Re: What do you think about this?
To me the only downside of your plan is running out of fuel. I don't necessarily think it's harmful, but a big hassle. You'll be out on the water and have to either switch the fuel line to the main tank, prime and re-start. If you have oil injection, there could be excess oil issues making re-start difficult. I'd suggest like you said, running partial, down to what you think is around .5 to 1 gallon left. But you still have to mess around, out on the water, with re-connecting your main tank. Or carry 5 gallon jugs to refill the auxillary tank, and be able to measure how much you're putting in. Then you have a full 6 gallon tank again. Eventually you'll have to either run it dry or dump it into another container, which is always a hassle with a boat tank. <br /><br />I think you're making a pretty big hassle just to avoid filling the big tank. Why not just fill the big tank for once? (actually twice). Run as many gallons as you can, the more the better for this test; I'd go at least 10-20, better yet 2-3 hours of running. Then re-fill and measure useag. Longer test period will minimize the error due to not topping off the tank exactly both times. A gallon error is pretty insignificant with a 3+ hour test, but is significant if it's just an hour test. Do this early in the season and you'll burn the gas eventually anyway. That's what I do - I wouldn't want to do the spare tank deal if it involved actual hose rigging like you describe.<br /><br />On the other hand, I installed a flow meter just for this purpose! (it IS handy and I recommend it, but not "critical"). I have a Standard Horizon FF41, but it's the same as the ones put out by Navman and Faria. I use it to ameasure fuel flow every time I run my engine- but most of my running is far away from home on remote rivers and I often have to carry spare fuel, and dont' like to run out of fuel in a tricky spot. I also use it to adjust my RPMs to maximize not GPH, but MPG (I use a GPS for speed).<br /><br />Yes, just another gadget costing about 1.5 Boat Bucks.
