In Board Gas Tank

[amateurfishing]

for those of you with inboard gas tanks I am curious of 2 issues

1. how you fill up: directly at the pump or do you premix oil & gas in a can at the station, take it home, & and pour in.

2. since I've notice on previous posts the general unreliability of boat gas gauges do you always carry extra can of gas with you and leave in vehicle at dock or carry can in boat with you in case you run out? or just hope trolling motor or kicker motor will get you back to dock safely?

im just curious cause have been using more gas lately on longer outings & wanna make sure I don't leave myself short

[jac714]

My boat has oil injection so I do not need to premix so I just pull up to the pump and fill it up.

I carry a small (2 gallon) can of gas on board if I am on the river or a large lake, if I can see all 4 shores of a lake for one spot on the lake I rely on the trolling motor if the main goes kaflooey.

[Finns]

1. how you fill up: directly at the pump or do you premix oil & gas in a can at the station, take it home, & and pour in.

If you fill at the pump, pay close attention to gallons put in, put in correct amount of oil, and on the way to lake the motion of traveling should have it mixed.

[delcecchi]

My built in gas tank has a "reserve" valve that works like old time motorcycles. Run out of gas, turn the valve and get access to a couple more gallons. Just remember to switch it back.

That said, tank holds 30 gallons. I try to fill it back up when it gets to like half. A little practice and you will learn what the gauge indicates at near half or whatever your personal threshold is.

[Pat K]

The 3 boats I've had with gas gauges weren't very accurate but they were consistent. On a Lund Pro Sport when it got to 1/2 on the gauge I knew I had about 2 gallons left. On an Alumacraft I had and the Straos I have now that at 1/4 tank there's 2 gallons left. All 3 boats were at about 1/2 a tank when the needle would move off of Full.

[h8go4s]

Always carry enough extra gas (pre-mixed if needed) to get you to safety. And know what your margin of error is so you can put it in the tank before you drift onto a rocky shoreline in 20-mph winds.

[Raider4ever]

Apparently I lucked out in the gas gauge department. I have a '98 Crestliner Fish Hawk 1750 with a 20 gallon tank. When I took it out to check the accuracy of the gauge (i.e. run the gauge down until I got paranoid), I have had my needle at the 1/16th mark (just about touching "E") sitting on the lake so boat was fairly level and it was still running fine. Of course this is at our cabin and the lake is only 500 acres so I could of TM'd it home if need be. On a bigger lake, I never let it get below 3/8ths. I figure between 4-8 gallons gets me home.

[amateurfishing]

my tank is 18 gallons but the only consistency I have ever seen from the gauge is complete inconsistency, I have fill it up by hand on the road sitting level with gas gurgling all way to open cap and gauge says 1/2 full, then after being on water for 4-5 hours and it being used constantly it will say full, just don't make sense to me, sadly probably time to start carrying around small can or spare metal tank I guess.

[gunner55]

The gauge on our '02 Fish Hawk also seems to be pretty accurate while the the boat is sitting fairly level.Not exactly sure how big the tank is but I don't add 6 gallons until it is less than 3/4 & more than 1/2 full.This will bring the gauge back close to full.We have a hand pump(FF) mounted on a little heavier 2 wheel cart that we can bungee our taller plastic portable jugs we use for hauling gas to.We have a steep shoreline so we have 18 steps to take this down. This has been working well for us for the last 2-3 yrs.Got the idea from a vendor at the St. Paul Boatshow(Flo-Fast?).I try not to let the boat get under 1/4 tank as most of the time that will easily last the day.

[Capt. H (Ret.)]

I fill at the pump with my OptiMax. My gas gauge reads pretty much right on when on plane with the boat. If it is a questions of whether or not to carry extra gas in a can then you either can't trust your gas guage, don't fill it up often enough, or you like to take a chance. I don't take chances and I don't carry an extra can of gas in the boat. Most of the people I have helped on a lake either ran out of gas or their battery went dead.

[delcecchi]

Another possible solution. Use the trip odometer in your gps to track mileage. Set it to only run at some minimum speed, like 1.5 or 2 mph so trolling motor or drifting doesn't get counted. Fill up every so many miles.

[amateurfishing]

Another possible solution. Use the trip odometer in your gps to track mileage. Set it to only run at some minimum speed, like 1.5 or 2 mph so trolling motor or drifting doesn't get counted. Fill up every so many miles.

this is a very good idea, I will start trying it my next time out and see how I fare, I will also start carrying some extra with me I guess. thx for the info & ideas.

[harvey lee]

I have a 4 stroke so no issues with mixing the oil.

As far as how much gas in my tank, I can typically fish all weekend on 1 tank unless I am on a lake like Rainy and then run 15 miles to 1 spot. I know I can go all day anywhere so I typically fill up at the end of the day.

Fishing around home, I usually fill my tank when it is a tad under half full.

[Ufatz]

A little old time Alaska wisdom: If by your gas guage you must fly, time will come when you might die.

He who hesitates, will probably make it back.