Minimum Gasoline on Tank

[Sea Rider]

Nonsense Issue: What would be the minimum gasoline to have inside tank whille on choopy seas and start to experiment engine fuel starvation while cruising at 3/4 wot speed ? Choopy seas rocks gasoline inside tank and at some point pick up hose will suck air and motor misfire. If so, do you need to prime bulb again while on plane ? Assume the instant solution will be to reduce throttle, re arange tank horizontal level and go to port...

Happy Boating

 

[pvanv]

Re: Minimum Gasoline on Tank

Luis,

Air gets slurped in these all the time, but in small amounts. The bubble passes through the fuel pump, shows up in the carb, and the float drops to allow more fuel to make up for the air bubble. Your situation will vary depending on what kind of tank you have; A tall, narrow tank will be almost unaffected until very low on fuel, but a very shallow, flat tank will see the effects sooner. Typical factory OB tanks are fine if they are anywhere near half full, unless in really severe conditions. I once had a 28-foot sailboat with 15 hp 2-stroke OB, where the 6-gal OB tanks were mounted on a 20-degree angle (to match up to the angle of the hull) -- so the pickup couldn't possibly get all the gas if the boat was dead flat in the water... probably couldn't draw the last gallon... Yet, in typical powering situations, with the fuel sloshing around, it got the tank within a quart of empty before the motor stalled from starvation.

 

[Sea Rider]

Re: Minimum Gasoline on Tank

Hola Paul,

Always go boating with at least 4 gallons, last time with only 3 and excesive wotting, some kilometers off the coast and on choppy seas had starvation fuel problems, probably a tank level issue, just slowed down for the pick up hose to suck gasoline out and headed to port at minimun speed. The tank is the standard Tohatsu 6.5 red plastic gal tank. you say you got the tank within a quarter of empty before the motor stalled fron starvation, that's about 1.5 gal left over right ?

Happy Boating

 

[pvanv]

Re: Minimum Gasoline on Tank

No, I was talking about a Quart. That's about a Litre. But that was on a sailboat.