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Old 06-04-2016, 04:45   #16
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Re: How Do You Dip Your Tanks?

wine makers and brewers do the same trick
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Old 06-04-2016, 04:45   #17
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Re: How Do You Dip Your Tanks?

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Yes, last two weeks of July, current plan is looking like Solent - Alderney - Guernsey - Dartmouth - Weymouth - home.

BTW, the price of Diesel in the UK is creeping back up again

'good times' at an end as cost of petrol rises | Daily Mail Online
Bad news about the diesel price! Better bunker up.


Your cruise sounds perfect! Can't think of a better itinerary for two weeks. Those are four of my favorite ports in the Channel. In your boat, you can go way up the river at Dartmouth, too -- which cuts into the Dart Moor, a place of wondrous natural beauty, but I guess you know that. That estuary is worth a week right there.
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Old 06-04-2016, 04:50   #18
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Re: How Do You Dip Your Tanks?

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Yes, but my tank is more than a meter deep! I need to get at the very bottom of it.
using a pump is going to disturb whatever sediment or water is at the bottom of your tank. if you want an accurate sample of the bottom of your tank a pipette is the way to. it's what the pros use.

clear acylic tubing is avaialble from a plastics supplier in watever length you want, the principle works the same regardless of length. but whatever, it's your boat
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Old 06-04-2016, 05:12   #19
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Re: How Do You Dip Your Tanks?

Go to the local home improvement store and pick up a piece of narrow diameter PVC pipe and you can use it like a pippet. Easy to get much longer than a meter. Pull it out and let it drain into a clear glass container to see what you have.


As others have suggested, it's easy to build a fuel polishing system. A fuel pump, some fuel hose and some cheap inline filters. Hook it up and let it run for a while periodically.
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Old 06-04-2016, 05:22   #20
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Re: How Do You Dip Your Tanks?

I cleaned my fuel tanks, which are gasoline. Used a automobile carburator fuel pump purchased from auto parts house for about $50. Circulates the fuel very quick. Can handle negative head on the suction side.
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Old 06-04-2016, 05:50   #21
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Re: How Do You Dip Your Tanks?

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I use a stick the measure fuel in aircraft tanks, I learned to make sure the stick was too long to accidentally get dropped into the tank. Imagine how I learned that?
I too years ago have reduced the capacity of a tank...

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Please do. The outboard bulb was kind of what I had in mind.
I had a setup on an old boat with an outboard bulb as you describe... 3/8" Nylon dip tube for stiffness, and a cheap universal auto filter before the bulb so I could see what I was drawing

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BTW, the price of Diesel in the UK is creeping back up again
Going back up here too... But we made it down to $1.40US/gal for road diesel!

BTW DH....

That was the GREATEST fueling story !!!
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Old 06-04-2016, 06:14   #22
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Re: How Do You Dip Your Tanks?

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Originally Posted by valhalla360 View Post
Go to the local home improvement store and pick up a piece of narrow diameter PVC pipe and you can use it like a pippet. Easy to get much longer than a meter. Pull it out and let it drain into a clear glass container to see what you have.


As others have suggested, it's easy to build a fuel polishing system. A fuel pump, some fuel hose and some cheap inline filters. Hook it up and let it run for a while periodically.
A pipette won't work at all because I don't have 1.5 meters headroom above the inspection hatch to draw it out.

I am going to try the outboard bulb idea with a little plastic hose. Try to pump out into a jar from the bottom of the tank and have a look.
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"You sea! I resign myself to you also . . . . I guess what you mean,
I behold from the beach your crooked inviting fingers,
I believe you refuse to go back without feeling of me;
We must have a turn together . . . . I undress . . . . hurry me out of sight of the land,
Cushion me soft . . . . rock me in billowy drowse,
Dash me with amorous wet . . . . I can repay you."
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Old 06-04-2016, 06:17   #23
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Re: How Do You Dip Your Tanks?

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Originally Posted by Delancey View Post
using a pump is going to disturb whatever sediment or water is at the bottom of your tank. if you want an accurate sample of the bottom of your tank a pipette is the way to. it's what the pros use.

clear acylic tubing is avaialble from a plastics supplier in watever length you want, the principle works the same regardless of length. but whatever, it's your boat
I appreciate all that and certainly don't want to disturb any sediment, but a pipette just can't work. What about gently sucking up through a very thin pipe, using an outboard bulb? Seems to me that ought to work, no?
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We must have a turn together . . . . I undress . . . . hurry me out of sight of the land,
Cushion me soft . . . . rock me in billowy drowse,
Dash me with amorous wet . . . . I can repay you."
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Old 06-04-2016, 06:22   #24
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Re: How Do You Dip Your Tanks?

You want something plastic and stiff, like a hollow sail batten and the top off a battery hydrometer. If not a batten there must be a B&Q on the IOW with a plumbing section. Modern micro bore plumbing pipe is quite thin plastic bore pipe about 8mm outside diameter which would bend and then straighten in the tank to get to the sump.

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Old 06-04-2016, 06:26   #25
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Re: How Do You Dip Your Tanks?

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I too years ago have reduced the capacity of a tank...
Managed to drop a torch into an empty 30 gallon gasoline tank. Went to fish it out only to find the glass and bulb had popped out and the batteries rolled behind a baffle in the tank Fun sorting that one out.
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Old 06-04-2016, 07:19   #26
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Re: How Do You Dip Your Tanks?

Here you go, what I did, works just fine, goes right to the bottom of tank.
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Old 06-04-2016, 07:39   #27
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Re: How Do You Dip Your Tanks?

On my boat I open a valve and flip a switch to pump from the bottom drains built into the sump in each tank.
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Old 06-04-2016, 07:53   #28
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Re: How Do You Dip Your Tanks?

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On my boat I open a valve and flip a switch to pump from the bottom drains built into the sump in each tank.
Yeah, yeah, rub it in.

My next boat will be arranged just like that.

Was that original fit, or did you retrofit it? I think it violates some rule or another, to have holes in the bottom of the tank, but it's a rule I will definitely violate as soon as I get a chance.


Actually, I also thought about installing a permanent dip tube, which would simplify this job. But it never quite made it onto the list.
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I behold from the beach your crooked inviting fingers,
I believe you refuse to go back without feeling of me;
We must have a turn together . . . . I undress . . . . hurry me out of sight of the land,
Cushion me soft . . . . rock me in billowy drowse,
Dash me with amorous wet . . . . I can repay you."
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Old 06-04-2016, 07:54   #29
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Re: How Do You Dip Your Tanks?

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Originally Posted by robert sailor View Post
Here you go, what I did, works just fine, goes right to the bottom of tank.
Wow, that's a nice looking tank -- Moody? Mine is similar.

Is that permanently installed? Did you put in the dip tube?

Do you have a sump in that tank? Mine has got a kind of sump.
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"You sea! I resign myself to you also . . . . I guess what you mean,
I behold from the beach your crooked inviting fingers,
I believe you refuse to go back without feeling of me;
We must have a turn together . . . . I undress . . . . hurry me out of sight of the land,
Cushion me soft . . . . rock me in billowy drowse,
Dash me with amorous wet . . . . I can repay you."
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Old 06-04-2016, 07:57   #30
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Re: How Do You Dip Your Tanks?

I just open the sampling valve that is plumbed to the sump of the tank

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