question about gas tank placement?

[mcarlito]

Hello,<br />I have a new 12 gallon gas tank that is very heavy when full. It is currently located in the stern of the boat. My boat is only 14'-0" long with a 60 hp Johnson so the stern is loaded. Along with that I have found it very difficult to plane this boat. I was thinking of moving the gas tank up to the bow of the boat and run a long gas line to the engine. By doing this I can shift the weight and hopefully increase the sucess of planing the boat. Thanks for any comments on this post.<br />Mike and son Zach

 

[alden135]

Re: question about gas tank placement?

Just an idea....<br />Maybe try putting weight equal to the full gas tank in the bow and go try it with very little fuel in the stern tank. This would let you check things before any permanent modifications are made.

 

[mcarlito]

Re: question about gas tank placement?

Thanks alden135 for the advise, I just may try that. This past weekend I had in the boat, two adults, two teens, and a full tank of gas. All went well except that when it came time to get the boat to plane I had eveyone move forward in the boat. It worked but I'm sure it looked pretty funny. Any other suggestions to help this boat plane better??<br />thanks again

 

[alden135]

Re: question about gas tank placement?

Your boat is 14' so maybe one of those Stingray stabilizer fins would help. I've heard mixed reviews on them though. Seems to be love em or hate em. iboats sells them for around $48.00. Might be worth at least checking into. Good luck.

 

[CATransplant]

Re: question about gas tank placement?

I moved my 6 gal. tank up behind the center seats in my side console Glastron & routed the hose along the side of the boat. It helped a lot when I'm boating solo. If I have a passenger, I move it back to the rear and put the passenger in the center seat. In both cases, it balances out pretty well.

 

[mcarlito]

Re: question about gas tank placement?

so it's ok to have a gas line hose reach a length of 14' from tank to engine and still have it work properly??

 

[CATransplant]

Re: question about gas tank placement?

Should be OK, as long as the fuel pump in your engine is working well.

 

[phantoms]

Re: question about gas tank placement?

Originally posted by alden135:<br /> Your boat is 14' so maybe one of those Stingray stabilizer fins would help. I've heard mixed reviews on them though. Seems to be love em or hate em. iboats sells them for around $48.00. Might be worth at least checking into. Good luck.

I have a Stingray on my 15'6" V-hull and love it. Boat planes very quickly. I don't know if they would make up for unbalanced load on your boat though.

 

[gmcjohnny]

Re: question about gas tank placement?

mike an son zach when you have a long length of fuel hose change it to a 3/8 s hose size the 5/16 hose might give a restriction which will run motor lean an blow up make sure you change fittings on tank an motor an primer bulb

 

[mcarlito]

Re: question about gas tank placement?

Thanks to all for the responses. Before I move the tank, my son and I are trying a few things. This past weekend we move the angle of the engine in towards the transom. As we tried to plane, the stern felt it was noseing into the water and the engine was working hard. We are going to move the engine in the other direction by one to see if that helps. Then after that we will add weight to the stern to see what happens. This engine sounds like it's really working hard to get this boat moving. This is a 14'-0" boat with a 60hp on it!!! We are puzzled. I'm also looking at the timing on the engine, but I don't have a timing light. I'm thinking that maybe it needs to be advanced because when I throttle up the engine starts to skip and sound weak. With out a timing light could I advance the timing by indexing the magneto one knotch on the belt?? If I can do this which way would I index the magneto wheel? Clockwise or counter clockwise??<br />Thanks again<br />Mike and son Zach

 

[Basscat 1]

Re: question about gas tank placement?

I would work on the motor and set up before I moved the gas tank.<br />You definately need to check the timing.

 

[mcarlito]

Re: question about gas tank placement?

I have a manual on the motor but the information on timing is fague. Can anyone help me out on this?? 1966 60 hp johnson vxl-12r.<br />thanks alot

 

[otto434]

Re: question about gas tank placement?

Hello MYHUGEBOAT from the rainy climes of England<br />your 60HP johnson would'nt happen to be a 2 stroke VRO electric start would it?<br />If yes would you please look at my question on "fuel line disconnection" on the "Johnson board"<br />Best wishes<br />otto434

 

[mcarlito]

Re: question about gas tank placement?

Otto434,<br />I'm sorry but I did a search for fuel line disconnection on the Johnson board but I did not find it. Please give me more information and I will be glad to read it.<br />I myself just came in from putting a borrowed timing light onto my engine. This is what I found. At idling speed in netural, The timing was correct both on the magento and the flywheel. When I increased the throttle to approx. 800 rpms, the mark on the magneto stayed right on while the mark on the flywheel moved at least 1/2" to the right of the mark on the head. Is this supposed to do this?? I did not check with motor in gear. I ran the test in a tub. My other observation was I placed my hand on the piston heads to see how warm they were and I couldn't leave my hand on for more then a half a second. They were real warm. Water coming from the exhaust was very warm as well which makes sense to me. Is this a good thing a natural thing or am just not reving it enough to get the water cirulating? Thanks for the input. Tomorrow I'm taking the boat out, Saturday you know and will be working on the plaining of the boat.

 

[E120B]

Re: question about gas tank placement?

I would defanatly worry about gettin the motor running good before i moved the gas tank.

 

[Mark42]

Re: question about gas tank placement?

60hp should get a 14 footer on plane with no trouble at all. My 40hp get my 14.5' boat on plane with a full load in seconds at WOT, and can hold a plane as slow as 10 mph. Sounds to me like the 60 hp is not putting out anywhere near 60 hp.<br /><br />I also added a permanent 14 gallon tank to the bow. Check it out here:<br /> Fuel Tank Project <br /><br />I think you need to concentrate on why the motor isn't making that boat fly before planning on moving hardware around. Something is very wrong here.

 

[mcarlito]

Re: question about gas tank placement?

My son and I just came back from the lake and we both thought the engine was running very well. We would slow to a crawl as though I was towing a skier then I went to full throttle. The motor reved up and stayed that way until we planed. If I sat up on the bow the boat planed within a half a minute or less. If we both sat in the front two seats and repeated this, it took up to 3 minutes to get up and planeing. Once plaining, we flew, I don't have a speedometer yet but it felt like 35-40 mph. Someone told me that if there are nicks in the prop, that could inhibit performance. Any comments on this?? I have to say that today the motor seemed good. No skipping no sluggish feeling. <br />Thank you for the input, we're still having fun.<br />Mike and son Zach, still digging it!!!!!