Fuel tank dip stick

I'm a new owner... haven't even got to fly it yet. How accurate are the Vans fuel gauges? Has anyone developed a dip stick length for checking fuel levels?

Dip Stick

I used a paint stir stick. Started with empty tanks and added fuel. I marked the fuel levels as I added fuel to ensure I knew exactly the amount of fuel on board. Use it before every flight.

a couple things..

I built my -4 and did the usuall calibration scenario of adding fuel a gallon at a time while reading the guage which gives you a reasonable accuracy understanding. You could do the same, but keep in mind, the aircraft has to be in a flight attitude level,ect. The dipstick will be with tail on the ground and give a different reading as you may expect. Also, the fill port is at the outboard point of the tank, and a dipstick will only read down to a point because of dihedral..so, it takes a few movements of the plane and adding fuel from empty to get accurate data.

With my -4, I drained the tanks and used a wooden dowel for my dipstick. I added two gallons at a time and marked the dowel accordingly. IMO, the factory gauges are okay for reference but for a better piece of mind, I installed a red cube fuel flow monitor. It's been spot on and it's nice knowing the actual fuel burn and fuel remaining on long trips.

That's exactly what I plan on doing as well. Looking at the FC-10 right now. Cheap and accurate.

The fuel gauges in my 4 are some of the most accurate that I've seen in any GA plane.

On my 6A, the Van's fuel gauges are very accurate. I still like to know how much fuel I have before each flight.

I used a piece of oak for my stick.... It does not absorb fuel as easily as soft wood. I marked it every gallon with a Sharpie. The gas won't effect the markings, but your fingers will. Don't mark where you hold it.

A small "T" top will keep it from dropping into the tank. I just placed a loop of pull tie on the top of the stick (through a drilled hole) to stick my finger in during the measurement.

Traveling so can't post photos, but I cut some pieces of Al and attached them to the bottom (inside) of the fuel caps. Calibrated by similar method to a wooden dowel, but drilled very small holes at each gallon point. There's enough surface tension in the fuel to "stick" in the holes when dipped into the tank, so I can look at the backlit holes and see how much fuel is present. There is an old thread here about doing this - wasn't my idea, rather stolen from this website. Stick is never lost or missing.

I also calibrated these while sitting on the ground, NOT in flight attitude, since I figure I'm unlikely to want to measure the fuel by this method while flying....

Greg

PS. My float fuel gauges with Dynon seem to be very accurate in flight (and were calibrated in flight attitude).

Fuelhawk Universal 11 inch

I use this, it come with direction on how to do the calibration. Basically 2 on the stick equals this much fuel and so on. I have the calibration numbers in my POH.

http://m.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/pspages/fuelhawkuniv11.php?clickkey=3649372

I check the levels at the start of the day to set my fuel flow computer.

dipping

The angle of the tanks is such that a visual will look frighteningly low... when it is not.
I made a stick initially... then did some flight hours. Turns out the gauges are very good. And the fuel flow on the Dynon is spot on as well.
Now, I don't bother with the stick. I do land with over an hour reserve at all times though. You are smart to be looking into this process.