Dipstick paint?

DaveS

DaveS

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My diesel tank has a dipstick which is a round metal rod (SS I'm fairly sure) with 3 annular grooves to mark the 1/4, 1/2 & 3/4 full points. Unfortunately it is black gloss (either painted or some kind of chemical blacking) against which diesel (red or white) is very hard to see, even at the grooves. I usually resort to slowly running a bit of kitchen paper towel down it and trying to spot the point when it picks up fuel. I would much prefer to be able to just look at it and see the level.

Two thoughts occur which could be used separately or combined. 1. file a flat down the length of the rod since a flat surface should show better than convex - fairly time consuming, 2. paint it with matt white paint - but the paint used would have to withstand immersion in diesel. Any thoughts (other than fit a fuel gauge)?
 
Most matt surfaces are better for reading the measure, I used red oxide, there maybe other solutions but it works for me, and not too much of a problem if you want to repaint it
 
I can think of a dipstick at my club who could do with a coat of industrial strength Dulux !

If you're going to paint the dipstick, I'd think it needs to be paint for steel and very well cured, but I'd be a bit worried about flakes after immersion in diesel, I'd just stick to notches, a handy torch might make all the difference.
 
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bit of dowell

the slug came with a short length of dowell rodd with some gooves in it

very good - also useful for poking things, cleaning out cockpit drains, lovely

never leave homw without it

very easy to read the fuel level on it

d
 
dylanwinter said:
the slug came with a short length of dowell rodd with some gooves in it

very good - also useful for poking things, cleaning out cockpit drains, lovely

never leave homw without it

very easy to read the fuel level on it

d
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Absolutely.
No problem with seeing the level with a wooden dipstick.

I suspect a flat lath may be better than a round dowel and that a dark wood would be better than a light coloured one.
 
Roll it on a paper towel.

If you don't have fuel gauge but do have a working engine hour meter, it's simple. Keep track of your fuel use and do the maths. The senders keep breaking.

Our fuel gauge broke years and years ago, we use a spreadsheet to keep track of fuel fills. We average just under 0.5 gallons per hour, so every 20 hours I get 10 gallons. We have a 23 gallon tank and I keep it turning over.

An hour gauge is most likely much less expensive than a fuel gauge system, and doesn't have to be marine grade. You could keep it down below, too.
 
I use a flat wooden lath with 1, 2, 3 and 4 holes drilled to show the appropriate fractions of a full tank. The actual level of the diesel is easy to see as the lath is not painted; the wetted part shines and is foolproof.

Should you wish to retain your SS rod, perhaps you could try drilling 1,5mm cross-holes where you have your present marks. The holes that are below the fuel level will be seen to be filled when you hold the dipstick to a light.
 
PuffTheMagicDragon said:
I use a flat wooden lath with 1, 2, 3 and 4 holes drilled to show the appropriate fractions of a full tank. The actual level of the diesel is easy to see as the lath is not painted; the wetted part shines and is foolproof.

Should you wish to retain your SS rod, perhaps you could try drilling 1,5mm cross-holes where you have your present marks. The holes that are below the fuel level will be seen to be filled when you hold the dipstick to a light.
Click to expand...

I entirely take the point about a wooden dipstick being much easier to read - also pointed out by dylanwinter. It would, however, need to be cleaned after every use. The advantage of my current dipstick is that it is a neat arrangement whereby it normally lives screwed into the fuel tank, so no need to wipe it.

Your second suggestion is a good one (apart from the normal issues with drilling stainless) and I might well give that a go. It would also allow more graduations than the current grooves.

To others, thanks for replies. Specific replies / queries:

higler: are you sure that red oxide is safe to leave immersed in diesel?

Seajet: (a) see my concern re paint / diesel, (b) a torch won't help, even in direct sunlight the current arrangement is almost impossible to read.

Csail: I don't understand your suggestion, could you explain?

2nd apprentice: well, that was really part of my original thoughts, filing a flat would certainly remove the paint on that bit.

DaiB: that appears to be someone's email address rather than product information.

parsifal: I wouldn't have thought that much chalk would adhere to a shiny surface, but if any did I don't think I'd want to transfer it into my fuel tank.

Stu Jackson: As stated in my OP I currently use paper towel. I do have an hour meter and do track fuel usage, however, following a couple of incidents involving higher than normal usage, I find it sensible to carry out occasional checks on actual fuel remaining rather than rely on extrapolation.
 
I have a sight glass as used on a domestic heating fuel tank. There is an isolation valve on the tee from the base of the fuel tank and a press to open valve on the base of the glass. This means that I can get a pretty good reading at any time, but with the sight glass having two isolation valves, there is no risk of leakage in the event of an engine fire beyond what is in the tube at the time.

Rob.
 
Either change it for wood or brass in each case you can read it. Our club boats have wooden dips and they're real easy to read and in the distant past I had a stake in a garage and the diesel and petrol tank dips were made of brass again no prolem reading them.

Peter
TheBoatman.
 
Had this problem with my gearbox (using ATF) dipstick. It was shiny stainless. Heat it to red hot then dip it in old engine oil. Result, a nice matt black that shows the ATF a treat. You may need to remove whatever coating is on yours already. Actually just giving it a rub with emery cloth might matt it down enough.
 
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