Fuel tank size

dwna1a

dwna1a

Well-Known Member
PLATINUM Sponsor
Apr 23, 2012
5,980
James River
Boat Info
88 Weekender 300 "Seahorse"
Engines
Twins 350
Folks I'm chasing a fuel sending unit and have come across a question.

Just how much fuel do my tanks hold? One source says they are 75gal each, another has them at 100gal

This is on my 1988 300WE, twin 350's with GenSet
 
Tank size actually doesn't matter. Tank depth is the key. But if you want to see specs for the tank, just look on the plate. There is always a plate on the tanks is some area that is accessible/readable. It might be visible from the bilge or the tag might be right next to the sender.

But, the best way to get the correct, new sender is to simply pull out the old one and look at it, or then measure the depth at that spot. You can google and google and google and spend lot's of time doing that... or spend 10 minutes pulling the sender to physically verify.

Senders are readily available so it's not like it would be hard to get one once you pull the old one out... or just pop the old one back in so you can still use the boat till you get one.
 
Mark the orientation of the sender before you pull it. Its probably an SAE 5 bolt pattern, but it'll only go back in 1 way, and its hard to get it right if your working in a blind area.
 
Last edited:
Thank you both, I plan to try to pull one of them this week.

L.D. There is a plate on the tank that will give me gallons held? I've always calculated it at 75gal. This would make my weight off by a bit
 
A good source for sending unit is Wema industries. Need to know tank depth and order a unit 1/2-1inch shorter. Works great and accurate. Used them on a few boats.
 
dwna1a said:
Thank you both, I plan to try to pull one of them this week.

L.D. There is a plate on the tank that will give me gallons held? I've always calculated it at 75gal. This would make my weight off by a bit
Click to expand...

Sea Ray CS will get you the exact specs if you want
 
I wanted to thank everyone, while waiting on a new distributer I went ahead and tackled this problem. It wasn't hard but it wasn't that easy. I had to go in from a access on the side panel and get into the engine room to look to see what I was doing. I cleaned the top of the tank before removing the old unit to be sure I didn't knock a bunch of dirt in the tank.. I took a bunch of photos with my phone, that helped.
 
Share some pictures if you can. Did you determine the volume of the fuel tanks?
 
I would not rely on what the tank says for volume. Maybe more of an estimate. I just removed and refinished a tank in ours with an original 100 gal (378 lt) tag. Filled it to the top of the fill spout, after reinstallation, trying to get close to that into it. It only took 144 liters. 9 gals shy of what the tag states.
We made the mistake of referencing that tag for range. Never ran out but did push it on our longest run. It actually took 136 liters to top up. Fuel totalizer showed 133 lts burnt. Knew it was close but had no idea just how close it was until I found out how much it really holds.
We have an odd shaped tank and never rely on the gauge. The flow meter/totalizer is really accurate though. Usually accuracy is within 2%.
 
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