Houseboats with twin gas fuel tanks and one engine, run on 1 or 2 tanks?

by George
(Hockingport, Ohio)

My houseboat has twin gas tanks, should I run on 1 or 2, both fuel gas tanks simultaneously?

I just bought a Nautaline houseboat, and it has one engine, with two 50 gallon gas tanks. My question is, do you cruise with both, or use 1 at a time?

The gas tanks are on opposite sides of the house boat. There are fuel shut off valves, and the person that had it before me has been running 1 tank at a time.

It just makes more sense to me to keep the load level you would want to use both. Or alternate maybe? What is the best way, or right way?

Thanks, George.


Reply - Answer
Well George, congratulations on your houseboat purchase. Your question is a frequently asked one.

I don't think that there is one "golden rule" other than be sure that you have enough fuel for the planned trips. Remember the 1/3 rule,

1/3 fuel to get there, 1/3 fuel to get back, and 1/3 fuel as reserve.



I think there's many boaters everywhere asking the same question, but many people with twin fuel tanks (and one engine) will do some kind of variation of the following:

Run the engine on both gas tanks simultaneously.

Use one fuel tank, than weekly switch gas tanks.

Use 1 tank, and keep the other one as reserve.

Just remember that fuel, or gasoline doesn't stay "fresh", or retain it's octane level indefinitely. You would want to burn the fuel within months of buying it, in order to not create any "fuel quality" problems.

As a prudent captain, if you always remember and follow the 1/3 rule, you should never run into one of the very common problems on the water, "PAN PAN, we need assistance, we're out of fuel."

Just my thoughts on twin gas tanks, IAN...



Lastly, hopefully some of our readers will share and post comments about their houseboat twin fuel tank experiences. Feel free to use the "Click here to post comments." link found at the bottom of this page.


Thanks again for sharing, IAN - from www.all-about-houseboats.com

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