Fuel management?

I am looking for a simple but accurate fuel management system for my boat. In dash gauge and sending unit system has always sucked.

What kind of electronics do you run?

Just look up “Garmin” or “Lowrance” or “Humminbird” fuel flow sensor.

They’ll interface right onto your graph.

I have a Helix 9 CHIRP.

I looked into rigging one to your Bird, doesn’t appear to be the easiest thing to do.

I’d look into getting a Yamaha fuel management gauge and sending unit. Might be the easiest route?

I’ll look into that, thanks. Based on location of my tank sending unit and how my boat sits in the water, I don’t believe that any tank level system will work for me.

Okay, after a couple of months of searching, I finally decided to try this Optio fuel monitoring system that reports to your cell phone or ipad.

https://www.interactio.co/optio-fuel

I’m too unsophisticated I guess. I just fill up after each day out on the water. My fuel gauge seems to work but I never trust a boat fuel gauge completely, so this works.

Tom, during the summer I can be fishing 7 days a week. Just not willing to fill up every day.

SuperDave1959 wrote:

Tom, during the summer I can be fishing 7 days a week. Just not willing to fill up every day.

I can definitely see the need for more precise fuel management for someone who does that much time on the water. I’m lucky to get out a dozen times a year.

That looks to be a very handi feature for bigger boats that get a lot of use. Very handi if one is on a big body of water.

1hl&sinker wrote:

That looks to be a very handi feature for bigger boats that get a lot of use. Very handi if one is on a big body of water.

Since my boat has the sending unit in the back of the boat and rides a little ass heavy in the water, the dash gauge says that the tank is full even when I’m down 20 gallons. It is just something that has always bothered me. My home lake is over 40 miles long so it is definitely a large body of water.

I run a lot of river miles.
I go off of GPS.
Just have my time and miles on display on one of my birds.
Zero it out after every fuel up.

Long days of trolling runs can muddy it up a little, but i’m sure you and i both error on the side of caution when miles from home in a boat! Course there are two back up cans of gas (TruFuel) in the bow, never used; just in case.

Considering i average somewhere over 40 miles per week and only have a 12 gallon gas tank, it seems to be working out OK for me.

Deleted wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>SuperDave1959 wrote:</div>
Tom, during the summer I can be fishing 7 days a week. Just not willing to fill up every day.

I can definitely see the need for more precise fuel management for someone who does that much time on the water. I’m lucky to get out a dozen times a year.

Do you have a really small fuel tank? I fish about 40 times/season and go through less than 2 tanks/year in fuel. Maybe my outboard is more fuel efficient. I have a 70 hp Merc 4-stroke with a 20 gallon fuel tank and I only use ethanol-free gasoline. Filling up every single time for only using it a dozen times a year seems like over kill.

I fish large, remote lakes often I have a Yamaha F200 with a Helix system and have been looking for a fuel monitoring system as well. Often I stay at resorts that do not have fuel available and must trailer to a gas station. Accurate information is important for safety.

In a previous boat I had the Lowrance sensor, NMEA system and a LMF 200 gauge.
That worked very well.

This looks great.
The price point is comparable to my previous Lowrance system.

It appears simplicity is an advantage versus other options I have found.

SuperDave1959 if you indeed install, please post your experience.
Thanks!

I have that system on my great lakes boat. It seems accurate but the app has glitches on android. It works fine with ios.

I originally just wanted something for cumulative use but this does so much more I might play with the optimal speed and rpm feature to see what that’s like.

I played with that for a while, my boat gets 2mpg from 25 to 40mph. No real change which is kinda nice. The distance to empty ring is a nice feature.

I use the Mercury vesselview bluetoothed on my tablet or sometimes my phone if I forgot the tablet.
Monitors the gas usage incredibly accurately (within .2 gallons)
as opposed to the gauge in the boat which is off by 5 – 7 gallons or so.
Also like the tach. 10 RPM accuracy there.
Not sure what the equivalent is for your setup.

Dave maze wrote:

I played with that for a while, my boat gets 2mpg from 25 to 40mph. No real change which is kinda nice. The distance to empty ring is a nice feature.

similar here. I was hoping to be able to dial in a more efficient cruise…but mostly i get what i get.