Four Things Never To Trust

Jan 18, 2016
782
Catalina 387 Dana Point
Didn't somebody make a smoke seeking missile to guard against F4s? "Where'd that F4 go?" "Follow the trail....."

Four things to never trust?
Car Salespeople
Boat Salespeople
Any other salespeople
Politicians
 
Nov 24, 2014
159
Catalina 310 Staten Island
Didn't somebody make a smoke seeking missile to guard against F4s? "Where'd that F4 go?" "Follow the trail....."

Four things to never trust?
Car Salespeople
Boat Salespeople
Any other salespeople
Politicians
How about a large prybar bought for ten dollars at Harbor Freight Tools?
 
Nov 24, 2014
159
Catalina 310 Staten Island
mail-order-bride.jpg
How about a large prybar bought for ten dollars at Harbor Freight Tools?
And speaking of prybars, I have one more thing for the guys here never to trust; A mail order bride from the philippines, Eastern Europe, or Latin America who is half your age and says all she wants is love and companionship. She will pry your assets away.
 
Feb 6, 1998
11,667
Canadian Sailcraft 36T Casco Bay, ME
Please remember, when motor sailing, or motoring in no wind but with large swells, where your tank pick up is physically located. Our tank happens to be well thought out and designed for a sail boat, with the pick up in the center vee-shaped bottom of the tank. This places the fuel pick up at the lowest & most optimal point in the tank for our sailboat.. Even at our max average rate of heel there is still fuel in the vee-shaped bottom with as little as 1 gallon of fuel left.

Sadly, I can't say this for all sailboat tanks. Some pick ups are on port or starboard meaning motor sailing with anything less than approx 1/3 tank means sucking air.
Empty, on a sailboat, needs to take into consideration tank shape, pick up location and average heel angle when motor sailing. Some sailboat tanks can suck air with as much as 1/3 or more of a tank of fuel. Do'h.... If your engine is not self-bleeding, this can actually become dangerous...

A quick fix for fuel gauges is to *100% empty the tank in the fall then re-fill it with known quantities of fresh fuel in the spring.

*Physically remove fuel sender and pump out 100% of the fuel, not just what the engine pick-up can grab.

Come spring add 3 gallons to the empty tank, or what ever increment you choose, take a photo of the fuel gauge, add three more and take another photo continue this until the tank is 100% full. Hint; place your camera/phone etc. level with the gauge, on a tripod, so each reading or image is from the identical angle/view point.

Now print the photos, and label them 3 gallons, 6 gallons, 9 gallons etc. (use what ever increment you feel comfortable with) onto a sheet of paper and get it laminated at Staples and place it in your chart table.

You can also physically mark the gauge in 1/8 or 1/4 increments by placing tick-marks on the glass using a Sharpie marker. Because marine tanks on sailboats are quite often not just square boxes fuel gauges are very difficult to make accurate, other than using the above process.

Now add the photos on top of your avg & measured GPH, using the hour meter, and you'll never run out of fuel again.
 
Nov 24, 2014
159
Catalina 310 Staten Island
Please remember, when motor sailing, or motoring in no wind but with large swells, where your tank pick up is physically located. Our tank happens to be well thought out and designed for a sail boat, with the pick up in the center vee-shaped bottom of the tank. This places the fuel pick up at the lowest & most optimal point in the tank for our sailboat.. Even at our max average rate of heel there is still fuel in the vee-shaped bottom with as little as 1 gallon of fuel left.

Sadly, I can't say this for all sailboat tanks. Some pick ups are on port or starboard meaning motor sailing with anything less than approx 1/3 tank means sucking air.
Empty, on a sailboat, needs to take into consideration tank shape, pick up location and average heel angle when motor sailing. Some sailboat tanks can suck air with as much as 1/3 or more of a tank of fuel. Do'h.... If your engine is not self-bleeding, this can actually become dangerous...

A quick fix for fuel gauges is to *100% empty the tank in the fall then re-fill it with known quantities of fresh fuel in the spring.

*Physically remove fuel sender and pump out 100% of the fuel, not just what the engine pick-up can grab.

Come spring add 3 gallons to the empty tank, or what ever increment you choose, take a photo of the fuel gauge, add three more and take another photo continue this until the tank is 100% full. Hint; place your camera/phone etc. level with the gauge, on a tripod, so each reading or image is from the identical angle/view point.

Now print the photos, and label them 3 gallons, 6 gallons, 9 gallons etc. (use what ever increment you feel comfortable with) onto a sheet of paper and get it laminated at Staples and place it in your chart table.

You can also physically mark the gauge in 1/8 or 1/4 increments by placing tick-marks on the glass using a Sharpie marker. Because marine tanks on sailboats are quite often not just square boxes fuel gauges are very difficult to make accurate, other than using the above process.

