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tomdownard tomdownard is offline
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First recorded activity by BoatBanter: Jun 2007
Posts: 37
Default Fuel economy

On Jun 21, 7:24 am, R Swarts wrote:
Over the years I've seen very little written about fuel economy in
boats. If anyone has good data I would like to see it. I am particularly
concerned with optimal speeds for planing hulls. Is it in the
displacement range? Or on the plane? Does it increase monotonically with
decreasing speed? Not in gallons per hour, but in miles per gallon. If
one has a twin screw boat, does fuel economy increase or decrease in
running only one prop? Is diesel always more economical than gas? And
anything else that bears on the problem.

Bob Swarts


The reason we measure boats in gallons per hour and not miles per
hour? Wind and current make miles per hour impractical. With the
current against you, the engine can be running at 6000 RPM for an hour
and you have only covered two miles. I have seen that in the Inside
Passage around the Fraiser River. Too big of a veriable there. RPM's
and fuel used can be realistically monitored.