The good old nonsense phrase of foreign languages is Monty Python's classic
"My hovercraft is full of eels".

Accordingly in Japanese one of the first things I learned was
"私のホバークラフトはうなぎがいっぱいです".

However, today I have been told that this is wrong, that I should in fact be
using "私のホバークラフトはうなぎ **で** いっぱいです"

Can anyone shed some light on this? Does the first one truly make no sense (as
far as the sentence can make sense anyway)?

Why is it で and not が?
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translation particles
How do you translate "My hovercraft is full of eels"?
> 私のホバークラフトはウナギで一杯{いっぱい}です

This sentence takes the particle で because で indicates the location of the
eels (the hovercraft). で is used to mark a location instead of に because, in
this case, 一杯｛いっぱい｝ is an adverb which is modifying the copula verb です. で
means/translates to _in_ when used with a verb, for example,

> 日本語 **で** 話す _To talk **in** Japanese_.

You can use が, if you wish, and say something like:

> 私のホバークラフトの中にたくさんウナギ **が** たくさんいる _There are many eels inside my hovercraft_.

In this case, you can use が because たくさん (many) is an adjective modifying the
noun (eels), as opposed to an adverb 一杯 (fully) modifying the auxiliary verb
です.

With regards to the second part of your question, I can assure you the
original sentence using が makes complete sense. It's just a minor grammatical
mistake, people will still understand you. (Interestingly enough, you can also
easily drop が or で in this sentence, and remove です and it will have the same
meaning. You can do this because certain particles in casual speech (and
sometimes even formal speech, see 時に vs. 時) can be removed without altering
the meaning at all. The particles は、が、に、へ、を all can be removed in casual
speech.)
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In simple terms, が is a subject marker. So your first sentence parses out to
something like, "As for my hovercraft, the eel(s) is (are) full."

Meanwhile, で can be used as a marker for the instrument by which something
happens, a bit like English "by" or "with". 手で作る is to make something _by_ or
_with_ your hands. So the second sentence parses out to, "As for my
hovercraft, it is full _with_ eels → it is full of eels."
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> 私のホバークラフトはうなぎ **が** いっぱいです _Eels abound in my hovercraft._  
>  私のホバークラフトはうなぎ **で** いっぱいです _My hovercraft is filled with eels._

Thus, the latter sentence should be used to express your original English.
I've found [this
page](http://www.omniglot.com/language/phrases/hovercraft.htm) translates it
in the same way, too.

いっぱい literally means "full", but only used in this sense with the construction
`A が B でいっぱい` "A is filled with B" or "A is full of B". It has another usage
`X が Y にいっぱい`, in turn means "X abounds in Y" or "X is everywhere in Y".

As a native speaker, I can't help but imagine a hovercraft fully decorated
with eel-motif carvings and accessories with `ホバークラフトはうなぎがいっぱい`, before I
reach the correct interpretation.

If you'd like to rephrase it with eel + が, you'd say:

> 私のホバークラフトはうなぎがいっぱい **入っています**

But it doesn't necessarily mean that hovercraft is literally _full_ , while
`うなぎでいっぱい` always does.
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