Usable fuel vs fuel tank size

[ericinmich]

My 09 22ve has only had a few fuel fills in it since I got it so I haven't been paying as much attention to how much fuel it takes vs. fuel gauge. Most of the boats I've had have flaky fuel gauges anyway...

So, I took off across the lake and noticed it was reading 0% (5 mile run). Filled it up and put in 45 gallons... and the specs I found online say that it has a 47 gallon tank.

I'm wondering if I really only had 2 gallons in the tank (who knows how much usable) or is it possible that the station is not selling a calibrated gallon. I doubt that it's like a road gas station where inspections are required...

Anyone else got that much in a tank (or ran one dry and measured the fill vs. size)?

[lancehon]

I just sucked mine dry, it's a 48 gal tank and that's what it took to fill it full

[IDBoating]

Our WakeTouch hardware uses the fuel injector pulse widths to track fuel consumption. We've been through many, many fill-run-fill cycles and the tank capacity appears to be dead-on.

One of the main reasons wakeboat fuel gauges are so commonly "off" is because of the angles that a boat experiences. The fuel sender is in one place in the tank; as you tilt for surfing or or sink the stern for wakeboarding or turn around a corner or whatever, the fuel "moves" to stay level within the tank but the fuel sender is still in the same place, so the level it (thinks it) sees varies all over the place. We have a patented solution for this, but it hasn't been publicly announced yet.

[ericinmich]

When you say sucked it dry, did you run it down and have it die or suck the fuel out to clean it, etc?

I was just very surprises that I could run it that low without stalling....

[lancehon]

I sucked it dry to get it clean of old fuel, I have run it as low as having to put 45 gal in it before, that was a little too close

[TahoeKen]

I have heard that if you run the tank dry it can adversely affect the fuel pump since they are in the tank and the gas keeps them cool. When there is no gas, the pump can heat up and can lead to eventual failure. Any truth to this? I will admit that I have run my tank dry on two different occasions due to my fuel gage not working - not a fun experience with a boat load of kids!

I usually try and only run about 6hrs before I get gas but my timing is always not perfect.

[ajnesbitt]

I could be wrong, but the fuel pump on your boat is not in the fuel tank.