Outboard fuel tank size?

doehunter · May 3, 2011

It depends on how you will use your boat and how much security you want.
How far will you be from help if you need it? I think Sumner has said he gets about 1/2 to 3/4 gallons per hour consumption. At 5-6 mph that's 10 or 12 mpg!
I have a Honda 8 hp motor and use a 3 gallon tank. I recently took an over night trip, about 30+ miles each way. The second half of my trip was mostly motor sailing.
When I got back I found I only used about 1/2 a tank.
Of course I took a reserve 5 gallons with us, so if I had to I could have motored all the way! Just getting in and out of a dock that 3 gallons might last all year!
Jim

MrBill_FLL · May 3, 2011

if the metal tank is not rusting, its fine. -you could sell it on craisglist. they are more valuable and durable than the plastic tanks. sizing is your call. 1/2 - 3/4 gal / hour is about right... but check for yourself.

look thru the archives for some of the covers m25 owners have built for the cockpit footwell. some simple ones cut the bottom off a sm. cooler and drop over the tank for looks.

THECUSCUS · May 3, 2011

A 6 gallon plastic tank just fits inside my "homemade" fuel locker. There is enough extra room for a quart of 2-stroke oil and a 1 gal reserve tank.

caguy · May 3, 2011

As mentioned it depends how fat and how often you ise up yoir fuel. You don't want it sitting around all season. On the Mac I had a four gal tank and never went into the eserve jerry can until the wayback fro Vayalina About 60.miles roind trip plus excursions. We did run out the 4 gallon tank going to Palos Verdes light house on a windless day. Had to interrupt the makeout session of a couple in Redondo Beach and bought a couple of gallons from them. Bob Oril needed to get back to the dock in a hurry so we opened up the throttle and suck up that two gallons in about 6 miles. We ran that out by the time we got back to the channel in MDR. We were sweating it out going past the jetties, didn't want to run out there with zero wind. Tank ran out half way down channel so we poured about a 3 oz. From the residue of the tank. We disonnected the hose and sucked the gas out of the glass. We had just enougj to idle back to the dock. No wind and no gas really sucks.

timebandit · May 3, 2011

This is what I use on old and new motorcycle metal tanks to protect them from or cure rust problems.

http://kreem.com/fueltankliner.html

jjsbiggs said:
I have an old Mariner fuel tank that came with the 1984 Yamaha 9.9 four stroke that the PO gave me when I bought the 1983 Macgregor 25 that has been sitting for the last 15 years. I was thinking it might be better to just buy a new plastic tank instead of trying the use the old tank as I don't know how well the old metal tank would work with the new fuels. What size tank do most of you use for day sailing. I was thinking a 3 or 3.5 gal would be big enough and would take less room in the cockpit. I've seen some posts of boxes that people have made to hold their fuel tank which I think I will do some day but didn't know what size tank most people put inside them. Thanks for all the help your folks provide.

Outboard fuel tank size?

jjsbiggs

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doehunter

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MrBill_FLL

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THECUSCUS

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caguy

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timebandit

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jjsbiggs

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