuel gauge. This spring I drained the tank dry, added 50 liters at a time and put a small black sharpie dot on the gauge for each.The gauge was actually very accurate. I now top up to 200 liters and refuel @ 100, The tank holds 360 liters. I normally stay fairly local to ST Williams with an occasional trip to Bluff bar or the Elbow. That extra 150 L (250 lbs) is like having an extra Me on board,:)
 
Also good to mention if you’re pulling your boat up to the pumps.. you have to pump the fuel in slow for some boats..
if I pump it in full speed that pressure switch will shut it down after like $5 or $10
But if I pump it slow I can get like $40-$50 in after an outing..
that will surely screw you up at some point not actually filling the tank up if you don’t catch onto this
 
I fill every time I go and add a bit of Stabil. Plus my gauge just quit damn it. I also can't fill at top speed or it clicks off and spits at you. . Maybe bringing a few gallons in a can wouldn't be a terrible idea.
 
Call me crazy but I've got a 100 gallon fuel tank and that's about 650 pounds, so I keep it at half full. Every 2 trips out I put 50 bucks worth in and it stays around z half tank. Boat handles better and i get better gas mileage. With a half tank I can get 8 full days of trolling so I'm never worried about running out
 
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