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How many gallons does my Fuel Tank hold ?

Printed From: CorrectCraftFan.com
Category: Repairs and Maintenance
Forum Name: Boat Maintenance
Forum Discription: Discuss maintenance of your Correct Craft
URL: http://www.CorrectCraftFan.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=8263
Printed Date: March-28-2024 at 4:37am


Topic: How many gallons does my Fuel Tank hold ?
Posted By: damonwells
Subject: How many gallons does my Fuel Tank hold ?
Date Posted: September-05-2007 at 1:31am
1990 Ski Nautique, FORD 351 engine. Manual says my fuel tank is 25 gallons.

When the Gauge reads half-full, I put in anywhere from 6 to 8 gallons to FULL. The other day it read 1/8 full and I put in a bit under 16 gallons. So, either my tank isn’t 25 gallons, or my Gauge or Sender is goofy. How accurate can I expect my Sender & Gauge to be ?

Anyone else have similar issue ? cheers - John



Replies:
Posted By: bmiller
Date Posted: September-05-2007 at 2:11am
Your sending unit has gone bad,replace it.I don't know on your 1990,but on the 70's and 80's boats you can pull the sending unit out and check it with a volt meter.Just put the meter on the 200ohm's and check the resistance.Put one lead on the sending unit connection and the other end on someplace metal on the sending unit.Simulate what a full gas tank is by moving the arm and with a full tank you should read 39 to 40 ohms.When the arm is all the way down you should read 0 ohms.


Posted By: TRBenj
Date Posted: September-05-2007 at 11:30am
Originally posted by bmiller bmiller wrote:

Your sending unit has gone bad,replace it.

Maybe, maybe not.

Has your gauge always read that way? How long have you had the boat?

The fuel gauge on our '92 always read that way. On that boat, the tank was triangular (to match the sloping transom). Naturally, the bottom half of the tank holds a lot more than the top half, so the readings are skewed with the linear sender.

My '90 is much more linear, as the tank isnt a complete triangle. Check to see which tank you have- at some point they went from a metal tank (like my '90) to plastic (like our '92).

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Posted By: nuttyskier2002
Date Posted: September-05-2007 at 12:51pm
If you want to know how much your gas tank holds you can calculate it very easily. Just measure it's width, length and height in inches and multiply the 3 dimensions. This is your volume. Divide this by 231 (231 cubic inches = 1 gallon).

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95 Malibu Echelon w/Mercruiser 350 Magnum Skier

Former boats:
88 Ski Centurion Tru Trac II
59 Chris Craft Capri (woody)


Posted By: TRBenj
Date Posted: September-05-2007 at 12:58pm
Originally posted by nuttyskier2002 nuttyskier2002 wrote:

If you want to know how much your gas tank holds you can calculate it very easily. Just measure it's width, length and height in inches and multiply the 3 dimensions.


Kind of. Like I said in my previous post, neither of the 2 tank styles installed on these boats have square cross sections. Theyre deeper at the bottom than they are at the top. If you can figure out the cross sectional area, then multiply by the width, that trick will work.

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Posted By: 93SNautique
Date Posted: September-05-2007 at 1:00pm
My 93 gauge does the same thing. It has always been that way. I guess TRBenj is right and the triangular tank causes the nonlinear readings. When my gauge says 1/2 full, it wont take more than 8 to 10 gallons (my manual says my tank is 28 gal). I have just learned to live with it and know that i always have more gas than it shows. Its a good safety margin. You wont ever run dry unless you really screw up.

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http://www.correctcraftfan.com/diaries/details.asp?ID=1458" rel="nofollow - My 93


Posted By: damonwells
Date Posted: September-05-2007 at 2:32pm
We got our ’90 Nautique a couple years ago from deceased father-in-law, so we can’t ask him how the gauge has always worked, but this has been the case for us past two seasons since we’ve had the boat. Our tank is plastic and it is triangular shape, wider at the bottom to match the slope of the stern.

I guess the best thing to do if I want to be anal about it would be to pump the fuel out and refill with 5 gal jerries, or go to the gas station and top off.

Maybe I should get one of the newer electronic senders that learns the shape of the tank, like this one … http://www.centroidproducts.com. But that might require a new gauge.

Thanks, cheers - john


Posted By: bkhallpass
Date Posted: September-05-2007 at 3:42pm
As said, if you have a rectangular tank, then the readings should be approximatley linear. If the tank is odd shaped, it will not be linear.

On my boat, the tank is in the belly, and contoured to the boat. It takes much longer to go through the "top half" of the tank, than to go through the bottom triangular shape.

BKH

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Livin' the Dream



Posted By: Root
Date Posted: September-05-2007 at 9:00pm
Not shure how much the 86sn holds either im thinkin around 20g.   
Also my gas gauge seems to read right but it bounces around      is that normal?     if not then how do I fix it.

Thanks

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RootRacing


Posted By: jeffinohio
Date Posted: September-05-2007 at 10:02pm
my 92 ski nautique has a 26 gallon tank. if you take the rear seat out you may be able to read the lable on the tank. my tank is marked on the top 26 gal. my gauge reads the same way. always much more gas in the tank than the gauge says. on average i burn 3.75/gallions per hour. that is how i keep track.



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