Portable fuel tank pickup design flaw

I recently purchased a plastic 3-gallon tank, some generic brand, but it looks like the ones Nissan Marine has for their outboards. I'm using it with a Johnson 15, so it has the OMC fuel hookup attached.

I filled it up and went for a run. By the second day I was down to about a third of a tank and experienced what I can only describe as fuel starvation. Unscrewing & lifting the pickup and looking at it through the gas cap (couldn't raise the pickup all the way out due to its collar), I saw that the vertical pickup tube terminated with a 1.5 inch mesh screen. It looks as if once the fuel gets down to about a third of a tank, the tube starts to suck air. Tilting the tank so that more of the tube is covered allowed me to run the outboard a little longer.

Why wouldn't they make an L-shaped filtered end? How could a design flaw like this get beyond the QA stage of the product?

Are there any L-shaped ends available that I could fit to this?

Re: Portable fuel tank pickup design flaw

is not a flaw, its a feature.
where does the watery debris that fuel seems to suffer reside?

Re: Portable fuel tank pickup design flaw

Point taken, but really, a THIRD of a tank remaining, and I'm "out of gas?"

That's an awfully big safety margin... seems like they could have done a better job designing the thing.

Re: Portable fuel tank pickup design flaw

Is the pickup tube replaceable?

Re: Portable fuel tank pickup design flaw

Sounds like a bad design or shoddy manufacturing quality control. Add a short piece of rubber hose to the end of it, enough to reach the bottom and bend to match the bottom of the tank. Now this will pick up any water in the tank, so guard against that.

Re: Portable fuel tank pickup design flaw

Good idea, thanks.

I might just try adding a band of rubber to the very top of the mesh filter to allow the fuel level to reach a lower level. Then again, does it need to be a special kind of rubber to not disolve in gas?

Re: Portable fuel tank pickup design flaw

Neopreme is probably best, however, I would think any fuel line would last quite a while

Re: Portable fuel tank pickup design flaw

Will Fits/Will Works are just that. Sort of.

You have to "customize" them to make them actually work.