Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

Just curious, do all of you " trust " the gas gauge on your boat? I ask because about 2 months ago I filled my boat up... topped it off ( 24 gallon tank ).. have not put a drop in it since... I"ve used the boat approx. 8 times since then but on each of those times, I've never gone more than maybe 3 miles away from the launch to our "fishing spot". 3 miles back to the launch so approx 6 miles per outing... 6 miles per outing times approx ( not exactly sure ) 8 outings = 48 miles..... now I know outboards don't get good gas mileage and that's especially true of most toons... and I noticed yesterday my gas gauge was just a little bit below " full "..... Does that seem right to you? Obviously the best way to know is just go fill the boat again, and I'll probably do that next trip or two, but was just curious as to what you guys thought / trusted your gas gauges...

Your gauge is about right but I don't let mine get very far below half before filling up. Like you said, when you refill it you will know for sure.

My gauge is almost at the full mark when full. Starts going down right away. I have a 52 gallon tank. I dont know what the gauge will be when empty so I'm carring a 6 gal portable tank with me. I want to find out where empty is on the gauge so I'm just going to let it run out.

Where's your tank Roland? Ours is in the rear and I can open the compartment and look at it, but the guage has been correct.

Our gage is spot on, and I trust it. Our last toon hardley used any gas, it had a Yamaha 4 stroke 60hp on it.

Mine is also pretty accurate. I have only used the boat three times this year and have only gone about 25 miles and it showed just below the 3/4 mark I checked the tank and it was pretty close to that.

My gas tank has a step in it. Thus the top half is not really half, although the guage still reads half.

I like Cwag911, just open the hatch and look occassionally. Obviously doesn't work if your tank is concealed. Thus I would run it half way down and fill up to know for sure how accurate it is.

I second Carl and Rick. I look at my tank and gauge. They are both spot on! Love the Premiers Verado SmartCraft gauges. They tell you MPG, GPH, Distance traveled/fuel used. I plan our long runs by fuel milage and drive accordingly by the gauges. Absolutly love it!

My 22 gallon tank stays on full for the first 3 gallon and shows empty for the last 3 gallons. I check mine every spring since I siphon it out empty every fall and refill in the spring and watch the gauge as i fill it.

Roland I think mine is fairly accurate to a point. We were out one day and I looked gas gauge said empty but I looked at the track and there was still gas so we went up river a ways when we decided to go back I again looked just to be on the safe side well we ran out of GAs and having to get that beautiful toon pulled in sucks. still had gas but the pick up tube onlygoes down as far as the sending unit in our boat so when it says empty it really its empty.don't go on the look of the tank we did still have some fuel left but not eight to start the motor. So trust it Igor says empty well filler up. After that just fill it every time we go out safer that way. by the way it cost about a hundred bucks to fill Shenzhen was empty.

As Reagan said, trust but verify. I have had pretty good luck with my gauge being right but if I question it at all I have a teak stick left over from something under my console marked where it is when it is full. You can then get a pretty good guess about where you are between there and the bottom of the tank.

Roland, you didn't say at what power setting you went to and from the fishing hole. I would think a 75 hp would be pretty economical unless you are running WOT.
I never like to get below 1/2 a tank, but I also have a 55 gallon tank so that's usually not a problem because we have a marina about every 5 miles or so where we do most of our boating.
In my old 4 Winns the gauge always showed less gas than was actually in the tank. I liked that safety allowance.
I've never run out of fuel, but if I do, I have TowBoatUS and they'll come bring me fuel; all I have to do is pay for the fuel.

Ok, thanks guys... I'll try and answer a few of your questions here... my gauge is currently showing about one needle width below full.... I'm guesstimating that I've taken the boat out about 8 times since our last fill up... to and from the fishing hole is about 5 miles round trip... I figure at 5 miles per round trip x 8 trips = 40 miles. My tank is a 24 gallon tank, and unfortunately on my boat you can't lift the back cushion / seat and see the tank... don't know what an outboard is supposed to get mpg wise, but I figure it should get 6 to 8 mile per gallon right? as far as running speed, for the most part between 4200 and 5K rpms... wot is right at 6 k on my yamaha 75 4 stroke. So from what I'm hearing from you guys, and according to my math, my gauge is probably pretty close... yes 40 miles since the last fill up, but I did top it off when I filled it up... I wonder if I can see the tank from under the boat... not sure, my fill tube is located on the passenger side of the boat up high on the fencing near the rear of the boat... I know what you mean about running out... one day last summer we were about ten miles from the launch and the needle was just a hair above E... when we got back to the launch it was below E and the second I got it on the trailer it ran out of gas... new rule now is fill up at 1/2 a tank... but that's why I was asking if you all thought my gauge was close or not. again, thanks for the input... and sorry for the long post...

Bryden24shp wrote:I second Carl and Rick. I look at my tank and gauge. They are both spot on! Love the Premiers Verado SmartCraft gauges. They tell you MPG, GPH, Distance traveled/fuel used. I plan our long runs by fuel milage and drive accordingly by the gauges. Absolutly love it!

Got any photo's of your smartcraft gauge? I have a smaller one that replace the volt meter gauge hole.I love the accuracy of it, the only downside is having to toggle between settings, but the trim gage triggers automatically when activated.
doc

tkrein wrote:Roland I think mine is fairly accurate to a point. We were out one day and I looked gas gauge said empty but I looked at the track and there was still gas

Tk... showing my ignorance here, but what do you mean you looked at the "track"? I believe your boat and mine are pretty similar.... is your tank visible from the underside... I don't believe mine is, and I can't check it right now since it's at our storage place... will look and see this weekend.