Sight glass for fuel tank help

richardabeattie said:
Just how dogged is the dog leg in the filler pipe? Could you not use a flexible dipstick?
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Hard to describe, but getting into engine bay and looking up to the side,decks where the fillers are, the filler pipe bends inboard then down to the tank. The deflection is such that the hole/bore is occluded plus a bit, in other words no clear 'line of sight' from filler to tank. As for cutting an access hole above the tanks. Bit of a nightmare as there are all sorts of built in lockers which have helm and passenger seats above. Would mean cutting away woodwork, then the GRP sole, then the s/s tank top.

Flexible dipstick. What material I wonder?
 
Storyline said:
Edit: even electric gauges are not cheap. Swmbo is almost obsessed when it comes to how much water we have onboard so I naively asked our boat yard to fit gauges in the water and fuel tanks and received a bill in excess of £1k !
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That's a horrendous price for a cheap bit of kit. Last month I replaced a sender unit for my diesel tank, €45 for a 60 cm one, the longest that Osculati do. They will also work with water. Asap have plenty of Faria gauges for about £25. Make sure the resistance matches, either USA or Europe.

When I had an oil tank with a sight glass at home it came with a little plastic green float to put in the tube. Reading the level was easy with it.
 
What about a mechanical (floating, a bit like the ball cock arm on a cistern?) one. Needs a small access hatch made in the top of the tank...... £25 marinescene or similar
 
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Laurie said:
What about a mechanical (floating, a bit like the ball cock arm on a cistern?) one. Needs a small access hatch made in the top of the tank...... £25 marinescene or similar
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That's how the gauge is on my water tank. The float is a small plastic bottle filled with PU foam. It is attached to a long arm with a small cranked arm the other side of the pivot, which is just a bolt on an aluminium plate. The cranked part is visible through a perspex window in the top of the tank. I doubt if the material costs were more than a pound when it was made in 1984 but it has worked perfectly ever since.
 
vyv_cox said:
That's how the gauge is on my water tank. The float is a small plastic bottle filled with PU foam. It is attached to a long arm with a small cranked arm the other side of the pivot, which is just a bolt on an aluminium plate. The cranked part is visible through a perspex window in the top of the tank. I doubt if the material costs were more than a pound when it was made in 1984 but it has worked perfectly ever since.
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I use one on my diesel tank (polypropylene)
 
prv said:
It's the labour that costs, for those who won't do things themselves.

My water tank gauge cost a grand total of £7.87 posted, via eBay.

Pete
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Yes, that is the case with ours. Just cannot remember offhand (despite regularly looking at the dials) the name of the hardware but the install is a beautiful job befitting a very expensive boat. The twin gauges are mounted near the nav station and it is a pleasure turning them on to check the levels (and so it should be !). It is one of the drawbacks of having the boat so far away that DIY is largely impractical. The precious time we have up there is used in the main for sailing. Having had our last boat berthed locally and doing all the work myself it is now a luxury having it all done for us. After 20 years of doing the antifouling and all other maintenance I now consider I have served my time :). Used to enjoy the practical work but just like the 30 hour slog up to our cruising grounds it starts to pall over time ! Now we find a 6 hour car journey to arrive at the boat which has been made ready for sea much more attractive. Ardfern also offers a service of bringing your boat alongside from her mooring for a modest fee but we have not succumbed to that - yet !
 
A flexible dipstick could be nothing more than a plastic rod - a piece of plastic curtain rail? Rough it up a bit with sandpaper so the fuel stays visible when you pull it out?
 
I bought an electronic tank unit that measures the head in the tank the great thing obout it is that I don't need to get my head into the bilge to read a sight glass.

The system is calibrated by giving a full tank head and pressing the cal button. After that it displays a ratiometric display on a little LCD screen. About £120 iirc. The transducer is plumbed into the lowest point of the tank where I already had a tank drain cock.

Fitting a fuel polisher upset the measurement when the electric circulation pump was running but easy enough to turn it off to get a fuel level.

Looks the same as this http://www.hendersons.co.uk/boattank/tank-level-gauge.html
 
NormanS said:
I have sight glass(es). Excellent, no moving parts, no electric. Cost £0.
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That sounds perfect but how to fit them? Not enough 'meat' in the tank sided story accept a tapped thread. Original question:- is there anything out there like a Rivnut,, that would do the trick. I.e. Drilling a blind hole, insert Rivnut' type thing, tighten and insert plumbing. Sounds like a good idea, but is there such a fitting?
 
Sophie19 said:
That sounds perfect but how to fit them? Not enough 'meat' in the tank sided story accept a tapped thread. Original question:- is there anything out there like a Rivnut,, that would do the trick. I.e. Drilling a blind hole, insert Rivnut' type thing, tighten and insert plumbing. Sounds like a good idea, but is there such a fitting?
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My tank sender unit is fitted directly to the thin metal of the tank. It has an internal annular backing ring with six tapped 6 mm holes that accept screws from outside. The trick is that there is a cut in the circle, making it a C shape that allows it to be inserted into the hole in the tank. My sender has a flange that has the same hole pattern, something like this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LAND-ROVE...arts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item564904b4d8

You would need to substitute a plate with the plumbing fitting attached to it.

Asap do a kit that looks like it would work for you http://www.asap-supplies.com/search/fuel+tank/fuel-tank-interconnection-kit-ftkitd. Instead of a C shape the internal backing ring is not quite a circle, upper right in the pic.
 
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Sophie19 said:
That sounds perfect but how to fit them? Not enough 'meat' in the tank sided story accept a tapped thread. Original question:- is there anything out there like a Rivnut,, that would do the trick. I.e. Drilling a blind hole, insert Rivnut' type thing, tighten and insert plumbing. Sounds like a good idea, but is there such a fitting?
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I have done it in the past with water tanks, where I wanted to fit large (1.5") dump valves on the bottom of the tanks. I just made flanged fittings, bolted through, with large washers on the bolt heads inside the tank. Everything was done from outside, but it would be more difficult to do the same with the smaller size that you would require.

You say that you have good access to the face of the tanks. How about welding a flanged fitting onto the face of the tank?
 
Sophie19 said:
Welding a flange is possible I think. Will ask around the yard to see what sort of funds would be required. Thank you
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For welding the small size of flange required, it's better to weld it on with plenty of fuel in the tank, and then drill through it into the tank afterwards. (Ready with something to blank it off pronto). Diesel is much less dangerous than fumes.
 
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