On Fri, 23 Dec 2005 17:05:25 GMT, Shortwave Sportfishing
wrote:

I wasn't that far off - I figured somewhere around 4/5 gpnm.

Sure would be nice though.

==========================

Oh for sure. Before we got the GB, one of the boats on our short list
was a Hatt 55 sportfish with tower, outriggers, fighting chair and all
the trimmings. Mrs B really liked it a lot which is an important part
of the equation of course. It had a pair of DD 12V71 turbos and would
cruise in the mid 20s which would be kind of nice. When we started
working the the fuel consumption numbers however and looking at the
maintenance costs on the big turbo engines, it quickly became clear
that the boat would own us and not the other way around. Too bad, it
was a nice one. Most of the other sportfish we looked at in the 45 to
50 ft range were just not big enough to live on comfortably for months
at a time the way we did this summer. The GB is just unbeatable in
that respect, and fuel economy is much more reasonable at about 1 gpm
average.