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#11
posted to rec.boats.building
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Fuel economy
Tom, the trouble with using gallons per hour is that it doesn't measure
fuel economy. If I burn twice the gallons per hour, but go three times as fast, then burning at the higher rate yields greater economy. I will grant that if you are comparing identical boats at identical speeds then gallons per hour would give the desired result. BS tomdownard wrote: 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. |
#12
posted to rec.boats.building
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Fuel economy
The only measure that makes sense is miles per gallon, drift, tide,
wind effects excluded, your choice of units.. Calculated against dollers per hour time on vacations aboard (what price freedom?) I calculate time at 10 bucks an hour for me, shopping for bargains, whatever. The guests can do as they please. Terry K |
#13
posted to rec.boats.building
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Fuel economy
Terry K wrote:
The only measure that makes sense is miles per gallon, drift, tide, wind effects excluded, your choice of units.. Calculated against dollers per hour time on vacations aboard (what price freedom?) I calculate time at 10 bucks an hour for me, shopping for bargains, whatever. The guests can do as they please. Terry K Someone receintly said that as long as gas cost less than designer water nobody was ging to worry about it. Now there's a place in NYC selling water for over $50 a quart. And people are buying it!!! Richard |
#14
posted to rec.boats.building
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Fuel economy
On Thu, 21 Jun 2007 07:24:07 -0700, R Swarts
wrote: If one has a twin screw boat, does fuel economy increase or decrease in running only one prop? Bob Swarts Hi Bob, I sail a keeler but last year in my job I was aboard a planing hulled launch powered by two 1250 HP turbo charged MTU diesels, each driving its own propellor. I don't know the physics of it, but I experienced a situation where a single engine used far more diesel than twins. We went at speed (about 45 to 50 knots) over a shallow patch and somehow a stone got sucked into one of the two water intakes, smashing the perspex (later replaced with polycarbonate) cap plate. Unfortunately this was placed directly under the air intake for the turbocharger which sucked the intake water directly into the starboard engine cyclinders. Result - instant stoppage on that engine. It was decided to slowly motor with one engine back to our home base where repairs could more easily be done. We originally had more than sufficient fuel to get back home uinder two engines and then some. We ran out of fuel about two thirds of the way and had to be towed into port. As I said, don't understand why. For my keelboat, I normally calculate useage by the rule of thumb - a tenth of a litre per horsepower per hour. Mine develops 37.5 HP at full revs of about 3,000. According to the fuel usage curve in the supplied manual, the best efficiency is at about 1800 revs which is what I usually run it at - developing a lot less than 37 HP - probably 25 as I use about 2.5 litres per hour at those revs. Hope this helps Peter |
#15
posted to rec.boats.building
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Fuel economy
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#16
posted to rec.boats.building
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Fuel economy
Stepped hydroplanes? Aeronautical work on flying boats and multi-
stepped hulls suggest power economy concerns at takeoff speed and some intermediate speed transitions. The hull speed equation is only one indicator. Hull shape is important. A displacement hull will likely go faster, further and cheaper than a planing hull at certain speed / power combinations. it's finesse, I think, as opposed to fine-nese, though hobie owners report incredible speeds with knife shaped hulls. It's all about pushing an equal mass of water aside while climbing on top of it before it can move. It's delta-vee, rocket science versus frictional area, versus disturbances in the water (wakes) left behind by hurried boaters. Think about a nice sailing boat bumkin sliding down a pushing wave as opposed to a water sucking vacuum behind a square transom. It costs gas to keep a hole in the water charmed for a long time. Include ball bearings made of air in there, and you are coming to grips with most of the problem. The transition to wing in ram air ground effect is particularly interesting, hovercraft like. I'd like to see exhaust gas used as friction reduction near the planing surface of a waterfoil wing almost airborne, almost cavitating, in ground effect. A water jet intake at the front could effect certain things, like elimination of wake in a steady speed submarine. Would leaving a bubbly, cavitated wake be more stealthy to a satellite looking for large area reflective patterns on clear days? Take a look at power / weight / speed curves with reference across all hull forms at the surface. Terry K |