Now add the photos on top of your avg & measured GPH, using the hour meter, and you'll never run out of fuel again.
Makes a lot of sense on one level; You start the season with fresh fuel. On the other hand, you have to go through the bother of bleeding the engine at the beginning of the season, and an empty tank invites condensation into the system. That is why I top off my tank right before or after haul out and add fuel stabilizer
 
Feb 6, 1998
11,667
Canadian Sailcraft 36T Casco Bay, ME
Makes a lot of sense on one level; You start the season with fresh fuel.
Yes and usually fresh clean road diesel that has high turnover.

On the other hand, you have to go through the bother of bleeding the engine at the beginning of the season,
No spring bleeding is necessary..

and an empty tank invites condensation into the system.
No it does not! This wives tale is the same level urban myth as the "Setting batteries on a concrete floor discharges them." myth... Empty tanks don't magically make water.
 
Feb 20, 2011
7,990
Island Packet 35 Tucson, AZ/San Carlos, MX
"Windows customer service" calling on the phone.

At least 3 times today...:cuss:
 

walt

.
Jun 1, 2007
3,511
Macgregor 26S Hobie TI Ridgway Colorado
I got a bunch of phone calls saying the IRS had issued a warrant for my arrest and maybe a law suit or something like that.

Then.. I actually did get audited this year!!!! Coincidence.... Hmmm...

(audits now seem to be matching what is on your tax form to what the IRS receives from institutions. It all about data bases and was relatively easy to clear up especially when it in their favor)
 
Nov 24, 2014
159
Catalina 310 Staten Island
Yes and usually fresh clean road diesel that has high turnover.



No spring bleeding is necessary..



No it does not! This wives tale is the same level urban myth as the "Setting batteries on a concrete floor discharges them." myth... Empty tanks don't magically make water.
Can't vouch for the need to bleed the system in the spring, but I am with you 100% on using highway diesel fuel, rather than that sold at the dock. As you stated before, it will most probably be fresher at a service station, or better yet, a truck stop, due to higher turnover. If you live in a four season climate and buy fuel at the beginning of the season, you are likely getting some stale stuff. Due to emissions regulations on cars and trucks, highway fuel burns cleaner in all engines, including marine diesels.
 
Jun 11, 2011
1,243
Hunter 41 Lewes
That's why you should stop at Alligator River Marina when on the ICW in Columbia, NC. It's both on the highway and in the marina. :stir: It actually is a good stop.
 
Feb 14, 2014
7,400
Hunter 430 Waveland, MS
You can also physically mark the gauge in 1/8 or 1/4 increments by placing tick-marks on the glass using a Sharpie marker.
or do a similar pictogram of the RED WHITE BLUE on your gauge...
DieselTankPict.png


Saba is my boat's name, tank shape is By Hunter's Drawing, green is my Wema sensor.

I verify each time I refill with "Tick-marks" on that graph, which is on the boat.
Jim...

PS: note I say 45 gallons usable out of 50 gallons rated.
 

WayneH

.
Jan 22, 2008
1,039
Tartan 37 287 Pensacola, FL
The hour meter on my boat ticks but does not change. The fuel gauge registers whatever it feels like at the moment. I've seen it go from FULL to Empty and back up to 3/4 in about 3 seconds. So I started recording engine start and stop times manually. And tinkered around with a spreadsheet to calculate how many gallons of fuel I've burned. I managed to get my calculations close enough that if I've calculated 26 gallons, the tank will be full at 25.5 gallons delivered.

Then I got fancy and calculated cumulative engine hours, hours on oil filter, primary fuel filter, racor fuel filter and engine zincs. Plus when I fill up, "Full Tank" as a comment in one column resets fuel consumed to 0. One of these days I'm going to replace the fuel gauge but with the spreadsheet working so well, it has dropped way down on the project list.
 
Oct 29, 2005
2,355
Hunter Marine 326 303 Singapore
My fuel gauge serves only as a guide. Fir accurate reading I pop open transom locker and peep at level thru plastic tank.
I've markings for every 10L .
 
Aug 22, 2017
1,609
Hunter 26.5 West Palm Beach
Mainsail, Please clarify something for me.

It was previously my understanding that in areas with high humidity & large temperature changes during the day/night, that condensation would be produced on both the inside & outside surfaces of metal fuel tanks. Lower fuel levels would give more space for a greater volume of moist air to collect inside the tank and also a greater surface area for the condensation to collect on. If the fuel tank was inside a hull that was fairly well temperature controlled, or the boat was in a dry area, then this would not be a concern, but under the wrong conditions, it could be a concern.

Are you saying that this is not the case? Are you saying that a nearly empty fuel tank has no greater likelihood to collect more water compared to a nearly full tank, regardless of environment?
 
Aug 22, 2017
1,609
Hunter 26.5 West Palm Beach
Many years ago in Navy flight school we were all trained as part of the "pre-flight" to visually check the fuel level in the tanks. We never trusted our fuel gauge.
Even the guys that just fly skyhawks & cubs, get taught the exact same thing.
 
Oct 9, 2008
1,739
Bristol 29.9 Dana Point
My fuel gauge is a dowel rod.
It's 100% reliable, and exactly accurate.