HELP !!!

[BIGDOG9857]

Last week I took my newly purchased Albin 35 T/E Convertible from Thomaston, Maine to my Home Port in Great Kills, Staten Island N.Y. Along the way my fuel level went to 1/4 tank and I remembered the horror stories of some Albin owners in the Group who ran out of fuel with their gauges reading 1/4 0r 1/3 full. Well, I got kind of sick to my stomach and found a place to fuel up. She took 120 gal. of diesel and I supposedly have 368 gal. tanks. I am thoroughly confused, can anyone help me with a answer? Thank-You All.

[rcwhite]

Fuel guages cannot be trusted. They are never accurate but over time and
a number of times filling the tanks you get to know them. If it returned
to full after fueling then most likely it is just a bad sender. Should be easy
enough to tell if you fueled up before starting out and worked out the
speed/distance traveled (somewhere around Scituate?). Given the sender is in
the center tank, if the valves were closed between the tanks, the guage wouldn't
have returned to full on fueling and you would have discovered this on the way
south when the center tank ran dry:)

[Jack]

My 28 fuel gauge is also inaccurate. The previous owner told me that when the dial shows empty, there's 30 gallons left. I don't trust that and I pay more attention when it drops below 1/4. I record my hours in my log each trip and set a target # of hours to refuel. If I take on 50 gallons, I plan to refuel in 10 more hours.

[special k]

it comes down to "know your boat". my 28 shows 1/8 tank i have 6 gallons left when i should have close to 20. when she reads 3/4 i am closer to half capacity. better to gauge your fuel by hours/miles

[BIGDOG9857]

THANK-YOU, GOOD ADVICE & WELL HEEDED.

[Marcy K]

We too have a fuel gauge that doesn't work even though wires and in tank sensor were all replaced. For the last 5 years we have relied on engine hours and fill up when somewhere between what is calculated to be 1/2 to 3/4 down. Since we burn 4.5 gal/hour we calculate using 5 gals/hour so there is an extra buffer. It has worked perfectly and probably would be a good idea to monitor that way also even if the gauge is working.

Marcy K
A 34 Paumanok 1986
Falmouth/Redbrook Harbor MA

[slimjim]

On the 28te I believe that my single tank is about 132 gallons. I have two gages one is digital and the other is a round gage that reads 1/4,1/2,3/4.full. The digital gage is about 25 gallons off. It shows more gallons then I really have. I think its because my tank is not 100% square, I believe the tank at the bottom has an angle on both bottom sides and that's why I can't get the reading right. I had the tank pulled and gone over when I put in the new engine and had a new sensor put in as well. FWIW