More Fuel Fun

Day #25: At dawn and with much trepidation we stuck our heads out of the saloon. With relief we realized last night's bug fest had abated and that the little critters were sleeping in this morning. Still we wasted no time casting off and heading back to the safety of the fully screened pilothouse. Two more locks saw us safely into the Caloosahatchee River. With noses to the grindstone and a sense of accomplishment that comes from having successfully navigated 600nm in the last 12 days, we motored on.

Yesterday at 1300 hours the Floscan, which measures the fuel consumed by the engine, told us we had 38 gallons or about 19 hours of run time left. Just to be safe, the fuel from the aft tanks was transferred into the port forward tank. Since after the transfer the two forward tanks had vastly different amounts of fuel in them, this was a perfect opportunity to test the theory that the tanks are self-leveling, i.e. more fuel should be drawn from the fuller tank. After 18 hours of running the theory was proved correct: 73% of the fuel consumed was taken from the fuller tank.

It was 58nm from Everglades hell to the vacation land that is Ft. Myers Beach. Ahh, no bugs. Total to date is 1123nm. DBH