Putting outboard fuel tank in splash well?

[Mistermojo]

On my cursed boat, I am very seriously looking at putting a kicker motor on so when the big motor doesn't start (again,) I have some gas power instead of the 48lb minn kota to get me off the water, or not totally ruin my day.

The problem is that my main motor is oil injected with a large on-board gas tank running straight gasoline, not mixed. So I either need to go 4-stroke so I can share the gas and feel the burn in the wallet, or go 2-stroke and deal with having an extra gas can along that I don't have room for in my narrow 16' boat.

So, does anyone have any creative ideas for hauling a 3-gal gas can if I decided to go 2-stroke? Does anyone put them in the splash well? Do they make any smaller tanks than 3 gallon? On that guy's list, I can find nice 6HP Johnsons and evinrudes for $250 or about 1/4 the cost of a comparable 4-stroke.

Or if anyone has a 4-stroke kicker to sell, hit me up.

Thanks,

Mojo

[B-man715]

Another option I read about once was somebody just adding oil right to the big tank to run both two strokes off the same tank. Not sure how involved it would be, as I'm sure you would have to at least bypass the low oil alarm on the oil injected motor, and maybe the pump too???

[Mistermojo]

Well, that is an option on the table, as it appears the oil pump is what went bad on the motor. I fired it up after we got home with the flush muff on and it wasn't making any smoke.

My apprehension with disconnecting the injection is that the fuel gauge is not very accurate, and short of draining the tank and starting over, I don't really know how much gas is in there to get the mix right, plus having to deal with it every time I fill up... Do they make an oil injector for motors that aren't injected?

[B-man715]

I don't know if they make an aftermarket auxiliary pump.

But as far as the intial start of mixing, your tank likely has a metal tag or stamp on it with the capacity.

Top her off and add the oil needed for however many gallons it holds.

You will also need to make sure the kicker will run off the same mix ratio the big motor needs. A little too strong won't hurt, but I wouldn't run it light on oil.

[Mistermojo]

If I do decide to go the route of running a small tank in the splash well, does orientation of the tank matter? Can it be at about a 40* angle either to one side or vertically and still function properly, or does it have to be primarily flat?

[Surface Tension]

The cap to the tank will be below the fuel level. That is where the vent is. It won't vent and it'll leak gas. Rotate the tank 45 degrees and put a 2x2 in the splashwell along the transom.

That should level off the tank enough. You can find smaller tanks that'll fit in the splash well.

Do you have room under the splashwell? That is where I'd stick it.

[20lbSloughShark]

Can you post a picture of the back part of your boat? On mine, I run my kicker off a 2 gallon tank, and its so flat I can just shove it under a seat. If it were me, I would just run pre-mix in both motors. Its not rocket science. I mix mine every time I mix every time I fill up, and its not a big deal. It just depends if you want to fix your oil pump or not. You should check, but most outboards run 50:1. As someone said, just top it off and add oil. The problem with running off one tank is switching the hose. It gets annoying if you do it often. Using 2 tanks is my recommendation if you can. A 4 stroke might be an ok option, but not if you ever take it off the boat. If you are like me and pull double duty, or store it off the boat, they can leak oil. Other than that, either will sip gas by comparison to the "big motor"

[Surface Tension]

I run an kicker/backup on a few boats.

If you run out of gas, have water in gas, bad fuel line, bad fuel/water separator, pickup line, or any other fuel related problem then your back up motor is useless.

[Mistermojo]

Hope my 12am drawing made some sense. Still not sure I want to go premixed route unless motor repair will be so expensive that I need to do that. Plus I kind of like ST's philosophy on having a redundant system in case of xxxxxxx.

So if I put a little tank in the splash well, how secure will it be without drilling a bunch of holes in the boat - would go plastic tank so I don't scratch the paint all up with a metal can.

[Mistermojo]

20lbss here is the rear of the boat. It's not my actual boat but its the same model.

My boat is not on premises or I would get you some better pics. Underneath on the inside there would be no room due to batteries/on board charger so it would have to go outside somewhere.

Where did you find a 2 gallon tank?

[20lbSloughShark]

I see the problem now, but I'm not so sure the splash well is a good idea. The main concern would be water in the tank. If you get a long enough hose you could put it anywhere, even in front of the console. I've never seen a 2 gallon tank for sale, It came with my current kicker. It is a 62 evinrude 5.5 hp that I won in a st. cloud raffle. I wouldn't worry about that, as you don't have bench seats to stuff it under anyway. Just for reference if you see one, its metal, and the same size around as your typical 6 gallon boat tank, except its really short.

[Down Deep]

Splash wells are there to carry water and channel out before it hits the boats interior. While there is probably never going to be a problem there is always a risk when someone alters build in safety features. Another thing that strikes me is a risk for a fuel soil which would drain directly in the water.

Thinking out of the box there are all kinds of fuel tanks built that can fit just about anywhere. My buddy has a flat one that he has installed under the hood of his snowmobile that has about a 2 gal capacity. The also sell flat and various shape tanks for ATV's. Search the web I'm sure you can find a tank that can be fit in the boat somewhere.

[delcecchi]

Maybe you just need to invest in figuring out why the big motor won't start sometimes?

[Mistermojo]

I know why it didn't start, that's not the problem. The problem is that I have a curse on me and so I was looking to hedge against getting stranded on a body of water with only a 42lb thrust trolling motor to get me home.

Topic is moot anyway as I found a like new 2001 5HP yamaha with onboard tank, so no external tank necessary.

Now let's see if I can catch something instead of taking bait for a boat ride.