Teach me about fuel management systems

[nightfighter]

What do I need for a 1993 Yamaha 200hp on Grady 209 Escape?

[Seadogg]

An engine of that age probably doesn’t have NMEA2000 compatibility, but your chartplotter should if it’s less than a decade old (and it’s a model that actually features network capabilities). I know Garmin offers a NMEA2K compatible fuel consumption sending unit that easily plugs into your existing fuel line. Not sure what other brands offer, but something like that is probably your best bet. Worst case scenario, a working hour meter and written log will suffice. 

Edited February 4 by Seadogg

[WindAndWater]

Is this a boat you recently bought? With an older motor like that I would say the best thing is a bunch of trips that you run under different conditions. Track the miles you’ve run on your fishfinder/GPS and fill up the gas tank at the end of the day so you know exactly how much you’ve burned under these specific conditions. 

[nightfighter]

Three-year-old Garmin Echomap 94sv UHD is NMEA2000 compatible. 

I troll and drift too much to be topping off an 82-gallon tank and getting performance data. If the Yamaha is too old, I will look into this option. Depends on the money as i am doing a lot of improvements this winter.

[Seadogg]

7 hours ago, nightfighter said:

Three-year-old Garmin Echomap 94sv UHD is NMEA2000 compatible. 

I troll and drift too much to be topping off an 82-gallon tank and getting performance data. If the Yamaha is too old, I will look into this option. Depends on the money as i am doing a lot of improvements this winter.

I just looked it up and your plotter is compatible with the GFS10, which goes for around $200. If you don’t already have one installed you’ll need to purchase and install a NMEA2K starter kit which goes for around $90. 

[whaler1889]

I have the 94sv with a 2002 Yamaha 200 hpdi. I installed the GFS 10 with the NMEA 2k starter kit a couple years ago. Very accurate and it works great. 

[Sailah]

I have the 94SV on my whaler with Etec which has NMEA2K.  I know for sure yours won't.  TheGarmin/Simrad fuel flow sensors are pretty nice so that's what I would do.

 

On the garmins there's a menu setting where you can set the size of the fuel tank.  Mine is 18.5 but I set for 18.  On the gauges menu there's an option for "Fill all tanks" which I always do.  Esp when I'm pushing it, I make sure I reset it.  It's very accurate, I ran from Cotuit to Nantucket, all the way round Nantucket and a bunch of other stuff.  On the way past Sankaty it was telling me I was barely making it back to boat basin.  I ran out about 1 mile from the jetty.  Fortunately I had thought to install my Rotopax 1.75 gal fuel cell and made it back.

 

You need to be pretty consistent about how you fill the tank for it to be reliable.  Best to leave 10-20% spare.

 

On my Everglades I have an actual Yamaha fuel gauge but the silly Simrad requires some fuel management dongle to accrue fuel usage, I get MPG and that's it.  It's accurate enough as it is but I like the Garmin better.

[makorider]

These guys have you covered...all I will add is you will wonder how you ever did without!!

 

I'm still running an old flowscan twinscan from my carbed 200 days, but that thing is accurate to within under a gallon, boat rocking affects what you can get into the tank by more than that.

 

Very nice late in season when you dont now how much the weather will et you fish, you don't want to watch a bunch of fuel stored over the winter, so you know exactly what you have and where you can go.  

 

I try to run my tank down as best I can every winter with the ethanol.  One year she went on the trailer running, back to the house, started them up to winterize and ran out of gas!!

 

LIke I said, you'll come to question how you did without