Flo Scan

Anyone out there using either Flo Scans or Navman3200 to monitor your fuel usage ? Just wonder if they are worth the investment. Having a boat, new to me, not sure what the sweet spot will be or exatly how to track usage. Not planning on topping off after each cruise to determie what my usage rate was for a given distance or speed. I do have site guages on the side of the tank, but with two 700 gallon tanks, it looks like estimates using thme will be a SWAG.

I'm interested too.* My boat is supposed to come with a FlowScan.* It isn't a regular option and the builder mildly discouraged me from*getting it, but I insisted.

SWAG = Scientific Wild Ass Guess

I have a flow scan . Remarkable instrument. Works great.

Finding the sweet spot is going to be hull speed + or*- things like how clean your hull is and how you are loaded.

to my way of thinking you can't have to much information.

A flow scan will tell how much fuel your actually using depending on all other factors the sea conditions i.e. current ,waves, tide and wind.
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I find those factors to be different every time I go out. With the flow scan I am able to adjust things for optimum efficiency.

Bottom line I love it.*

SD

Did it come with the boat or something you added ? Ever hear of Navman 3200 ?

markpierce wrote:".... and the builder mildly discouraged me from*getting it, but I insisted."

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Smart man! FloScan isn't just for monitoing your fuel flow....it can be used for
trouble shooting, determining your boat's sweet spot, identifying injector problems,
instantly recognizing a fuel leak, etc. Go to FloScan.Com and get the whole story.
It's one of the best gages on my boat and I have had several over the years.

Floscan Instrument Co. Inc.

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-- Edited by SeaHorse II on Tuesday 14th of December 2010 03:33:50 PM

The issue I have with the Navman, may not be an issue with you, is that the return fuel line must deliver a minimum of 6 1/2 gallons per hour and that is way too much for my engine. Floscan is expensive but a much batter unit IMO> Chuck

Dswizzler wrote:

Did it come with the boat or something you added ? Ever hear of Navman 3200 ?

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I added it and I had to jump thru all kind of hoops.
*I had to install a new tac sender. That was trouble enough on it's own as the sender was behind the water pump pulley's I couldn't get to the darn thing and I had to buy a special off set wrench to tighten the darn thing up $90.00 from snapon.*
I don't think I will ever have another use for a 15/16 off set wrench.
*
It was that or drill a hole in the transmission cover to install a tac that took readings off the fly wheel.*I elected not to do that because I was afraid of drill shavings going into the tranny.
**Run all the wires. Then calibrate it to the usage.

Once done it works like a champ. If you plan on installing one . Talk to them first. Very helpful. Find out if you tac sender will work with there unit.

SD



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I heard the calibration was a PIA???

Baker wrote:

I heard the calibration was a PIA???

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Kind of but not really. You just need some way of refilling the tank to the same volume I had to use a stick in the tank. I measured the ammount in the tank with a wooden stick went for about an 8 hour boat ride and then refilled the tank to the exact mark on the stick.**That told me precicely how much fuel was burned the rest was no problem.

SD

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Baker wrote:

I heard the calibration was a PIA???

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It* is.* We carry 700 gallons of fuel with a single FL SP135 engine.* FloScan wants you to do at least 2 fill-ups to determine actual fuel used vs the gauge.* You then change the*dip switches to come up with the percentage you need to adjust for.* The more fuel you use, the more times you fill-up,*the more accurate the calibration.* We burn less than 2 gallons per hour under normal cruise conditions.* To get accurate fuel data we tried to burn at least 50 gallons each time.* Filling the tanks so they are full and not have a spill is always a challenge.* FloScan does seem to do a good job on matching the forward and return flow sensors to the specific engine.


Larry/Lena
Hobo KK42
Manzanillo, Colima, MX

-- Edited by Larry M on Tuesday 14th of December 2010 01:46:00 PM

Do not use the Navman I repeat do not use the Navman.
I installed a Navman flow meter set up a few years ago.
They are not very accurate and can not be adjusted.
They released it far too early and then did not improve it when it turned out to be a flop.
I was sorely dissapointed in the whole affiar.
Go with the Flowscan.

