Boat gas gage

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

Anybody have better luck than me with their boat's gas gage? Mine always swings rapidly between full and empty based on movement of the boat. I never know how much gas I have in the tank.

[marine_man]

Unfortunately that's kind of the way the gas gauges are in boats.

If you're interested in something a little more accurate and you run a Lowrance locator they make a fuel management sender that records the amount of fuel consumed and can tell you much more accurately how much fuel you have left.

marine_man

[gregg52]

i just use them as a guide basically

you can usally figure out which end the sender is end

and figure how you are sitting in the water

its going to move some depending on where all the gas is

but thats a good idea marine man

i have that feature on my 520 just never figured it out

[tcwin]

I wish I had that problem -- mine doesn't move at all -- it just sits on 'E'

[solbes]

I use the Lowrance method that Marine Man described. I actually have some confidence in fuel remianing now. Also tracks Mpg which can help you reduce usage and find your most efficient throttle setting under different loading conditions.

[benjineer]

What kind of tank do you have? Is the gauge electric or just the mechanical type on top of the tank. Those mechanical ones in the portable tanks with no baffles do that a lot. My electric ones don't swing as fast as it sounds like yours is.

[marine_man]

tcwin... assuming your gauge is electric & not a mechanical one in a portable fuel tank, check out this thread:

Gas Gauge Troubleshooting

It should help you find the issue.

marine_man

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

2002 Alumacraft Classic 165CS

[marine_man]

The real issue is that the tanks don't have any features to prevent the tank from sloshing jack and forth because of the space claim available. Short of finding a fuel sender that is a little more sticky, your only option is a different method of fuel management like a flow sender that correlates the amount of fuel being used to the amount of fuel in the tank.

marine_man

[delcecchi]

When mine is no longer on F it is time to fill up, since the tank is no better than half full at that point. :-)