On Wed, 7 Apr 2004 18:15:28 -0500, "RB"
wrote:

I've had several boats with big single and twin o/bs in the past. I
remember most as having a "sweet spot", which was just down from wide open
throttle (WOT). Many of you are probably familiar with a sweet spot. Cars
and trucks have been known to have them. Seems like going to WOT can eke
out a little more speed, but things are straining, coming back down a little
seems to let everything harmonize and get in the groove, and run more
smoothly.

The question I have is: assuming a boat with o/b has a sweet spot, is my
fuel consumption more efficient at the sweet spot than wide open? Sounds
like it would be -- a little bit---as you come back on the throttle to get
to the sweet spot. Or, is it that there's no real reason to run at the
sweet spot, other than it "feels right", and good?

Just curious



The "sweet spot" you're probably referring to is the point just before
the secondaries open on a 4-barrel carburetor. Not sure about o/b's
though. With fuel injection, it's a bit harder to tell what optimum
cruising speed is by feel, but just keep it in the manufacturer's
reccomended crusing RPM range and that'll be about right. If you
really want to know, get a fuel flow meter or sometimes you can plug
into your fuel injected engine's diagnostic port and get this info
with the right equipment.