Jere Lull wrote:

On 2008-08-06 18:25:43 -0400, "Skip Gundlach" said:

However, at 7:51 AM, I had my first-ever engine shutdown.
snip

Much to my surprise, however, pulling the plug on the fuel tank
revealed that we were, in fact, out of fuel. Obviously our
memory of having fueled just before we put the boat on the ground
was faulty, because there certainly wasn't 100 gallons (nor any,
for that matter!) of fuel in the bilge.

Oops!

Been there. Why don't fuel gauges work very long on boats? I don't
think I've had one work for more than a season.

We mostly use the hour meter to manage ours. 40 hours at normal cruise
takes us to about half-full.

We've never had any trouble with ours (knock wood). It's one of those
tank tender things. We use the hour meter, the tank tender, and also
have a stick marked with the amounts that are in the tank. We have
two 50 gallon tanks. He also keeps track so that he can switch tanks
appropriately because it isn't automatic.

Bob keeps track of the hour meter and checks the fuel on the tank
tender each morning before we start off, and then when we get fuel he
sticks the tank and tells me how much he wants in each tank. Usually
he can't see the pump gauge from where he is at the fill, so I watch
the pump gauge and count down so he can shut it off at the appropriate
time.