O'Day 322 Fuel Gauge

Jan 2, 2017
765
O'Day & Islander 322 & 37 Scottsdale, AZ & Owls Head, ME
I finally found what I believe to be the fuel gauge in the sole of the port lazarette.
Does anybody know how to read it?
IMG_0265.JPG

Thanks, Alastair.
 
Jan 7, 2011
4,723
Oday 322 East Chicago, IN
I have the same one on my 322. Pain in the @ss to read. My eye sight is not that great, and I usually need a flashlight pointed down there, or worse yet, have to crawl in the lazerette.

There should be a red marker that moves with the fuel level. I think I can make it out on your photo in the Full position.

Someday I will pull up the plywood subfloor, see what the tank looks like and install a sending unit that I can connect to a gauge on my engine panel or coming.

But since I seldom use a tank of fuel during the summer, I don't worry about it too often.

Greg
 
Jan 2, 2017
765
O'Day & Islander 322 & 37 Scottsdale, AZ & Owls Head, ME
Thanks Greg. I think you're right! I did fill the tank recently. I'll watch that red marker to see if it moves. -Alastair.
 

Pat

.
Jun 7, 2004
1,250
Oday 272LE Ninnescah Yacht Club, Wichita, Ks.
I think O'Day was not into guages.....the 272 LE owner's manual said to take a 1/4 inch wooden
dowel and mark it off in increments which indicated 1/2 full, 1/4 , etc., etc...but it works and is easy to slip down into the tank from the fill cap....sounds like it is easier than that above...
at least the fill cap is right behind the helmsman's seat in an easy to reach spot......Good Luck,
Pat
 
Jan 2, 2017
765
O'Day & Islander 322 & 37 Scottsdale, AZ & Owls Head, ME
Thanks Pat. I tried the wooden dowel trick, but it's hard to get it snaked through the curved intake tube and get an accurate reading. I'm also afraid the dowel will beak off somewhere down there.
- Alastair.
 

Pat

.
Jun 7, 2004
1,250
Oday 272LE Ninnescah Yacht Club, Wichita, Ks.
It is a little scary as it is for sure difficult to get it started...once started mine seems to go down
into the tank okay, but you can feel it rubbing the edge of the tank is it heads down....I assume the 272 LE tank is not anywhere as deep or large as yours.....we bought this 272 LE in the winter of 86 so I've had a lot of experience....I only have to do it once a year. Fixing my ignition switch is proving to be a much bigger problem.....one heck of a mess. The key switch seems to go into the aft bulkhead making it impossible to insert the key into the switch...this is a difficult issue to describe, and more difficult to fix.....any ideas on how to hold the switch in place? Pat
 
Jan 2, 2017
765
O'Day & Islander 322 & 37 Scottsdale, AZ & Owls Head, ME
Nice looking boat that 272LE. Not sure what you mean by "ignition switch"? The 322 has an ignition key and separate ignition button. Are they combined in the 272? Can you post a photo? -Alastair.
 
Jul 12, 2011
146
Oday 302 st pete
I had the same gauge in my 302. I simply unbolted it and put on a new gauge from west marine. Much easier to read now. The new gauge also includes hookups for a remote gauge if you wanted to install something more easily visible.
 
Jan 2, 2017
765
O'Day & Islander 322 & 37 Scottsdale, AZ & Owls Head, ME
Thanks, the alpine. Do you remember which West Marine fuel gauge you installed?
-Alastair.
 

Pat

.
Jun 7, 2004
1,250
Oday 272LE Ninnescah Yacht Club, Wichita, Ks.
sorry for the confusion....there is a key, then a glow plus heater, then the switch....so your
description is correct.....the ignition switch with the key is slid aft, I guess because I applied too
much pressure to the glow plug button, and the so the key can barely be inserted into the ignition switch.....this going on now for about 5 weeks.......something has to work as a retainer to keep the entire deal from falling into the inner abyss between the little bulkhead at the back of the cockpit, and the actualy boat aft bulkhead....I know it is confusing....Pat
 
Jul 12, 2011
146
Oday 302 st pete
I don't remember the exact part, I just took the old gauge with me and got whatever looked just like it.
 
Jan 2, 2017
765
O'Day & Islander 322 & 37 Scottsdale, AZ & Owls Head, ME
Pat, there should be some access to the space between the cockpit bulkhead and the stern. If not you should be able to detach the whole panel from the bulkhead. On my 322, there are four screws holding it in place. If I remove those, my panel would lift out (after cutting away the silicone sealer). Good luck. -Alastair.
 

