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Old 11-24-2015, 10:19 AM   #11
rgano
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City: Southport, FL near Panama City
Vessel Name: FROLIC
Vessel Model: Mainship 30 Pilot II since 2015. GB-42 1986-2015. Former Unlimited Tonnage Master
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 4,984
My tanks are rectangular in plan and vertical cross section, so any reading from a gauge should be linear. Once the new Wema/KUS sender is installed tomorrow, I will be checking the readings of the Faria gauge against my calibrated sight gauge. When I installed the sight gauge on the port side, I took careful measurements of the external dimensions of the tanks and applied a fudge factor of about 1/2 inch to account for their internal dimensions to accurately calculate their internal capacity. I then installed a white-painted board behind the sight tube calibrated in ten-gallon increments for the total capacity of both tanks. If I shut off the starboard tank, the sight gauge level will sink at twice the actual usage as measured on that gauge. The reed switch interval in the gauge is 3/4 inch and just about the same interval as the tick marks on my calibrated sight measure. Hopefully, all will agree. But never trust an electric fuel gauge. A retired trucker friend said one large trucking firm he worked for cut the fuel gauge sender wires on every new truck they bought and issued dipsticks to every driver. Apparently the cost of retrieving dead trucks due to faulty fuel gauges was getting to them.
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Rich Gano
FROLIC (2005 MainShip 30 Pilot II)
Panama City area
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