When it says E, it means E
 

Wow, out fooling around on Sunday evening, pulling the tube around out in front of the marina before calling it a day, the gas gauge gets right down near E, I figure "ahhhh, we'll be ok, were just out front of the marina......." gauge getting lower,the SECOND it lines right up with the last line, dead centre of the E.....quits....done.....no restarting.......stranded.......toast.....have to get towed in 1/2 mi by a cruiser........I normally dont let it go below 1/4..........now I know..........when it says E........doug:rolleyes:

Wonder if it is a Fountain thing.

My 27 would only read 3/4 when full. I could run for 3 months before it would start moving. At 1/2 reading, start looking for a gas dock. Don't THINK about thinking about getting gas.
1/2 -1/4 is only good for a few miles.
At 1/4 tank, the gas dock had better be within a stones throw distance, cause time you pull in, it will go to Empty. And it is!
Took 2 times to figure that out. Duh!
Wondering if my 32' is the same?

Don't trust the gauges. I ran out still showing a 1/4 tank. I reset my mileage on the gps when I fill up. It's way more accurate.
Dan

Me too! Lucky thing, I was right in front of the marina when it happened and one of the boats came out and towed me in. Guess I should've watched that video before I took her out those first few times.

:D Yep, as soon as the needle starts to move around start looking for a Marina, if it moves past 1/2, you better be on your way to the marina;)

WILL

Ran out of gas and had to be pulled in by a pontoon boat. Gage said 1/4 tank, 2 minutes later, empty. Now I don't let it get below 1/2 tank. Problem is, when on plane, and the boat is bouncing around, it's hard to tell exactly where it is at. I normally judge it based on when the boat is still in the water.

Its a fountain thing
 

And people ask why I always top off..
Havn't run out, but my wife and I ran across cumberland
from jamestown to burn side, said 3/4, I topped it off
took 41 gallons. Holds 61, I was almost a bobber.John

My 42 will run on the low fuel lights for 20miles or better the port side has the fuel pickup shorter than the starboard side so you will always have one motor to limp home on
later

The crappy little 61 gal tank is the only thing I hate about my boat. I also ran out 2nd time out. gauge just came off full and said time to head back. As I drove back to the ramp I actually watched it drop as I drove, when the little warning light comes on you're toast. I ran out at the mouth of the marina, luckily the wind was blowing into it and I floated in slowly to the dock, talk about luck!!!

Yeah, but Dan.............don't you have to run it out of gas once in order to know how far you can go?

Good point!:D If you know your true tank size and subtract 5 gallons from the total for a short pickup that should be close to your usable gas. This does not apply to 97 35' Fountains. They decided to put smaller tanks than advertised for half the year.:mad: Only 64 gallons are usable in my tanks. When you go out make sure to reset the millage and top off the tanks. When you refill next time do the math. I average 1 1/2 miles per gallon. If I run 60 miles I figure 20 gallons per tank. That way I can slow the pump down before it spits out the vent.

Dan

Candyman,
Ditto...did the same thing the first few times out in the boat. Ends up my 35 gas gauges are pretty accurate from 1/2 to E...when not on plane. Never been below 1/8...but when it reads an 1/8th it takes 70 gals a side to get it to come out the vents. That's pretty well empty for me. The boat must hold 10 gals in the filler hoses.

Haven't been towed back yet:D

Tarheel,
My tanks are only 70 gallon tanks not the 79 I thought they were. When I ran out of gas it only took 64.5 gallons to fill the tank that ran out. I figured the pick up had cracked until I spoke with Jeff Harris. He pulled the info on my boat and told me about the half year experiment.:(
Dan

My 10-Meter is equipped with floats that are electrically adjustable. I don't know if this is standard Fountain equipment, but it's worth looking into for you guys.

Under the back seat, there's an access cover that over top of my pickups/level floats, and each tank has a pair of potentiometers that you can adjust the "full" and "empty" levels with a small screwdriver or plastic alingment tool. With some trial-and-error, you should be able to adjust them so full means FULL, and empty has a 5-10 gal reserve. Don't crank them a bunch of turns, just turn it slightly and watch the gage.

My tanks are 75 gal, and as a racer, I use about 25 gals per side for a 45-min race. I set them up so they read full at 30 gals, and E means E.

