We have a Bayliner 195 (2005 model). The gas gage seems to read only
when the boat is stopped! Is this proper & normal for this type of
boat. It makes it easy to run out of gas! The gas gage reads always
full while running, but much less & likely realistic when engine is
off.
Is this just a poor design, or do all such boats have to do this for
some reasons? No e-mail address for Bayliner yet found. They want the
dealers to deal with problems I guess.
The Mercury engine folks are good on responses however. I got allot of
info on winerizing from them not in book.
Never yet asked abt whether to charge battery during winter or not. The
battery went into winter charged & came out in spring (no charging) at
abt 12.4 volts! Should I discharge it pre winter od do same as last
winter?
Dick in MD

wrote:
We have a Bayliner 195 (2005 model). The gas gage seems to read only
when the boat is stopped! Is this proper & normal for this type of
boat. It makes it easy to run out of gas! The gas gage reads always
full while running, but much less & likely realistic when engine is
off.
Is this just a poor design, or do all such boats have to do this for
some reasons? No e-mail address for Bayliner yet found. They want the
dealers to deal with problems I guess.
The Mercury engine folks are good on responses however. I got allot of
info on winerizing from them not in book.
Never yet asked abt whether to charge battery during winter or not. The
battery went into winter charged & came out in spring (no charging) at
abt 12.4 volts! Should I discharge it pre winter od do same as last
winter?
Dick in MD

All Bayliner 195's do not read "full" when the engine is running.
Sounds like a bad fuel sender (cheap to fix) or bad ground or other
wiring issue with the current sending unit.
If the current unit is miswired or a connection has shorted out, that's
also easy to fix but can be tough to find.

Even if you found an email address for Bayliner, this is one of those
things that the corporation wouldn't usually deal with. Did you buy the
boat new? If so, you could easily have warranty coverage, through your
selling dealer, that would cure this minor (but annoying and
potentially disabling) problem at little or no charge to youy.

If you store your boat on the hard during the winter, a lot of people
disconnect or even remove the battery at the end of the season and then
let it trickle charge back up to strength over a day or two prior to
launching in the spring. There's no reason to deliberately discharge
it, however.

On 24 Jul 2006 08:17:46 -0700, "Chuck Gould"
wrote:

If you store your boat on the hard during the winter, a lot of people
disconnect or even remove the battery at the end of the season and then
let it trickle charge back up to strength over a day or two prior to
launching in the spring. There's no reason to deliberately discharge
it, however.

Absolutely right. Discharging a lead acid battery for no reason is
inherently bad for it and will greatly shorten its life.

If the fuel gauge seems to read correctly sitting I suspect the sending
unit is installed incorrectly. Most fuel sending units have a float on
the end of a swing arm. Depending on where it goes into the tank you
want the arm to swing in a direction that is least affected by the boat
being underway.

wrote:
We have a Bayliner 195 (2005 model). The gas gage seems to read only
when the boat is stopped! Is this proper & normal for this type of
boat. It makes it easy to run out of gas! The gas gage reads always
full while running, but much less & likely realistic when engine is
off.
Is this just a poor design, or do all such boats have to do this for
some reasons? No e-mail address for Bayliner yet found. They want the
dealers to deal with problems I guess.
The Mercury engine folks are good on responses however. I got allot of
info on winerizing from them not in book.
Never yet asked abt whether to charge battery during winter or not. The
battery went into winter charged & came out in spring (no charging) at
abt 12.4 volts! Should I discharge it pre winter od do same as last
winter?
Dick in MD