Fress water level
- Thread starter Daddio
- Start date
Fresh Water Level
Am not familiar with your tank layout but to fit a "T" piece in the tube soon after it comes out of the tank with one leg looking upwards. Then a piece of clear plastic tube on the upward facing leg and this length extending up the side wall of the tank to the top and securely attached to it as a gauge. Any water in the tank will sit at a level in this pipe equal to that inside the tank so it is only necessary to note the level inside the pipe compared to the height of the tank wall. You could even use felt tip pen markings in gallons on the tank side. Make a bung for the open end of this tube to both prevent the water pump from sucking air and to keep the bugs out of your water supply. You take it out to take a reading and replace it when noted.
Good luck.
I just hope your tank has at least one visible wall inside a locker.
Am not familiar with your tank layout but to fit a "T" piece in the tube soon after it comes out of the tank with one leg looking upwards. Then a piece of clear plastic tube on the upward facing leg and this length extending up the side wall of the tank to the top and securely attached to it as a gauge. Any water in the tank will sit at a level in this pipe equal to that inside the tank so it is only necessary to note the level inside the pipe compared to the height of the tank wall. You could even use felt tip pen markings in gallons on the tank side. Make a bung for the open end of this tube to both prevent the water pump from sucking air and to keep the bugs out of your water supply. You take it out to take a reading and replace it when noted.
Good luck.
I just hope your tank has at least one visible wall inside a locker.
Water is the cheap and cheerful commodity that you don't really need any accuracy in measuring. You have either got enough or you haven't. Usually the former!
So set up your vertical clear pipe gauge away from the tank on any nominally vertical surface. Fill the tank and mark the level in the gauge; then pump out till it runs dry and mark the level again. Now divide the interval into four and you have a calibration for "empty, quarter, half and full". The gauge doesn't even need to be perfectly vertical.
Obviously the further away from the tank the gauge is the more that boat heel can affect it so you should install your pipe as close to the tank as convenient and make your measurements with the boat upright and steady and if the pipe extends far enough above the tank top it has no need of a bung to seal it up. After all the tank already has to have somewhere that the air can get in to replace the water which is pumped out.
So set up your vertical clear pipe gauge away from the tank on any nominally vertical surface. Fill the tank and mark the level in the gauge; then pump out till it runs dry and mark the level again. Now divide the interval into four and you have a calibration for "empty, quarter, half and full". The gauge doesn't even need to be perfectly vertical.
Obviously the further away from the tank the gauge is the more that boat heel can affect it so you should install your pipe as close to the tank as convenient and make your measurements with the boat upright and steady and if the pipe extends far enough above the tank top it has no need of a bung to seal it up. After all the tank already has to have somewhere that the air can get in to replace the water which is pumped out.
Could you run a clear plastic pipe from a fitting at the base of the tank to say the inside of the head and up the wall in a corner? Or some other place that's inconspicuous? Just a thought.