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Steve Hudson Boat Fuel Tank Level

mick55

By mick55
in Boat Building & Maintenance

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cuthound Veteran II

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Posted
Posted (edited)

Use a home made dipstick.

 

Assuming the tank is has vertical sides, and you know the capacity, you could mark the dipstick at 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 and full levels, but I would start the measurements a couple of inches off the bottom of the tank to hi I miss the chances of running out.

 

If you want to fit a permanent gauge, these are relatively easy to fit.

 

http://mcsboatproducts.co.uk/portfolio/diesel-fuel-gauges/

Edited by cuthound
To add the last paragraph
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nicknorman Veteran II

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Posted
Posted (edited)

Not particularly easy because the fuel tank is under the engine, down a long and curving flexible filler pipe. Well it is in the modern engine ones, not sure about those with a mid engine room / back cabin.

 

I can only talk about the modern/rear engine ones. For those, the tank is saddle shaped ie the top half holds much less than the bottom half. On ours, there is a large blanking nut on top of the tank (which is below the engine). When facing backwards looking at the engine it is on the right near the back of the engine. If you unscrew this you can see /dip the fuel in the tank.

 

Quite a faff so the best thing is to fill it up and then note how many hours you are running, fill it up again before it gets too low. We used to fill up at least every 80 hours running, which is about 2/3rds of a tank.

 

We then fitted a MCS diesel gauge which works reasonably well, but of course doesn’t take into account the shape of the tank, ie the top half doesn’t hold that much, the bottom half hold about twice as much as the top half. So the gauge falls fairly quickly to 1/2, then much more slowly after that.

 

Edited by nicknorman
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nicknorman Veteran II

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Posted
Posted
Just now, mick55 said:

Cannot use the MCS one as it works on pressure, tank is below engine and virtually inaccessible, piece of nonsense and quite frustrating.

Well as I said, our tank is below the engine and we have the MCS gauge so evidentially what you say isn’t correct! Is your boat a modern rear engine or vintage mid engine?

 

This is the one we have.


http://mcsboatproducts.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/mcs_diesel_fuel.pdf

 

Yes it does work on pressure- it is pressurised by a bicycle/car pump which pushes diesel out of the tube. But the pressure remaining depends on the level of fuel in the tank. It ain’t perfect, the indicated level does vary with temperature quite a bit but you get used to the “cold” reading vs the “engine’s been running for a couple of hours” reading.

 

Anyway, fuel tank below the engine is good. It means the fuel tank is at a steady temperature and thus doesn’t suffer from condensation and concomitant water in the fuel, unlike a tank in the counter.

 

 

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GUMPY Veteran II

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Posted
Posted
55 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

We then fitted a MCS diesel gauge which works reasonably well, but of course doesn’t take into account the shape of the tank, ie the top half doesn’t hold that much, the bottom half hold about twice as much as the top half. So the gauge falls fairly quickly to 1/2, then much more slowly after that.

Much like all the old mini fuel gauges did.

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nicknorman Veteran II

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Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, mrsmelly said:

My Udson had a fuel gauge as tanks are in a ridiculous position and very slow to fill. An atrocious design fault. 

I disagree that the position is “ridiculous” - it has advantages as I mentioned. But I definitely agree about being very slow to fill. This is due to a too-small balance pipe between the two upper lobes of the tank, and a way too small breather pipe.

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jddevel Rising Star

jddevel

Posted
Posted

What about making a home made one out of something like curtain net wire or something like this https://www.screwfix.com/p/super-rod-cable-tongue-draw-tape-3-6m/175HJ?tc=HB6&ds_kid=92700043553436108&ds_rl=1241687&ds_rl=1245250&ds_rl=1244066&ds_rl=1245250&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIyrGD0ubw5QIVWODtCh2qBQ5kEAQYAyABEgJqdPD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

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PaulJ Experienced

PaulJ

Posted
Posted
7 minutes ago, Stilllearning said:

Has anyone else wondered why Hudsons have this unusual fuel tank set up?

Yep. I guessed at having the tank low is good for CoG and probably the greatest real advantage is you dont have a bloody great tube going rusty running through the middle of it!

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Boater Sam Influencer

Boater Sam

Posted
Posted (edited)
45 minutes ago, Narrowboat Nimrod said:

If it has a cross pipe between the two tanks can  you tap into this with a tee piece and a length of clear pipe so it shows the level. The end of the clear would need to be open to air perhaps with a breather fitted and finish well above  the full tank level. 

Not allowed on BSCert unfortunately.

Edited by Boater Sam
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ditchcrawler Veteran II

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Posted
Posted
47 minutes ago, Narrowboat Nimrod said:

If it has a cross pipe between the two tanks can  you tap into this with a tee piece and a length of clear pipe so it shows the level. The end of the clear would need to be open to air perhaps with a breather fitted and finish well above  the full tank level. 

and self closing valves

 

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Sea Dog Veteran II

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Posted
Posted

If dipping isn't feasible and there are severe difficulties in fitting a gauge, you may be better estimating your fuel tank contents using engine hours.

 

For example, let's say your tank is 50 gallons/225 litres and brimmed, and your boat conservatively averages 1.5 litres per hour, you'll be reasonably close in assuming that 50 running hours will see you having used about 75 litres, one third of a tank.  Filling at that point will allow you to confirm whether your figures are close enough or need tweaking with plenty of tank content remaining as a margin in case your first estimate was wrong. Assuming you don't have a peanut sized tank, filling to the brim when you calculate there's about 2/3 of a tank remaining might be be infrequent enough not to be a faff and always give you a good range in reserve in case fuel is hard to find. Adjust the amounts/fractions to suit your own tank range and/or comfort zone.

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nicknorman Veteran II

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Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, Stilllearning said:

Has anyone else wondered why Hudsons have this unusual fuel tank set up?

Advantages are as I mentioned, keeping all the fuel below the water line means it’s at a steady temperature so doesn’t get any condensation issues. It uses up otherwise unusable space under and around the engine, thus freeing up the counter area for storage of “stuff” like cans of oil, grease etc.

 

It is a really good idea, EXCEPT that the breather pipe is far too small!

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