Pat

.
Jun 7, 2004
1,250
Oday 272LE Ninnescah Yacht Club, Wichita, Ks.
The space is visible (although dark) from the aft end of the quarterberth.....the entire deal slips into (or out of) the instrument panel from what looks to be a small (roughly 3 x 9 inch) styrofoam box..which offers moisture protection.....I've had the front panel off 4 or 5 times now, but there has to be some way that whole slide in module can be kept in place with a shim, series of shims or something.....In trying to figure out why this happened, I looked down the cockpit drain (wondering where what ever came loose went) and found about a 1 ft. long clear piece of plastic and if formed into a circle & there was a protrusion, and a matching indentation and could it be that that thing stuck together and went around the switch in some way as to secure it to the back of the plexiglass panel...but everyone told me that was impossible....I'm more and more certain that 1 ft. long piece of flexible is the key to the mystery (no pun intended)....but I can't see how it could have been attached to the front plexiglas panel of the instrument panel......I've got a new key and switch that Westerbeke sent me and that may be the only solution....is only attached with two screws and the Westerbeke fellow told me the two screws & the connection cannot be mis-wired.....I may try that this afternoon....if I use the new switch, the shims they sent may be useful.....other than that, I cannot see any way to secure the whole deal....I'm going to take some pictures this afternoon as well....one of the glass companies that makes panels and windwhields for the Wichita make jets, etc. has made me a new front panel which I'm going to pick up and take with me........I'll have an update over the weekend......could the piece of flexible plastic with protusion and matching indentation be the key to the mystery?.....Only the
shadow knows.....and baby cakes, he is not talking.....at least to me......Thanks for any help and thoughtful ideas..... Say a prayer......Patrick in Wichita
 
Jan 2, 2017
765
O'Day & Islander 322 & 37 Scottsdale, AZ & Owls Head, ME
It looks a little different from mine. (See above pics.)
I can’t see any indicator. Can you take and post shots from other angles?
 
Aug 28, 2015
190
Oday 28 St Joseph, MI
My 28 O’day has an electric gauge and it hadn’t worked since I bought the boat. I replaced the sender which also has the same small round plastic gauge. The float inside the tank operates the same whether a mechanical or electrical sender but the electrical one also has a variable resistor. That didn’t fix the problem and neither did replacing the gauge. I found the problem was the ignition switch where the gauge got its power. Installing an electric gauge is easy, one wire from the sender to the gauge, another from the ignition switch.
 
Oct 22, 2014
20,989
CAL 35 Cruiser #21 moored EVERETT WA
@AlastairLC Sure hope you found the answer to your fuel question.
From the image it looked lie you were full. the pink color looks like diesel has filled the sight glass.
It is a DIY install project to get a fuel float and install it into your tank. you need to decide on the length of the float. I selected a WEMA fuel sensor to install in the tank.
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You need to decide how deep into the tank you want to set the sensor I decided I would be about 1 inch off the bottom as "Empty".

Other than that it was very straight forward.
 
Jan 2, 2017
765
O'Day & Islander 322 & 37 Scottsdale, AZ & Owls Head, ME
Thanks John. Yes I replaced the hard to read display with a new one. I think I posted a link somewhere earlier but I can’t find it now.
The new one works fine.
 
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Aug 28, 2015
190
Oday 28 St Joseph, MI
That plastic fuel gauge looks exactly like the one on my O’Day 28. I have an electric gauge on my instrument panel and thought I had traced the problem to the sender in the tank. I called Mirax, the tank manufacturer and they were extremely helpful in shipping the correct sender for my tank. Turns out my problem was the 12v feed from the ignition switch to the gauge but now I have a nice new gauge and sender. On my boat that stud sticking up from the plastic gauge connects with a red wire to the “sndr” connection on the gauge. 12v from the ignition switch connects to the “ign” connection on the gauge and then ground the “gnd” connector.
 

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Jan 7, 2011
4,723
Oday 322 East Chicago, IN
@AlastairLC Sure hope you found the answer to your fuel question.
From the image it looked lie you were full. the pink color looks like diesel has filled the sight.
The fuel indicator is separate from the tank, so I don’t think that the pink color is fuel. The sender is isolated in the tank, and the gauge is moved by a magnet as I understand it.

I added an electronic gauge that is set to the same ohm reading as the fuel sender. It is reading full, as is the gauge on the tank but I do not think the tank is full. In some bouncy cease last week, the fuel gauge moved, so something is moving and working, but I don’t think it is working right.

I don’t know if there is a right way and wrong way to set the tank gauge on the magnet.... that seems to be the problem.

More research needed.

Greg