Benn

-- Edited by Tidahapah on Tuesday 14th of December 2010 04:51:23 PM

Ive installed floscans on a couple of outboard fishing boats and a Camano trawler (single 200 HP diesel) my previous boat. Simple to install after calibrating a couple of fill ups they worked great. I'll probably install one on my Monk 36 this year.
Steve W.

I put one on my previous boat and it was one of the first things I added to my current boat. Obviously it needs calibrated, but, you can get it close right out of the box and fine tune it anytime. If you only buy fuel twice a year as I do it may take you a year to have it fine tuned to the nth degree, but it will still give you relative readings until that time.

If you burn more fuel per the guage at 1750 rpm vs 1650 rpm, without the corrosponding increase in speed it's pretty easy to see.

Don't leave home without it.....

Ken

And the purpose of floscans in a slow trawler is-------?

The calibration IS a fun game.

Just the factory setting will get you close say 5% off , but if you want ACCURATE a bit of tweeking is required.

No sweat its just a switch setting , but with effort and a LOOOONG trip you can get within 2 % all the time! The guys at the fuel post are amazed when you ask for 165G of fuel and take 167!!!

It was a game for us on the Loop , small (-200G) tankage had us filling often , so we could compare the fuel ticket with the reading , move the switch till it matched better , and then Reset.

We had originally specified Floscans for our new build*but after looking at the information you get*from the*current electronic engines we decided against the Floscans*and saved*the money for other gear.

If we have to the fill the tanks twice to be able to calibrate it will take us 10+ years.* Besides is just as easy to guessemate looking at the sight tubes.* Usually I am surprised how little fuel was used. * My problem is using/turning the fuel, so I some time wish the 671 would burn more.* I sure am glad we have a Webasto diesel heater to burn/use up some of the fuel.* Wee use maybe 150 to 200 gallon cruising and 400 to 500 heating.* Having a stand up walk around engine room make checking things easy.* Besides if you know your boat you should be able to guessemate how much you used.


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Navigator I sure like the looks of you boat.**Length and beem*and who is mfg?* You cn not post a picture like that having*us droole all over it with put some information?*

Phil Fill wrote:If we have to the fill the tanks twice to be able to calibrate it will take us 10+ years.is mfg?

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I hope that the Forum doesn't think that you have to burn through 2 full tanks of
fuel before calibrating the FloScan because you don't! Obviously, the bigger the "lot
sample" the better the calibration. This can be done in a very short time period or
over several years for the fanatic that wants to calibrate down to the last drop.
Since the "dip switches" are located on the back of the gage, a snug but not tight*
fit when one mounts the gage in the panel allows for easy removal and
calibration. Really, it's very easy and to imply that it is not, is doing a great
dis-service to a very fine product. The best example of a recommendation I can
recall was Dick Ratan's experience with FloScans on his non-stop round the world
flight in Voyager. Floscan Instrument Co. Inc.

Navigator wrote:

We had originally specified Floscans for our new build*but after looking at the information you get*from the*current electronic engines we decided against the Floscans*and saved*the money for other gear.

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Dude,
*Now that is one sweet looking boat. who, what ,where, and when.



SD

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-- Edited by skipperdude on Wednesday 15th of December 2010 11:12:12 AM

Phil Fill wrote:
Navigator I sure like the looks of you boat.**Length and beem*and who is mfg?* You cn not post a picture like that having*us droole all over it with put some information?*

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She is being built by*Seahorse Marine in Zhuhai, China (the diesel duck people) and is a modified version of their 52' fibreglass passagemaker. Lots of pictures on our website.

Navigator wrote:

*
Phil Fill wrote:
Navigator I sure like the looks of you boat. Length and beem and who is mfg?* You cn not post a picture like that having*us droole all over it with put some information?

Click to expand...

She is being built by*Seahorse Marine in Zhuhai, China (the diesel duck people) and is a modified version of their 52' fibreglass passagemaker. Lots of pictures on our website.
Beautiful boat, and a great website. Thanks!!!

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Navigator wrote:

*

She is being built by*Seahorse Marine in Zhuhai, China (the diesel duck people) and is a modified version of their 52' fibreglass passagemaker.

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Hi, "big brother"!* ... Dang, none of the progress photos from Seahorse show men working on my Coot.* I'm suspecting that trolls*are assigned to*work on it at night.


