Chris Newport wrote in message news:3340094.BAxqyOrQ7F@callisto...
On Friday 24 September 2004 2:47 pm in rec.boats ZanderU wrote:

You often see the 'cruise speed' mentioned in boat descriptions and
brochures. But what is this speed and how is it determined?

The number is determined mainly by marketing issues.

In general it is the speed at which the boat was designed
to operate in a continuous cruise with reasonable comfort
and fuel economy. The tank range is usually specified at
this speed. The word "reasonable" here is rather subjective
and will be interpreted by the brochure writers according
to the market they are targeting and/or competitor figures.
...

This sounds right since (for displacement hulls) I consistently
see cruise speed as just under hull speed. I would be much more
interested in the speed that would maximize range. That would
be quite a bit lower than cruise speed then!