Just call me butthead

[ahoy49]

We bought our boat in late April. A 1983 18 foot open bow Celebrity. I couldn't wait to take her out. The warden and I took her out and after about an hour the boat started to lose power, fade, and die. We had it towed back to the ramp, got it loaded, and headed home. The warden then tells me she thinks this boat a piece of crap. I being "somewhat" intelligent agreed to a tune up, since I just know I am too smart to be sold a "piece of crap boat". Took it to the shop at Inland Marine and had a $400 tune up. Oh man I couldn't wait to get her on the water again. Put 8 gallons of gas in the tank and took it over to Carlylelake. After about an hour the boat started to do the same thing as before. OMG, was she right? I hoped not. The next day we put in 5 more gallons of gas and went on the Meramec river. The boat did it again after about an hour.. We had to be towed again. Half way to our destination I got the bright idea that maybe, just maybe we were out of gas. I called my cousin to bring me 5 gallons. Guess what? All of this stuff happened because I ran out of gas. Not once but twice. I always thought I was "somewhat" intelligent. She says I'm stupid. I agree!!!!!


PS: Every time was a blast for me. I fished while she paddled!!!!

Ahoy49

 

[UpperUpsilon]

Re: Just call me butthead

So I take it you don't have a fuel gauge...

 

[older]

Re: Just call me butthead

So I take it you don't have a fuel gauge...

Similar to the older VW bugs. You run out of gas, kick the reserve lever down and wait for the gas to make it to the carb.

 

[riptide09]

Re: Just call me butthead

I got my boat last fall. Gas gauge read about 1/2 tank. Took her out with my wife. Ran strong for 10 minutes then died and would not start. Had to get towed in . It was out of gas Needless to say I have learned since them my gas gauge is about as accurate EDIT

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: Just call me butthead

Fill it before you leave and have some spare gas with you (just in case)
It's worth a million dollars a gallon when you are stuck after running out !!!

 

[HAWKS2010]

Re: Just call me butthead

Riptide hit it on the head.
New pontoon, 42 gal tank, gauge read MT and 1/2 while maintaining stedy speed on smooth surface.
Visual check prior to any outing is a must.

 

[ahoy49]

Re: Just call me butthead

Yes it has a guage but it read 1/2 full. I think 1/2 full is empty.

Ahoy49

 

[INJUN]

Re: Just call me butthead

Fuel Rule:
1/3 to get there, 1/3 to get back and 1/3 reserve.

 

[MrsBoatinOkie]

Re: Just call me butthead

Ah well, good lessons learned from your experience .

Good to hear nice people helped you in your time of need!!

We had a funny oops with our gas gauge last summer. Boat was ready to launch off of ramp when the hubby noticed gas was on E. Not wanting to get a workout for paddling to shore, we launched, docked and wasted up an hour of fun time leaving to get a gas can. No one thought to double check it at this point, decided to play in the water while we waited.

After loading the boat we noticed it was back to 1/2 a tank before put the gas in it.

Don't trust your gauge when the boat is at an angle.. Still a fun evening though!!

 

[Dave Barnett]

Re: Just call me butthead

Where in the world did you find a place on the Meramec to run an 18 ft Celebrity?? I wont even put my aluminum lake V with 9.6 OB on there.

 

[ahoy49]

Re: Just call me butthead

Where in the world did you find a place on the Meramec to run an 18 ft Celebrity?? I wont even put my aluminum lake V with 9.6 OB on there.

There is a launch ramp at the Flam City Access on Telegraph road where St. Louis county and Jefferson county meet. At this time of year the river is full.
You can also launch at George Winter park in Fenton.

Ahoy 49

 

[vegasphotoman]

Re: Just call me butthead

pretty funny story...sorry it cost ya $400 for a tune up... OUCH! well its a lesson WELL LEARNED I hope !

I use a 3 ft dowel with a few marks on it showing the amount in gallons every 5 gallons or so (30 gallon tank) (sharpie marks) we used to use fuel gauge sticks in the Army...so I figure it should work for boating!

our tanks had bad gas in em, so when they were drained out and completely empty, on the 1rst fill up, I paused to make the gauge stick, marked every 5 gals til full lines on the stick.

our gauges work but bounce around ALOT.....I trust the stick over a gauge!

 

[Andy'sDelight]

Re: Just call me butthead

We bought our boat in late April. A 1983 18 foot open bow Celebrity. I couldn't wait to take her out. The warden and I took her out and after about an hour the boat started to lose power, fade, and die. We had it towed back to the ramp, got it loaded, and headed home. The warden then tells me she thinks this boat a piece of crap. I being "somewhat" intelligent agreed to a tune up, since I just know I am too smart to be sold a "piece of crap boat". Took it to the shop at Inland Marine and had a $400 tune up. Oh man I couldn't wait to get her on the water again. Put 8 gallons of gas in the tank and took it over to Carlylelake. After about an hour the boat started to do the same thing as before. OMG, was she right? I hoped not. The next day we put in 5 more gallons of gas and went on the Meramec river. The boat did it again after about an hour.. We had to be towed again. Half way to our destination I got the bright idea that maybe, just maybe we were out of gas. I called my cousin to bring me 5 gallons. Guess what? All of this stuff happened because I ran out of gas. Not once but twice. I always thought I was "somewhat" intelligent. She says I'm stupid. I agree!!!!


PS: Every time was a blast for me. I fished while she paddled!!!!

Ahoy49

You have an 18' boat with an 8 gallon tank??

 

[geeco1]

Re: Just call me butthead

ahhhh the beauty of having the portable 6 gallon tanks that you can see through.

When I was training to get my pilots license, the instructor told me that the only time that the fuel gauge was accurate was when it was showing empty. We always visually inspected our fuel level and then used burn rates to calculate distance that we could travel.