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How Full Is The Fuel Tank?

Davydine

By Davydine
in Hire Boat Discussion

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Davydine

Davydine

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I know that different yards do things in different ways, when my parents used to hire from Brooms, they would fill the fuel tank as part of the handover, so you know it is full before you leave the yard. My experience of hiring from other yards is that they top the tank up when you get back to the yard, so they know how much fuel you have used and charge you accordingly.

This is fine in high season when boats will be turned round and out the same day, but out of season, the boat could have been moved around the yard several times and left with the engine running to boost the batteries, so in that case, how do you know the tank is full? Am I overthinking this?

thanks,

David

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Oddfellow

Oddfellow

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Yes, you are overthinking it. Movement around the yard would use negligible amounts and battery charging similarly. BUT, i would never run the engine to charge batteries anyway. Change them or take a charger on board. 

We're talking about no more than a litre of use here which is about as precise as topping the tank anyway. There will always be small, negligible margins for error but nobody is getting turned over through them. 

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VetChugger

VetChugger

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All hire boats used to have a dip stick for the tank. I was always suspicious after this stopped. I once asked the yard, prior to departure, how much they were charging for fuel. Refused to tell me and very sternly insisted I do not even think about filling up prior to return.

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Broads01

Broads01

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It's a fair question Davydine and something I've wondered about in the past. Whenever I've hired from Richardsons, the boat has tended to have the engine running when I first board and so I've turned it off straightaway. Having said that the amount of fuel that's been used is probably negligible. Errors can be made though - years ago I hired from Bees Boats as was and during the trip discovered they'd actually forgotten to refuel after the previous hirer. It was a 2 week trip and yet after a week the tank was almost empty - it turned out the previous hirer had returned the boat unexpectedly early, gone home without waiting for the refuel which had subsequently been overlooked by the boatyard. 

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Davydine

Davydine

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Thanks everyone, some interesting answers. We are looking at an early season holiday and I think we might be the first hire of the season. I have occasionally popped in to a boatyard if I am driving past and noticed that there is almost always a boat sitting with the engine running and it got me wondering. 

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NorfolkNog

NorfolkNog

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48 minutes ago, Davydine said:

almost always a boat sitting with the engine running and it got me wondering. 

Fairly standard practice, I really wouldn't worry, coffee cup full of fuel. Also you don't know if it's being maintained or fuelled up ready to go. Folks are happy enough to run their engines on moorings so I really wouldn't worry. 

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Davydine

Davydine

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47 minutes ago, NorfolkNog said:

Fairly standard practice, I really wouldn't worry, coffee cup full of fuel. Also you don't know if it's being maintained or fuelled up ready to go. Folks are happy enough to run their engines on moorings so I really wouldn't worry. 

Yeah but my coffee cup is huge!

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Poppy

Poppy

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2 hours ago, Davydine said:

Thanks everyone, some interesting answers. We are looking at an early season holiday and I think we might be the first hire of the season. I have occasionally popped in to a boatyard if I am driving past and noticed that there is almost always a boat sitting with the engine running and it got me wondering. 

Engines are often left running to chill down the fridge.

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  • 3 weeks later...
oldgregg

oldgregg

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On 30/06/2020 at 23:12, Broads01 said:

Whenever I've hired from Richardsons, the boat has tended to have the engine running when I first board and so I've turned it off straightaway. 

The trouble with that is you never know how many engine hours she did the previous week. I think like me you tend to do a fair few miles in a week so don't tend to have battery issues, but it's always good to make sure.

I have had an issue (not on the Broads) with a boat that clearly hadn't done enough running the week before and it took a good couple of days of cruising to stop the fridge shutting off every night.

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oldgregg

oldgregg

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2 hours ago, Tobster said:

Could the reason you don’t get a wooden dipstick anymore be, due to the fuel tank position in the boat. On the modern boats It may not be possible to dip the tank the old fashioned way.

just a thought 

I think one of the main reasons is that hirers had a tendency to open the tank clearly marked 'Water' and put the fuel dipstick in there to see how much fuel they had left.....

Cue a nice problem for someone to sort out.

On a lot of boats, if it's full then you can see diesel in the hose as soon as you remove the filler cap.

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