Is thirty gallons enough???

[bashr52]

Re: Is thirty gallons enough???

A pilot's 3 best friends are: the runway in front of him, the altitude below him, and the gas in his tanks!.... a similar application, as regards the gas in the tanks!

And to go along with that, my flight instructor always told me the only time you have too much gas is when you are on fire!

So the boat had an original 5.0 engine and a 100 gallon tank. You are repowering it with a 5.7 and are decreasing the fuel capacity by over 1/3??

 

[JoLin]

Re: Is thirty gallons enough???

Georgerviking, I suspect that you're a 'car guy' as opposed to a marine mechanic who's familiar with boating. That isn't a slam, but there are facts you don't know that need to be considered. The most important of which (I'm kicking myself for not thinking of it before) is the boating '1/3 Rule.' Every boater should pay attention to it, but it's absolutely critical for coastal boaters. Simply stated, your fuel supply must accommodate... 1/3 tank to get where you're going, 1/3 to get home, and 1/3 in reserve. The reserve is ESSENTIAL, as wind, current and wave conditions can DOUBLE one's normal fuel consumption on the water.

Look at it this way. If the owner leaves 10% of the tank empty for expansion (he's gotta do that), and we (reasonably) assume that the bottom 10% will be below the fuel pickup, for practical purposes the driver has a total of 24 gallons to work with. That gives him a whopping 8 gallons of fuel to get to his fishing grounds and spend the day drifting or trolling.

Even if the owner doesn't realize that a 30 gallon tank can actually put him at risk, you have an obligation to make sure he doesn't do something that dumb.

I give you credit for stopping here to ask before you did it. It was a smart move.

My .02

 

[jkust]

Re: Is thirty gallons enough???

Agreed with sentiment of the above. My tiny 18 footer has a 33 gallon tank and I can use a lot of that in a heavy use day.

 

[Reel-hip]

Re: Is thirty gallons enough???

Go with the original 100 gal sized tank. I would want to double my fuel capacity to 200 gallons

 

[HT32BSX115]

Re: Is thirty gallons enough???

There's absolutely NO WAY I would put a smaller tank in ANY boat!!

I had an 1966 18' Marktwain that my dad bought new......I came with an 18 gal steel tank that started leaking only after 35 years!!!

I replaced it with a 26 gallon aluminum tank that barely fit in the same space! It was great!

Just give the guy some options.

http://www.moellermarine.com/oem/fuel_tanks/


regards,


Rick

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Is thirty gallons enough???

hmmm no word from georerviking. Troll?

 

[rockyrude]

Re: Is thirty gallons enough???

I think he was looking for validation of a very bad decision.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Re: Is thirty gallons enough???

hmmm no word from georerviking. Troll?

he has had two posts in 9 months, and has not been back to either post.

 

[georgeviking]

Re: Is thirty gallons enough???

Wow what a response most work I do is custom,from lighting to electronics to grinding a 396 for 7/16 rods so speed demons can run a big block at 7500. I know this skipper offshore is not what you die. Hard fishermen know as off shore the boat will sit alot not have a lot of run time per season.But after reading all the posts my biggest injustice would be resale value. rewire, repowering, retanking, new gauges and switches, and put up in two years for sale, and all of you guys and most others would pass on the range so returning the thirty and looking for 75-80. I do appreciate all the responses. Remember no body has all the answers, together we prevail

 

[bashr52]

Re: Is thirty gallons enough???

Wow what a response most work I do is custom,from lighting to electronics to grinding a 396 for 7/16 rods so speed demons can run a big block at 7500. I know this skipper offshore is not what you die. Hard fishermen know as off shore the boat will sit alot not have a lot of run time per season.But after reading all the posts my biggest injustice would be resale value. rewire, repowering, retanking, new gauges and switches, and put up in two years for sale, and all of you guys and most others would pass on the range so returning the thirty and looking for 75-80. I do appreciate all the responses. Remember no body has all the answers, together we prevail

I'm glad you are re-thinking things, but I still wonder about going from a 5.0 to a 5.7 and still reducing the size of the tank? I'd go bigger if anything! Nothing says it has to be filled every time, but when you want/need it its nice to have the capacity to hold it. Hard to put 100 gallons in an 80 gallon tank........