Fuel Capacity 1986 E32-3

[newgringo]

The Ericson literature for our 1986 E32-3 says the tank has a fuel capacity of 22 gallons. I would like to know the actual usuable fuel when filled to the top of the fuel sender. It does not seem to be a full 22 gallons to me. It is very irregular shaped so calculating the volume is pretty tough. I did measure it carefully but so many angled sides ... It appears to be the original tank from Berry Sheet Metal in Costa Mesa, CA, but they said they just built them to Ericson drawings and did not know the capacity. Anyone gone thru the drain and refilling drill with one of these (or calculated the volume)?
Thanks - Jerry in Kingston, WA

 

[Geoff Johnson]

I pumped mine out when it was about half full and got, I think, about 10 gallons. It doesn't seem like it would be that hard to calculate the volume if you have the dimensions; visualize the volume as a collection of parallelograms and triangles (or whatever the 3 dimensional equivalent shapes are called) and calculate the volume for each.

 

[newgringo]

Thanks Geoff,
Yes, one would think calculating the volumes would be easy. I did make a stab at it for a couple hours and got 16 useable fuel up to the bottom of the filler hose (same as top of the recessed float guage). The top section added another 4 (which I don't want to use since it floods all the hose connections and uses expansion space) , for a total of 20. But these are rough. Part of the calculating tricky part is the fwd end of the tank is not a right angle and I could not find any cookbook formulas. Still hoping someone has done the drain/fill exercise.
Jerry

 

[jeff_mc]

i recently removed the tank from my 35-2.
we were able to measure it for replacement.
dims yielded 5537.4 cu in.
converted to gallons yields 23.971 gal.
without subtracting the wall thickness, and the dents.
sooo..

 

[newgringo]

Well I did it. Pumped all the fuel out of the tank in our E32-3 and refilled measuring the fuel and reading the fuel gauge (new sensor recently). First the math. I had previous calculated to the top of the gauge float sensor and the top of the access plate (sensor is recessed down a couple of inches), by two different methods. To the top of the sensor I calculated 14.3 and 15.5 gallons with another 4 for the top 1 ½ inches for a max of 18.3 to 19.5 gallons. Now the data. And good news. The gauge works very well.
Guage Reading Useable gallons
E 0 (about 1 cup of fuel over pickup tube)
0.20 1
0.45 3
0.60 5 1/4
0.85 10 1/4
0.95 13 ½ (2 inches down = top of float sensor)
F 15 (1 ½ inches down)
F+ 18 ( ½ inches down, filler hose now flooded)

As you can see there is nowhere near 22 gallons as stated in the literature. But now we know for sure. Also of interest is the tank slopes up about ½ inch towards the aft. So at max fill of 18 gallons the vent hose connection is still over the top of the fuel level, at least a little. So much for this project!
Happy Motoring - Jerry

 

[pick]

Last summer I removed the tank to have it repaired. In the process of filling it I kept track of the fuel in vs the reading on the gauge, which because of the shape of the tank is very non-linear. Here's what I got:

• Gallons ------ Reading
• 0 ------ About 1/8 inch below E
• 2 ------ 2/3 of the way between E and 1/4
• 4 ------ Just above the 1/4 mark
• 7 ------ Right on the 1/2 mark
• 10 ----- Just below the 3/4 mark
• 14 ----- Full

I was able to get about 22 gallons in. So when the gauge reads full I feel I have about 14 gallons in the tank and room for about 8 more. I may be a little off on the higher numbers since we made a short 4 hour trip in the middle of this process but I tried to account for it. I made a drawing of the gauge with numbers to make it easy to see how much fuel I had.

I also calculated the volume to be about 22 gallons based on measuring the tank.

Has anyone had a new tank built? I'm not altogether happy with the repair job on mine.

Mike
1986 32-3
Magic

 

[newgringo]

Mike,
Interesting that we have the same year and model boat and have different capacity fuel tanks. And I think there is a reason. Looking back thru my records I see an invoice for "Tank Fabrication". I suspect I have a replacement tank which is smaller. The one I have looks pretty good and does have a handy flanged 6 inch access cover on the top. Anyhow it appears to have been made by:

"Petro Scrub"
Advanced Fluid Reclaiming Services
3109 Dorchester Drive
Tumwater, WA 98512
1-800-322-4797


The total invoice price including "Basic Fluid Dialysis" (whater that is?) was $450. I called them in Feb 06 and they said they kind of remembered making a tank, but did not recall the capacity.
The confusing part is the tank in my boat has a sticker from the original Ericson tank manufacturer, Berry Sheet Metal in Costa Mesa, CA. Ph 949-722-7797. Yes, very confusing.
It looks like it is pretty easy to R&R a tank but the filler hose connection to the hull could be tough.
Jerry E32-3 #679

 

[CaptnNero]

Some gallons are bigger than others

When I was working on the tank on our E34 I discovered that the tank label was inscribed as 27 gallons capacity for a tank model of "E34", yet the brochure and the Ericson manual both describe it as a 30 gallon tank.

I guess 10% error is good enough for marketing work.

-- neal

The Ericson literature for our 1986 E32-3 says the tank has a fuel capacity of 22 gallons. I would like to know the actual usuable fuel when filled to the top of the fuel sender. It does not seem to be a full 22 gallons to me. It is very irregular shaped so calculating the volume is pretty tough. I did measure it carefully but so many angled sides ... It appears to be the original tank from Berry Sheet Metal in Costa Mesa, CA, but they said they just built them to Ericson drawings and did not know the capacity. Anyone gone thru the drain and refilling drill with one of these (or calculated the volume)?
Thanks - Jerry in Kingston, WA