Good luck!
Brian

p4-33,
Thanks for the idea.
Dan

Add me to the bunch of tow-ins. Ran out the 1st weekend I had the boat. Months later I was given a Fountain owners VCR tape by a friend to watch. Reggie says, and I quote " when you hit a 1/4 of tank on the gauge you better be looking for a marina". Now he tells me!:rolleyes:

Wrong, at 1/4, you better be AT the marina. ;)

Thanks guys! This is good info to know. My father just bought a new 42 Lightning with staggered 500s. We ran around bunch on Sunday (first day out). I noticed that it took a while for the needles to start to bounce off Full. I will point out this thread out to him.

Luckily this one has the two aux. tanks located in the engine compartment. We had to run some fuel out of them because sitting at the beach with the nose up on the sand, fuel wanted to come out the overflows when the boat rocked with the waves. It sure didn't take long for those tanks to come off Full. When I get down there this weekend, I will tap on the aux tanks to see how fuel they still are. Might be good to have them with some fuel in them and let the mains run dry to see where the gauge is dry.

Matt

ttt

Finally found this thread thanks to twinn29, very informative...hope it keeps me out of trouble! My '04 29 was supposed to have either 131 or 140 gallons of fuel, depending on what you read. Let ya know.

Ran ours out once and it took 5gaL. to make a 1/4...now that I think of this maybe i should make a mental note on what it takes to get to a 1/2, 3/4, the full mark and overflow.

Oh yeah, Since we did the big motors I always toyed with the idea of adding saddle tanks....Dan maybe you too?

back4more how are the bmax's holding up what kind of speeds ya getting know that you can run it?

later

I think it would be easier to move up to a boat with bigger tanks!:D
Dan

Well, thinking the '32 might be a bit more safer than my 27'.

Gauges was reading 1/8, low level light flickering, and in middle of Lake Cumberland. Oh chit I was thinking. Made it back and only took 80 gals to fill of a 120 gal tank. At least it errors to my favor.

I am the new owner of a 1997 32 Fever and all my documentation about the boat is at the lake. What is the fuel capacity of this boat? By the way this site has been a great source of information for me, thanks to all who share their knowledge here.
Rich Zehme
"SWEETNESS"

later,
One lower had a bearing issue...other than that, they take a lickin.
She runs 91-92 so far.;)

Now, now..... You guys obviously never watched reggie video that comes with the boat!!!
He mentioned something about there are no gas stations at see!!!LOL

ttt

you ran out again?

:D no.....I dug up the thread for gferdon who was asking about the gauge in his 29........thought the thread was longer though......my boat is sitting in the garage with the motors out getting the bilge redone, new engines are dressed and waiting on the bilge......doug

post pics

Add me to the tow-in list in my 29 the gauge said 1/4 so I thought i had gas well I found out soon that I didnt have gas.

fuel capacity
 

zacuda, I also have a 32 fever (2001) and was wondering about the fuel tank size. My performance report from Fountain says 80 gallons....I have put near 80 in it before and it still taking more. Anybody know what size tank that Fountain put in the 32's? Guess I could just keep pumping gas into it until its full!!! (and make the battleaxe wife pay for it!)





2001 32 fever
572's
-2 Imcos/Bravo uppers

I always thought 'E' stood for 'Eehhhhhhhhhhhhh; we got plenty.' :D

when mine shows a 1/4 it = Empty....:angry-smiley-055:

Got to love Smartcraft! On my 496's if it says I used 80.2 gallons, that is what I have used. No more guessing. If you have Smartcraft enabled motors, get the monitors as they are worth every penny just for the fuel burn info.

i know what you guys mean about the gas gage.my 27 had the old s/w gages on it and you could ride along way before the gage moved off of Full.when it did and you got to 1/2 you better start looking for gas.i changed the gages w/new one and the reading are more accurate.1/2 now is really 1/2.but i still do not get below1/4.i think alot of it has to do w/the angle the boat is in when on plain,verses when sitting in the water .

I've found that the gauge on my 27 moves off of full when it's down to about a half tank. Half means quarter, and at that point i'm looking to get some gas.

[QUOTE=cyberuss;2213922]zacuda, I also have a 32 fever (2001) and was wondering about the fuel tank size. My performance report from Fountain says 80 gallons....I have put near 80 in it before and it still taking more. Anybody know what size tank that Fountain put in the 32's? Guess I could just keep pumping gas into it until its full!!! (and make the battleaxe wife pay for it!)


I have a '98 32' I am pretty sure it has a 115 gallon tank. I can't remember where I got that info from but I know I've put in over a gallons before.