Fuel Gauge Calibration
Warren Elliott
2/1/2003
Hull #: 44

There have been a number of discussions on this topic on our Sailnet email discussion group. Most of you probably realize that our fuel tank is not a simple rectangular shape, especially in the vertical plane, and so the fuel gauge does not read accurately [our sender–the sensor in the tank–is a typical swinging-arm-with-float-type which is calibrated for a rectangular tank]. Rather it is tapered, from a depth of 11-1/2″ forward to an average of about 5″ aft. [It’s actually tapered in three directions].

In order to estimate what corrections to apply to our fuel gauge, I phoned our tank manufacturer [Ezell Industries], who supplied a dimensioned drawing [rather than measure my tank, a bit uncomfortable to do with our present winter set-up]. From this I was able to calculate- actually estimate- volume versus depth. To keep it relatively simple, I