-- Edited by markpierce on Wednesday 15th of December 2010 05:14:53 PM

I like having the Floscan, but it doesn't actually tell me anything the prop demand fuel curve doesn't tell me.* At a set rpm, any engine is going to burn a given amount of fuel turning a prop in water.* When cold, we burn a bit more, when warmed up, less.* When pushing up a wave crest, a bit more, when rolling downhill a bit less but the average is constant.* I can look at the tach and tell you what the Floscan is telling me.* Is it worth it?* Dunno, but it fills in a hole in the instrument panel.....

markpierce wrote:

Hi, "big brother"!* ... Dang, none of the progress photos from Seahorse show men working on my Coot.* I'm suspecting that trolls*are assigned to*work on it at night.


-- Edited by markpierce on Wednesday 15th of December 2010 05:14:53 PM

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Hey Mark,*

You may be right. When we visited the steel yard (during daylight) we didn't see anyone working on any of the diesel ducks or the Coot.

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Delfin wrote:I like having the Floscan, but it doesn't actually tell me anything the prop demand fuel curve doesn't tell me.
Not true!

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When the needle jumps up to a flow that isn't normal for your boat, you can bet
you have a fuel leak in the engine room. It's happened to me and I saw it
immediately. A check of* the engine room showed fuel spurting out of an engine
mounted fuel filter that hadn't been tightened properly. A thorough knowledge
of the FloScan will tell you a bunch of other things too. (Note:The prop demand
fuel curve won't tell you you have a fuel leak.)




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Below is a post from another boating forum concerning the question of installing flow flow gauges.

"I guess I'm going to be the voice of decent on this one...........

With 3126's you will need to plumb senders into both the*fuel supply and return lines which means the cost for installation is going to be close to 2X what it is on a gas boat. Every place you break into a diesel line is one more place for a leak.*

Aside from the cost, I also question the need on a Cat powered boat. I use Caterpillar*fuel tables and find them to be right on the money as far as GPH. On a 300 gal fill up, I am usually within 5-10 gal of what I expect and have computed from the tables.*

Using a*fuel flow meter to spot something wrong........? On a diesel if you are observant, you will hear or see problems quickly by smoke, smoke color, sooting, starting problems, acceleration problems, etc. many times before you see it in*fuel flow.

As far as using*fuel flow to tweak running attitude, keep your eye on the ball here: set the rpms at the*fuel burn you are comfortable with (from the Cat tables), then trim the bow up or down until you achieve the maximum speed at that rpm setting. That is a lot easier than investing $1200 and 3-4 days installing*fuel flow meters and it gets you the same result."


My take: if you've got the money why not? However with a little effort the same info can be computed without spending the money and you will know your boat and engines much better.

SeaHorse II wrote:
Not true!

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When the needle jumps up to a flow that isn't normal for your boat, you can bet
you have a fuel leak in the engine room. It's happened to me and I saw it
immediately. A check of* the engine room showed fuel spurting out of an engine
mounted fuel filter that hadn't been tightened properly. A thorough knowledge
of the FloScan will tell you a bunch of other things too. (Note:The prop demand
fuel curve won't tell you you have a fuel leak.)

Brother, if you need a gauge to tell you when you have diesel fuel squirting all over your engine room, remind me not to go boating with you.

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Delfin wrote:

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Brother, if you need a gauge to tell you when you have diesel fuel squirting all over your engine room, remind me not to go boating with you.
I've had a little experience with this. I tried to change my engine mounted fuel filter which I found very difficult to get to. I used a toothed lever type filter wrench but was unable to remove it. Unknown to me I damaged the fuel filter when I attempted to remove it. Went out for a cruise and when I returned found about 2 qts of fuel in the bilge. The damaged filter leaked fuel and I doubt I would have noticed this on a fuel flow gauge.*I'm just glad I didn't have a gas boat.


Finally was able to change the filter and have the scars to prove it.

Delfin wrote:Brother, if you need a gauge to tell you when you have diesel fuel squirting all over your engine room, remind me not to go boating with you.

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As usual, when someone doesn't agree with your post, you resort to personal
attacks.

You've completely missed the point. The point is, when knowledgeable about
what FloScan is and can do for you, it's not just about how much fuel you've
burned and how much you have left. Like radar and the MFD chart plotters,
there is so much more to these devices than simply turning them on and
and seeing the little boat on a map.


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