rouxsterre

In the vast experience of OSO boaters, I'm sure that SOMEONE has improvised a good dip-stick to measure the fuel remaining in the tank.
I do ALL my boating offshore, often WELL offshore, and my fuel gauge has proven to be somewhat unreliable when reporting levels under a half-tank. I hate limping home, alternating engines in an effort to save fuel, only to find that I had more than enough fuel to have made it easily.
Back to the original question: - What do you use as a dip-stick to measure remaining fuel in the tank? I assume it must be something somewhat flexible, and should be able to clearly indicate the fuel level after having been withdrawn from the filler.
I have a 32 Fever, if that has any bearing on anything.

Thanks.

Iggy

My Dads old 36' Chris Craft didn't have fuel gauges. We used to "stick" the tanks every time we took her out. Our tank sticks were teak (I think).
I don't think you can do it unless the fill tube is a straight line into the tank. Ours were and they were almost straight up.
And you can't do it while under way. The fuel sloshing around will give a poor or false reading.

If you do find a way to stick the tank, you'll have to start with a full tank, mark it, run it till you think it's half used, stick it again and mark the level, then refill it to see how much was really used. That way you'll have an idea where half tank is and you can "guesstimate" the rest.

BTW a teak stick coated with fuel is a fire hazzard. It will have to be stored in the open air. My Dads tank stick was stored under the gunnell with vents where air can circulate. Not in the engine room.

rouxsterre

Iggy - thanks. I am thinking I may need something more flexible due to the filler configuration. May just have to head over to Home Depot and start going through the aisles. Amazing how many ideas you can get doing that.

Iggy

Nothing wrong with that, I've done the same thing a couple times.
Good luck.

mr_velocity

On the fish boat when we fuel up we always fill it. Then we just use the flow scan so we know exactly how much fuel is left.

Scott

I think Gaffrig offers a nice sender unit that can be calibrated or adjusted to fit your tank. It seems a bit low tech going back to the old graduated stick way of checking them.